As I entered the Villanova Conference Center last Friday, a crowd of elegantly clad businessmen and women in the lobby caught my attention. There was a cacophony of people socializing, cell phones ringing, papers rustling and luggage moving, and it was downright electrifying. It was “break time” for the students of the Executive MBA program. But these were by no means any ordinary Villanova students.

These were business leaders of some of the largest, most exciting companies in the world. These people were already successful executives of reputable firms, such as Boeing, Ford Motors, First Union, 3M, Deloitte & Touche and Vanguard. These were motivated individuals who were embracing new challenges and the life-changing opportunities of a superior MBA curriculum.

Imagine the perfect educational setting, and you would probably envision an environment similar to the University’s Executive MBA program.

For starters, you would probably want courses geared toward case studies that blend real-world issues with theory and expert instruction. The Villanova EMBA Program makes this a reality by uniting minds of the college’s finest faculty and staff with veteran business students, and arming them with a residential study and beautiful, state-of-the-art learning facilities.

You would also desire to travel the world as you learn, of course. The program’s students are actually set to depart for a week-long summit in China the first week of May.

Manageable class schedule? The Program accommodates its students’ demanding corporate lifestyles with weekend sessions that continue for 21 months. By meeting every other weekend, and filling each gathering with intense classes, lectures, planning assignments, study group activities and informal social events in the conference center, the EMBA program provides an extraordinary opportunity for its students.

“I view the Villanova University EMBA program as a personal journey, an adventure of change,” says Neil Sicherman, program director. “We embrace the diversity that each individual brings to the program with the objective of fostering individual growth. We do this by providing an intellectually challenging…and supportive…environment.”

Indeed, the program offered at Villanova is an ideal setting for learning. Even with the prestigious Wharton School nearby, Villanova’s EMBA program separates itself from other graduate programs. The highly competitive Villanova program offers a unique modular curriculum that helps students enhance their creativity and become adaptive problem solvers. By delivering the courses in modules, instead of in customary functional silos, a plethora of business themes can be integrated across the participants’ diverse areas of expertise.

The program focuses heavily on collaboration among peers, which encourages innovation, dynamic strategies for the real world and fast-paced decision-making.

The students’ educational excursion to China is a necessary component in the fabric of the their MBA experiences. The purpose of the trip is to develop an understanding and appreciation of the complexities of doing business in a blooming economy.

While studying abroad in Shanghai, the students will visit divisions of 3M, Philips Lighting and Alcoa. In Beijing, the students will visit M&M Mars, Boeing, Northern Air Products and Motorola. Two staff members will accompany the students on the trip: Douglas Dickel, associate director of the EMBA program, and Dr. Wenhong Luo of the DIT department.

Graduates of the Villanova University Executive MBA program have found that their overall learning experience was a great investment.

John Cook, a marketing manager at Deloitte & Touche commented, “The Villanova EMBA program has truly exceeded my expectations. The faculty and administration have been extremely responsive to the changing needs of our class. Most programs are unwilling to deliver such changes in real time.”

Matthew Graver of PricewaterhouseCoopers said, “The Villanova EMBA program has provided me with a valuable learning experience and has more than lived up to, and in some cases, exceeded my expectations. I have been impressed with not just the quality of the professors, but by the relevance of the curriculum to my work at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.”

Working for an Executive MBA degree at Villanova is not just an academic pursuit but a dynamic and cutting-edge approach to learning about the 21st century. It is not simply an educational experience; it is a life-changing adventure. For further information on the program, call 610-523-1793 or e-mail the office at [email protected].