Executive Digest Special MBAs – The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova
The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova, in collaboration with MIT Sloan, was recently featured in the Portuguese newspaper “Executive Digest”.
In an interview with Executive Digest, Maria José Amich, Executive Director of The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova, explains the main challenges the institution faces in shaping future leaders. The Lisbon MBA’s mission is to educate Principled Global Leaders.
How does a holistic approach to education prepare future leaders?
The holistic approach to our MBA programs is one of the pillars of The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova. Developing future leaders involves instilling values of integrity, diversity, inclusion, meritocracy, and sustainability, among others, to enable them to manage organizations with a positive impact on business, as well as on individuals, communities, and societies. Resilience, adaptability, flexibility, influence, persuasion, and the development of critical, strategic, and innovative thinking in solving complex problems are essential for the success of our students as future leaders. Therefore, at The Lisbon MBA, the mission to educate Principled Global Leaders requires academic rigor and constant innovation in the curriculum and program structure, integrating cutting-edge business management trends such as artificial intelligence and robotics for digital transformation in an increasingly competitive and complex global context.
At The Lisbon MBA, we place great emphasis on leadership development. Starting with self-awareness of the student, their behaviors, and attitudes, which lead to choosing their leadership style, we then focus on developing skills that allow them to discover their best version, to motivate, inspire, and mobilize high-performance teams. For this component of the programs, we have been building partnerships with organizations such as the Portuguese Navy, McKinsey, Sonae, and Amrop, among others, which bring their experience and knowledge of leadership management into the classroom. Additionally, students benefit from individual and group coaching sessions, as well as mentoring from alumni in senior positions in companies. We also highlight our partnership with LBC Innovative Transformation, with whom we implement the Leadership Challenge at the end of the International MBA program, where the winning student has the opportunity to participate in a training week focused on innovation in Silicon Valley, California.
Action learning is a fundamental component of The Lisbon MBA. How can it enhance the students’ experience?
As mentioned, our programs stand out for several factors: a global experience, a holistic approach with a focus on action learning, and a strong connection with the national and international business community. This close connection to the business reality has allowed us to adapt our offerings, presenting a differentiated program that meets the specific demands of organizations. We have consistently emphasized technology and ESG (Environment, Social & Governance) across all disciplines. Mandatory and elective courses such as Business Ethics and Sustainability, Corporate Governance, Data-driven Decision Making & Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence Impact on Business, Creating Shared Value, and Innovative Models for Ethical and Socially Responsible Business showcase our commitment to these areas. We have also developed consultancy projects related to ESG themes, such as the project with our students for GALP on low-carbon fuels in the Brazilian market. This project was carried out as part of the International Consulting Lab, in partnership with the business school Insper in São Paulo.
We believe that The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova enables the acquisition of critical and essential skills for managers to take companies to a higher level of sustainable growth. Lastly, it is worth noting that an MBA is a step in a lifelong learning journey, and being part of a community of MBA students and alumni who seek mutual support through knowledge and experience sharing contributes significantly to professional advancement.
Finally, it should be noted that an MBA is a step in a lifetime of “long-life learning” to which it significantly contributes to being part of a community of MBA students and alumni seeking mutual help through the sharing of knowledge and experiences, as well as career progression.
What kind of international experience can you benefit from?
The MBA programs at The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova integrate a combination of factors that make their offering unique and distinctive. The Lisbon MBA is born from the collaboration between three renowned and prestigious business schools: CATÓLICA-LISBON and NOVA SBE, positioned among the top in Europe, and the MIT Sloan School of Management in the United States, whose MBA program is among the top 10 in the world. This combination allows students to experience the MBA in two cities, Lisbon and Boston, globally recognized as entrepreneurial hubs, dynamic, and open to the world. Both programs of The Lisbon MBA, the International (full-time) MBA and the Executive MBA (part-time), offer an immersive experience at MIT Sloan, with courses in which MIT is a worldwide pioneer, such as the “Disciplined Entrepreneurship” course with Prof. Bill Aulet, repeatedly awarded as the best professor in this area in the United States, as well as “New Digital Business Models” and “Technological Innovation for Disruptive Strategies,” among others.
In addition to MIT, students can complete the international component of their MBA with exchange programs at MBAs located on all five continents, with which we have partnerships. This global aspect is also evident in the faculty, with over 40% of the MBA lecturers in Portugal coming from an international background, and the classes have been increasingly composed of a higher proportion of international students each year, 60% in the International MBA and 20% in the Executive MBA. We have also been strengthening our international partnerships. In addition to our long-standing collaboration with MIT Sloan mentioned earlier, we have developed agreements with prestigious MBAs such as St. Gallen in Switzerland and ESADE in Spain, which have enhanced our current exchange programs with other MBAs such as those at the Universities of Coppead and Dom Cabral in Brazil, San Diego in the United States, Cape Town in South Africa, and Macquarie in Australia.
The programs of The Lisbon MBA are the only ones in Portugal present in the Financial Times rankings, which annually selects the top 100 MBAs in the world. In the latest 2023 Global MBA ranking by the Financial Times, The Lisbon MBA is in the top 25 in Europe and is ranked 22nd globally in international course experience, reflecting the strong international component we provide to our students. We also belong to the exclusive group of less than 1% of business schools that hold the Triple Crown Accreditation, AMBA, AACSB, and EQUIS, representing the highest guarantee of excellence for an MBA program.
What are the main challenges that companies present to you?
In a context of continuous change, alongside global geopolitical tensions that have brought a new focus on companies’ risk management, the need for continuous investment by companies in the training and qualification of their staff becomes even more evident. This need to enrich and develop knowledge has been heightened by the pandemic, which has led companies to invest in the upskilling and reskilling of their workforce, in topics related to technological disruption in the business model, as well as in developing the capacity to deal with the unexpected, reinforcing resilience, and the ability to develop distributed leadership that promotes team agility for constant adaptation of the business to the highly volatile and uncertain context. Investing in education through an MBA can provide a significant advantage in terms of competitiveness and differentiation in the job market. With an employability rate exceeding 90% (3 months after program completion) and an average gross salary growth of 72% three years later, The Lisbon MBA is a strong choice for those who aim to continue progressing purposefully in their professional careers.
Regarding internationalization, has the number of students from other countries been increasing?
We have consistently witnessed a great interest from international candidates who increasingly seek our MBA programs. The International MBA program, a full-time program, has an average of around 60% foreign students and a high representation of various nationalities, including students from 16 different countries, of which approximately 40% are women, and from diverse sectors and academic backgrounds. The program is a microcosm that brings together and aggregates a diversity of cultures, genders, and educational and professional experiences, adding value to the MBA experience, which is shared and amplified by peers.
This ongoing demand from international students indicates the quality of our MBA programs and is the result of a successful strategy in our unique value proposition. It is also worth noting that in addition to our MBA offering, we have the differentiating factor of diverse campuses, located in the center of Lisbon (CATÓLICA-LISBON) and Carcavelos, overlooking the ocean (Nova SBE), which allows both Portuguese and international students to experience the MBA in one of the most entrepreneurial and dynamic capitals in Europe, as well as safe and cosmopolitan.
How can students and alumni evolve professionally after completing the program?
More than an academic degree, The Lisbon MBA is a direct leap into the highest spheres of professional life and an example of education at the highest level in Portugal. In addition to being recognized as one of the best MBAs in the world and the only one in Portugal present in the Financial Times rankings, it was ranked 21st in Europe for the professional progression of its students and 17th for career services. The Lisbon MBA stands out by offering personalized career services to its students and by having a dynamic community of alumni working worldwide in leadership positions, which promotes mentoring services. Our career services support each student individually in identifying their professional goals and designing a strategy and action plan to develop a purposeful career. In this regard, multiple initiatives are provided, from career workshops to regular “The Lisbon MBA Talks with CEOs, with C-level executives & Sector Panels,” where guests not only share their experience in top leadership positions within organizations but also share their sector knowledge, trends, challenges, and opportunities in their areas of expertise.
In terms of networking events, students attending The Lisbon MBA are also students of CATÓLICA-LISBON and Nova SBE, so they are regularly invited to events organized by these schools. Once they complete the programs, they become part not only of the alumni communities of The Lisbon MBA, CATÓLICA-LISBON, and Nova SBE but also of our partner, MIT Sloan, as Affiliate Alumni, with the opportunity to connect with other alumni and participate in events organized by this prestigious business school in the United States of America. All these factors contribute to the career advancement of our students, ensuring clear professional progression.
The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova offers the “Women in Business Award” scholarships, which are aimed at women with an exceptional background, candidates for both the Executive and International full-time MBA programs, providing additional support to their investment. Support through the Women in Business Award scholarships can cover up to 40% of the tuition cost. The decision on the amount to be awarded depends on various components of the application, with a strong focus on the candidate’s talent, trajectory, and career progression. These scholarships, which aim to encourage women in their advanced education in management, are another step in The Lisbon MBA’s commitment to diversity in the corporate world, a clear competitive advantage in business performance. The Lisbon MBA also awards Merit scholarships to candidates with an excellent academic and professional track record and The Lisbon MBA scholarship, the latter being more comprehensive, with the main criterion being the diversity of the candidates. It also promotes the Entrepreneurship scholarship, aimed at candidates who contribute their entrepreneurial, pioneering experience and foster the entrepreneurial ecosystem of The Lisbon MBA, as well as the Social Impact scholarship for candidates with a notable track record in non-profit or governmental organizations, who have contributed to improving and solving social or environmental issues through their professional and personal involvement.
Read the full article (original) in Portuguese here.
Source: Executive Digest