MBA must prepare leaders to for the global workplace

Danish MBA educations are throwing themselves into the fight for the smartest people in the global job market and international content is increasingly being prioritized

The Danish job market has become global. This in turn gives new challenges to an MBA education. MBA programs not only need to educate clever Danish leaders with a global perspective but also need to attract international leaders who have a local perspective.

"It is important for us that the education has a global focus. The challenges our students meet are international in scope. It is already apparent today and will only increase in step with globalization", says Connie Tai, MBA Program Director at Copenhagen Business School (CBS).

International content

A new survey amongst the latest batch of Executive MBA students shows that 33 percent chose to take an MBA at CBS because of their international content.

Connie Tai explains that internationalization of MBA educations is also an important force in attracting qualified international students.

89 percent of the 34 students who are currently taking CBS´ 1-year fulltime MBA program come from abroad whilst 32 percent of the students to CBS´ Executive MBA education are foreign.

For Anne Lützhoøft Aarbogh, who recently began an Executive MBA education and who works daily as a Director at Alpharma APS, the international focus was the deciding factor in her choice of CBS.

"If it had only been Danish participants in the program and Danish teachers, I would have chosen another school. At the most basic level, we are all internationalized in our daily activities. The school needed to reflect this reality as well. I am used to working internationally, so for me it was natural and a must", says Anne Lützhøft Aarbogh, 40 years old, who considered taking her MBA at INSEAD in Paris or from London Business School.

But with four children, a lot of puzzle pieces had to fall into place. Consequently, she chose CBS to live up the international standards she had set as a must.

Both DTU and CBS agree that increasing numbers of international students can contribute to making the education even more varied which in turn gives a better dynamic to the education and more perspectives for analysis and conclusions.

For Anne Lützhøft Aarbogh, it was precisely this point which was the deciding factor. "Other nationalities bring something else to the edcuation. They give not only variety but also help you to think diffferently and more broadly. My theoretical background is pharmaceutical which is very specialized. One often has a tendency to rely and relate to people within the same field as oneself. Therefore it also means a great deal to expand your network, not least across boundaries," she says.

Anne Lützhøft Aarbogh hopes that her MBA will be an entrance ticket to more business responsibility and that it will qualify her for a leadership positiion at a higher level, independent on the field. For her, increasing her salary is secondary.

"It isn't a driving force for me. Once you are earning enough to maintain a reasonable living standard, increases in salary become less important. I am clearly much more motivated with more responsibility and increased challenges," says Anne Lützhøft Aarbogh