UCT joins global alliance to offer unique business certificate

Executives from around the world can access a unique global programme through the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB). The school is the only one in South Africa, and one of two in Africa, to join an alliance of 19 top international business schools that offer the non-degree programme.

The Certificate of Excellence in Global Business pioneered by the Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM) allows participants to design their personal curricula by providing access to over 120 courses at leading institutions.

Participants choose courses covering critical topics across categories and locations, taught by leading academics at GNAM partner schools.

To qualify for the certificate, participants must complete three courses taken at three different schools, in at least two countries. The courses must total 15 days of executive education over a two-year period.

“The international experience broadens your network and your knowledge base; and the overall cultural experience is very enlightening.”

Kumeshnee West, director of executive education at the GSB, says, “It is a huge honour to be part of this programme and to partner with international business schools to offer something that is completely unique in the market.”

The GSB is one of only three business schools in Africa to have triple-crown accreditation, and West feels that its inclusion in the GNAM Certificate programme reiterates the school’s ability to offer “the best and most sought-after executive education content to the international business world”.

Other GNAM partner schools include prestigious international heavyweights such as Yale, Switzerland’s International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Haas at the University of California Berkeley, INSEAD in France and Singapore, the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin and the Saïd Business School in Oxford. Lagos Business School in Nigeria is the only other African institution included in the programme.

Navigating a global business world

West is excited about the opportunity this affords local students too.

“Our students can gain valuable international experience and are able to customise their education and career paths. The programme is designed for today’s professionals who need to navigate a global business world – it is hugely advantageous to their organisations, and to their personal career journeys.”

“The GSB mediation course was the most rigorous and interactive
(peer-to-peer work) of any I completed within the GNAM envelope.”

She adds that what is so exciting about this programme is its diversity, not only of schools and courses to choose from but also of its participants.

“There is huge diversity on all courses in terms of race, gender, nationality and ... industry. The networking, cultural exchange and international exposure presents an exclusive experience for participants.”

Participants pay an initial fee of US$1 500 to join the programme and receive a 10% discount on the fee for each course they choose from each university. After completing their three chosen courses, participants must deliver a capstone presentation to a panel including a representative from each participating school.

West explains: “The capstone presentation demonstrates how they have integrated knowledge from each school and how they are implementing it in their context.”

Personalising your package

Paul Black, who describes his role as the “principal dot connector” at Fisherwick Collaborations, a Canadian organisation that offers negotiation strategy support and policy and legislative advice, recently completed the certificate, including his final course and capstone presentation at the GSB.

“I decided to package up my planned annual executive education into something more than just a series of courses that piqued my fancy. Also, I love to see and experience the world, and this was another way to do it,” he says.

Over 19 months, Black completed the corporate finance course at the London School of Economics, the private equity and finance, and competitive marketing strategy courses at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, and a mediation course at the GSB, titled “Company–Community Collaboration and Conflict Resolution for Complex Environments”.

As Black serves as an advisor on public affairs and Canadian investments and has overseen the negotiation of agreements facilitating major policy overhauls in multiple sectors, he found the GSB mediation course particularly helpful.

He says, “The GSB mediation course was the most rigorous and interactive (peer-to-peer work) of any I completed within the GNAM envelope. The professors were very hands-on and accessible, the other participants came from diverse backgrounds, and the pre- and post-work was helpful in consolidating learning.”

Black highly recommends participating in the GNAM programme.

“If people are looking at skill-building through executive education, having a menu of options they can select from is far more useful than one course at one university. Being able to combine courses is a great way to create something bigger than any one of the courses they may choose to pursue.

“The international experience broadens your network and your knowledge base; and the overall cultural experience is very enlightening.”