The title Mini MBA can be used freely and covers a variety of very different management courses. It is therefore extremely important to look carefully before investing time and money in a management education that is marketed under the name “Mini MBA”.
Why choose a Mini MBA?
There can be very good reasons for choosing a management education in the Mini MBA category rather than a full MBA or an EMBA (Executive MBA) – provided you choose a serious provider. Both programs give you a solid theoretical basis and new methods and tools that strengthen your daily management practice. And both expand your career opportunities and develop you professionally as well as personally. In terms of content, there will typically be a focus, to varying degrees, on leadership, strategy, business development and innovation. If you choose a recognized quality provider, the level will be just as high as on an MBA – you just won’t get around and in depth with nearly as many sub-areas. In other words, the curriculum is significantly smaller.
If your family or your workplace find it difficult to do without you as much as they should, if you choose a full MBA, a Mini MBA can be a sensible alternative. You still get a horizon-widening management education that develops your leadership skills and strengthens your career path – and the education will typically be cheaper than an MBA and therefore perhaps also easier to sell to your company.
» Executive Management Programme INSEAD – Alternative to Mini MBA
A jungle of Mini MBA management courses
While an MBA is in many cases approved by the Ministry of Education (this applies to the MBAs offered by Danish universities) or otherwise accredited, there is complete freedom as far as the Mini MBA is concerned. This provides a diverse variety of offers – both in terms of professional level, content focus, number of modules, duration and teaching style. Some management courses in the Mini MBA category take place exclusively as online distance learning, while others are organized around monthly attendance. The price level also varies significantly. In other words, it can be difficult to orientate yourself and get an overview of the market for Mini MBAs. At the same time, it is extra important to examine what is hidden behind the designation in each individual case.
Stick to the ranking of business schools
The best method to assess the quality of a given management education, also within the Mini MBA category, is to check how high the provider is on the ranking list of business schools. If, for example, the program is in the Forbes or Financial Times top 10, you can safely invest time and money in a management program there.
You can also go the other way around and check whether the top-ranking business schools have a shorter management education that matches your needs – for example a definite Mini MBA or other open courses that strengthen your development and career as, for example, a top manager.
Here you can see the Forbes and Financial Times top 10 list of the best MBA programs:
International MBA Ranking 2020
- Harvard Business School
- University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- INSEAD
- Ceibs
- MIT: Sloan
- London Business School
- Columbia Business School
- HEC Paris
- University of Chicago: Boath
Open Executive Education – Ranking 2020
- IMD Business School
- University of Oxford
- INSEAD
- University of Michigan
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- University of Chicago, USA
- University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
- HEC Paris
- ESMT Berlin
- IESE Business School
Our alternative to the Mini MBA
At the Scandinavian Executive Institute, we do not use the term Mini MBA for our own programmes. Instead, we offer two strong alternatives to a full MBA.
If you want to take a top management course, but don’t see how you will find the time to take a full Executive MBA, you can choose our management course, the Executive Management Program INSEAD. The education is rooted in the intersection between strategy, innovation and modern management and consists of three modules, each lasting four days. One module takes place at the Scandinavian Executive Institute in Denmark, and two modules are held at INSEAD in Fontainebleau in France in legendarily beautiful and inspiring surroundings, where many of the world’s most successful leaders have trained.
