You have a burning ambition to grow and make a positive contribution? You aspire an impactful and/or international career? You need a flexible, high-quality education? Discover the AMS Executive MBA (EMBA).
An international education unlike any other in the market
Developing an international mindset is one of the core aims of our EMBA, and integrated in the DNA of AMS and its partners. Our level of internationalization in the design and delivery of the Executive MBA far surpasses that available in any other similarly-ranked EMBA program. Perhaps this is why the Financial Times rates the “degree of internationalization” of our EMBA to be n°23 in the world.
If your ambition includes the dream of building an international career, either as an expatriate or “home-based” with international responsibilities, you will discover that we offer the best preparation available.
Global Strategic Challenges
The focus of our International Immersion modules is on global strategic challenges. The goal is to transfer knowledge and expertise with a worldwide mindset, leading to an understanding of the economic drivers of global economies and the challenges of a cross-cultural business.
During your 2-year journey, you will not only study at Antwerp Management School, but also in Asia, the U.S.A and Africa. During each of these 5-day trips, you will take up courses with local Executive MBA participants.
The subjects of these modules are as follows:
American University of Caïro
Intercultural awareness
International business negotiations
Doing business in Africa and the Middle East
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston
Cross-cultural Supply chain excellence
Logistics for the 21st century
Business surprises in the U.S.A.
Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore
International Business Management
Doing business in Asia
“It is an exceptional idea to bring together student groups from all over the world, the resulting interaction vividly shows the differences that we have and at the same time it shows how much we have in common”
—
Valeriy M.
Our Personal Development Program
Leading with the brain in mind
During the EMBA, our Personal Development Program (within the Leadership Track) is designed to develop resilient, adaptive, and focused leaders capable of contributing to the creation of high performance teams and organizations concerned with the performance and wellbeing of their employees and the sustainability of their business.
This forms a deeper understanding of the increasing complexity of organizational behavior, and prepares participants to effectively manage the challenges that come with a leadership position in today’s volatile business world.
The program is designed to address several fundamental aspects of leading people in organizations. These include understanding human behavior and motivation in the workplace, creating a sense of mission and purpose, self-leadership, activating multiple paradoxical leadership behaviors, steering high performance teams, coaching talent, and developing high performance organizations.
This program aims to provide tools for disciplined and conscientious thinking about what happens in our organizations and within ourselves. The course is based in large part on neuroscience research, principles and insights and seeks interaction with participants through exercises and case studies, all based on real-life situations.
Improving your performance, stress resistance and future readiness with the help of the NeuroTrainingLab and our professional coaches
Neuro training is based on the principle of brain plasticity; We can train our brain and change our way of thinking. Thanks to neuro training, we learn to make better, more empathetic decisions, especially in times of stress.
How it works
At our ACERTA NeuroTrainingLab™, participants get confronted with a real-life case, such as conflicts between team members. Professional actors will present the case in a realistic way. The supervisors watch how the participants interact under pressure with the actors. Their reactions are also made visible through biometric data. Thus, the participants are given a headset that measures electroencephalographic activity (EEG) and the galvanic reaction of the skin is also monitored, which is an excellent stress sensor.
The combination of the biometric data and the feedback from the supervisors not only gives the participants insight into the what, how and why of their reactions. Above all, they are trained to use these insights and to strengthen their emotional intelligence.
In the EMBA, participants are offered a session in the NeuroTrainingLab at the beginning of the EMBA and a second time at the beginning of year 2 of the EMBA experience. That way, the personal development is monitored and our coaches can take full use of the compiled data to further improve our participants’ management skills with a tailored-approach.
Individual Coaching
The individual coaching builds on the experiences in the NeuroTrainingLab, allowing participants to further develop a wide range of soft skills. Our international coaches have broad experience in coaching middle and senior managers. With their support, our participants develop their 5-year life and career plan, becoming confident managers with a high level of self-awareness.
In-class personal development modules
The program is structured in 3 self-development modules, which align individual and class-based learnings. 2 deep development residential modules, one per year, allow you to completely detach yourself from your daily environment, with its usual reference frames and patterns. This will force you to rethink your attitudes, the application of your strengths and how to re-evaluate your weaknesses. The first module brings people together in EMBA’s residential Kickoff, making sure we create a supportive group of peers, able to learn from each other. We continue with sessions focused on different leadership styles and the art of giving and receiving feedback. During the 2nd
academic year, the focus shifts to change management.
It is wrong to think that managers in crisis situations should ignore their emotions. We learned that whoever eliminates his emotions also suppresses his positive emotions and thus reacts completely differently, while those feelings turn out to be very important in order to be an inspiring leader.
—
Steven Poelmans, Professor of Neuroscience & Strategic Leadership
The Positive Impact Project
Preparing you for a sustainable transformation
Societal consciousness is integrated in the DNA of AMS and it’s partners. With the Positive Impact Project, we aim to ensure that future leaders have the broadest view of the consequences of their actions and decisions: For the communities we live in, for the environment and for the wider society we are all part of. In the EMBA, we develop this through the Positive Impact Project. This is a 10-month project that requires you to interact directly with groups in your community, which may not be in the realm of your business future at first sight, but that will give you a revealing insight into society from a different angle: These include but are not limited to organizations and associations that do charity work, educational initiatives for underprivileged children, and associations that support people who do not always have a voice.
Working on this project will make you more aware of the impact of business decisions on society as a whole, and give you a broader awareness of the world around you, stimulating you to opt for sustainable decisions and rational management. Learning to deliberately reflect and develop empathy is a key part of the project. In turn, this will make you a better business leader, as you gain perspective on the impact of your actions.
The Positive Impact Project incorporates the following objectives for an applicable learning experience that leads to societal improvement:
Understanding how organizations can have a highly positive impact on society.
Learning about specific societal challenges in sustainability (ESG: environment, social, governance).
Understanding of the hybridization of organizations (such as profit-oriented vs purpose-, impact- or mission-oriented organizations).
Through their experience, participants learn how they can change their personal and professional behaviors and gear their work environment to have a more positive impact on society. Are you curious to read about the experience of one of our students? Click here to read the blog.
An example of our own contribution to societal consciousness and as an EMBA specific Positive Impact Project, we've set up a partnership with Atlas, the Flemish advice center for diversity and integration. Via Atlas, AMS offers a scholarship for foreign-speaking newcomers. Click here for more info.
Fundamental Management Training
Core Modules:
Our EMBA is designed for candidates seeking a solid general management education and our core modules offer exactly that.The core modules are expertly delivered by experienced faculty from leading business schools in Europe, North America and Asia. You will show your mastery of the theories, practical applications and emerging issues in each subject through a combination of formal exams, individual and small group assignments.
Our core modules are scheduled in blocks of 2 days, on Fridays and Saturdays, approximately every three weeks. We believe that this structure allows you to combine your EMBA with work and family life, while at the same time providing you with the necessary building blocks for your career.
Our core modules are also internationally oriented to ensure your global mindset develops throughout every aspect of your education.
If you’d like more detailed information on any of the subjects, you can always contact the Program Director.
Faculty
Our experienced faculty accompanies you on your intensive journey over the 2 academic years, working to ensure that the EMBA’s reputation, and that of Antwerp Management School, grows through continuous educational and networking activities, and sustained performance.
Antwerp Management School has the most international faculty in the Benelux. As a small business school with an excellent reputation and a networking-based model, AMS attracts top international faculty.
Lecturers come from globally-ranked institutions and leading business schools in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia.
The Master Project, putting learning into action
The Master Consulting Project is a 16-month project. It is not a “traditional thesis”, but rather a consulting exercise project, addressing a real business problem or opportunity. It may be an individual or group assignment, depending on the scale of the project. It is an exciting opportunity to put your academic knowledge into practice, always under the close supervision of qualified faculty and a business representative. If your company supports you in the EMBA experience, the master consulting project offers you an excellent opportunity to give knowledge back to the company.
The Project starts in the first academic year, and continues until graduation. At the conclusion of the project, you will present your work, research, analysis and conclusions.
Here are some topic examples of past Master Consulting Projects:
• Development of a Balanced Scorecard as a Performance Measurement Tool
• Recommendations to Improve Cost Effectiveness
• Secular Growth Through Business Repositioning: From Theory to Practice
The assignments really gave me much better insight into my company and the market in which we operated. For one of these, I wrote a paper about our Human Resources rewards policies concluding with some recommendations to change the existing system dramatically. It was nice to see that, 1.5 years later, they did indeed make these changes.
—
Jan D.R.
The entrepreneurial and innovation project
Creating an entrepreneurial mind
Designed to promote innovation and to put new skills developed in the classroom into practice , the Entrepreneurial and Innovation Project (EIP) enables participants to test their entrepreneurial ideas. Developed with ESSCA, this project will offer participants the opportunity to relate to Station F, the world’s largest startup facility.
Under the expert coaching of lead faculty Prof. Dr. Orsolya Sadyk-Rozsnyai, creator of the Creative Box MOOC: a free online training on creativity and innovation, this project will sharpen your entrepreneurial mindset.
An immersive visit to Station F - the world’s largest startup facility, will further enhance your learning through business games with leading experts.
Station F has its name derived from a former rail freight depot called La Halle Freyssinet, which was remodeled into the present-day Station F. The facility expands over 34 000 square meters and houses around 1 000 startups. Station F’s partners include: Facebook, LVMH, Google Microsoft among other big names.
Our Disruptive Sessions
AMS executive masters are rooted in the business reality. Faculty who combine business and academic careers, the use of real-business cases in class, simulation exercises which teach crucial business insights are based on real-life examples… More than anyone else, we know and see that our business reality is in constant evolution. While we adapt our curricula on a continuous basis, making it as up-to-date as possible, we feel the need to constantly challenge our curriculum and participants with topics that are not yet integrated in the curriculum but emerge as future important aspects of business.
That’s why, the Executive Master programs at AMS organize, together with our alumni, the disruptive sessions. Inspiring short sessions for current students and alumni, opening your mind to new possibilities, showing you the latest evolutions in the market and making bold statements on the future. Sessions where you’ll see the latest insights from our own alumni and their connections. We call these webinars disruptive, because they (have to) sacrifice sacred cows and they (have to) leave the beaten tracks.
The disruptive sessions offer not only inspiration but also a great way of connecting with your alumni network. Typically the real-life sessions at campus will be organized outside of business hours and after a normal session in the executive program, webinars will be organized during lunch times. Alumni will join the current students for extra inspiration.
The Executive MBA organizes 4 disruptive sessions throughout the year, mostly on Friday nights, following a teaching day for one of the cohorts.
Start the application procedure
Every year we only accept a select amount of candidates. We advise you to start the noncommittal application process as soon as possible.
