This accelerated MBA program is a 12 month program that’s meant to minimize your time out of the office. The program is designed in a modular format. The first 2 modules, from January to May, happen in Abu Dhabi. The next 2 modules, over the summer, are in New York City. And then the final 2 modules take place, once again, in Abu Dhabi.
The first 2 modules will cover the core curriculum. The core curriculum is really the business foundation, courses that all of our students will take. These courses include finance, marketing, strategy, accounting. Once they’ve completed that first semester of courses, they will then spend the summer semester in New York City. We will have some courses that we require students to take, but also they will have the flexibility to tap into the broader curriculum of New York during the summer to take courses that are more aligned with their interests and also how they see their career trajectory. After the summer semester is completed in New York, they come back to Abu Dhabi to finish the program.
The fifth and sixth modules are really the electives modules where students will begin to take additional classes to further enhance the skills, the knowledge and experience that they’ve already built.
We have 5 specializations that will be available to students. We have finance; marketing; technology, innovation & entrepreneurship; leadership, management & strategy; and also business analytics. So students will get the opportunity to really examine all 5 specializations and determine which is more aligned with their career interests and trajectory. The core curriculum is the same for all the Stern MBA programs, but we have adapted key elements to ensure that it is relevant for the region.
So, for example, the cases that students use to study. In the United States they typically study large US companies and the trials and tribulations faced by large US companies. That will be adapted for the region. And so they’ll study regional champions, large companies that operate here in this region, and the kinds of challenges that they face here, in this region.
If you think about the UAE, it’s a melting pot. There are people here from all over the world. And the likelihood is that those people who graduate from this program will have to manage incredibly diverse teams. And so we will focus several of our courses on how to manage diverse teams, how to manage across cultures, how to manage when people don’t come necessarily from the same place, they don’t speak the same languages. How do you lead, inspire in those kinds of environments. And most importantly, how do you listen. And how do you take into account that people’s cultural understandings might be different from your own.
A recent survey by corporate recruiters cited that strategy, data analysis and communication were the top 3 skills that they need for their businesses to succeed. Not only now, but in the future. Our curriculum provides that. 80% of the employers said we need graduates who have high cultural competency. So it’s this curriculum that we’ve designed in which employers have said we feel MBAs need these skills in order to succeed, not only in our company, but in the region.
Speakers
Professor Robert Salomon, Dean of Stern at NYUAD.
Jemima A Frimpong, Associate Dean of Programs.
Arnold Longboy, Executive Director of Admissions.
In this video
In this video, learn how the program’s modular format spans Abu Dhabi (Jan–May), a summer term in New York City, and a final return to Abu Dhabi to complete electives. You’ll also hear how the core curriculum builds strong business fundamentals, how electives allow you to tailor your learning, and how the program is adapted for the region through locally relevant cases and a strong focus on leading across cultures, a key capability for working in the UAE’s diverse business environment.
