International MBA
A HOTHOUSE FOR UNCONVENTIONAL THINKING
The International MBA at IE is designed for those who can think outside the box and challenge conventional thinking. To increase your competitiveness, in just one year the program helps you act upon your ideas and offers ongoing feedback that focuses on you and your individual career aspirations.
Furthermore, the program emphasizes important universal skills, such as critical thinking, communication, interpersonal skills, and collaboration. Finally, the IE International MBA encourages all students to develop their entrepreneurial thinking so that they can be competitive in any industry or new venture.
YOU IE searches for particular “seeds” that dare to be different and challenge traditional thinking.
DIVERSITY An environment that transcends cultural differences to provide the nutrients for unconventional thinking.
THE IMBA PROGRAMA worldwide leading one year MBA that focuses on you and your individual career aspirations.
FACULTY An international faculty that provides the knowledge, care, and guidance to fully seize your potential.
THE IE EXPERIENCEAmong the best Business Schools in Europe, IE maximizes your social, academic and professional experience.
IMBA HEROESOur graduates possess the business acumen, skills and mindset to transform the old and create the new.
NOT A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL APPROACH
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Program
Structure ➞
An Environment for Unconventional Thinkers Daring to Be Different:
To effectively prepare students, the IMBA program works like a hothouse for personal growth. You will not only be surrounded by students with all types of experiences from every industry, but you will also discover your shared values and collective strengths as a global community that embraces unconventional thinking.
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Core
PeriodDuring the streamlined Core Period, you will acquire the business acumen of a regular MBA degree. In addition, subjects such as Innovation and Design, Critical Management Thinking, and Entrepreneurship, give you an edge over other MBA graduates.
1. Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Entrepreneurial Venturing
2. Mastering Business Fundamentals
• Financial Accounting
• Managerial Economics
• Managerial Decision Making
• Managerial Accounting
• Corporate Finance
3. Integrating General Management Perspectives
• Marketing Management
• Leading People & Teams
• Strategy
• Operations Management
4. Thinking Beyond Business
• Innovation in a Digital World
• Critical Management Thinking
• Business, Government & Society
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Lab
PeriodStudents have four options during the five-week Lab Period. The highly innovative Lab Period marks a disruptive approach to business education by fostering integrative thinking and experiential, project-based learning. The idea is to enrich the core curriculum with uniquely packaged, relevant and hands-on material not commonly found in an MBA curriculum.
Think of the Lab Period as a bridge between the students’ Core Curriculum and their Elective Period. It’s the glue that holds the two traditional elements of an MBA program together. It is also new learning territory that no other MBA can boast of. We want to use these five weeks for activities that go beyond the boundaries of a typical MBA classroom.Business Impact Lab
Created for those students who want to better identify opportunities and develop new and innovative solutions in the corporate setting.
Start-up Lab
For our visionary students who desire to make their business ideas a reality.
Social Impact Lab
For those students who wish to gain hands‐on business experience, while developing personal and professional leadership skills.
Tech Lab
Students who wish to work for companies that focus on tech will find this Lab extremely valuable in the development of their tech acumen from a management perspective.
IMBA in Practice
Especially valuable option for our students who want to gain specific experience in role and/or sector in order to help facilitate a career change.
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Professional
FitnessThe Professional Fitness program has been designed to focus on your individual career aspirations. It contains two unique elements: Career Fitness and Behavioral Fitness, both vital to work on your post IMBA plans from all angles. As besides an effective career strategy, adequate behaviors and soft skills need to be developed to further increase your competitiveness in the business world.
Students will have professional fitness sessions once a week during the core period and will alternate behavioral fitness classes with career fitness classes.Behavioral Fitness
Leading yourself and others is fundamentally about behavior; and behaviors happen moment by moment across every workday.
Well-trained behaviors are what will drive your own performance, the performance of your teams and ultimately your career.
The Behavioral Fitness training is designed to turn your time in the International MBA into a “gym” where you practice new and more productive workplace behaviors. It is about transforming yourself, and it is also about learning how to lead others to do the same.
The areas of focus are:
Communicating for Success: effectively communicate your ideas, proposals and plans to win over any audience.
Building High-Performance Teams: understand the conditions that drive team performance, and how you can contribute your best as a member of a team.
Hacking Habits: implement a neurosciencebased framework to make sustainable improvements in your professional behaviors.
Assessing & Developing People: develop the management skills to help others perform at its best.
Influencing & Persuading: fine-tune your ability to construct convincing stories and arguments to drive action and change.
Creating a Leadership Vision: envision the leader you want to be, and develop a trajectory to realize your vision.
Career Fitness
To equip you with the necessary toolkit and career strategy to succeed in an increasingly complex and competitive job market, IE has developed a unique Career Fitness program. It focuses on a variety of complementary workshops and info sessions to help you understand what you want, design your life and land the job of your dreams.
Careers in:
• Industry dedicated days: conferences and company presentations
• Geography specific info sessions and webinars with the most up-to-date regional employment trends
• Success stories and useful tips from IMBA AlumniCareer tool kit:
• Develop a framework for successful career strategy implementation
• Leverage your strengths to make a radical career change
• Optimize your social media presence to advertise your personal brand
• Connect for success and target the hidden marketSpecific traks:
• Fast professional development with MBA Programs in FMCG, Industry, Technology, Pharma, among others
• Strategy, Management and In-house Consulting
• Banking and Financial ServicesRecruitment process:
• How to crack competency based interviews: what recruiters want
• Climb the ladder of the most competitive recruitment processes
• Master online quantitative tests to get the interview
• Negotiate your salary like a pro -
Additional Program Elements
Pre-Program
The pre-program will be available online about one month before the program starts. Pre-program courses include Careers, Financial Accounting and Quantitative Methods.
Spanish Classes
You have the option to attend a free, four-week intensive Spanish course just before the program, and you may continue with optional language classes throughout the program.
IMBA Unplugged
After the Integrative Exercise, students can apply for IMBA Unplugged, which includes, long exchange options, a postacademic internship or dual-degree and 1+1 options at Yale, MIT, Brown, Tufts and other IE master programs depending on the intake.
Integrative Exercise
Your learning culminates in a final Integrative Exercise in front of a faculty jury. You may choose between a final case study, an Impact Project with a company or your Venture Lab Project.
International MBA + Master in Business Analytics and Big Data
Across the business world, a data-driven revolution is emerging.
While this may seem obvious, it is only recently that companies have begun to invest deeply in understanding how to capture value through Big Data and analytics. What companies need are dynamic and specialized professionals from different backgrounds such as business, engineering, technology, economics, mathematics, or applied sciences who are able to identify, collect, analyze, interpret and use data to drive value and innovation.
Entrepreneurial Thinking
Entrepreneurial Thinking is the combination of action, passion, and vision—values that are necessary for dynamic leaders whether they are creating a company or bringing about change in an existing one.
Entrepreneurial Thinking allows IMBAs to...
ACTION
… seize opportunities
… sacrifice in order to solve problems
… manage risks with discipline
VISION
… imagine possibilities
… see business as a fluid and adaptable process
… want to expand their world
PASION
… love what they do
… strive for self-actualization
… desire to make a difference
Q: Is the International MBA recognized by the Bologna Agreement?
A: Yes, the International MBA is recognized by the European Framework of Education and students will acquire 90 ECTS credits.
Q: Are there fewer internship opportunities in the September/January intake?
A: No, it will depend on the sector in which you would like to do the internship. Please keep in mind that different sectors have different timings and some of them take summer internships very seriously. You will need to be aware of these deadlines and timings so you know which intake would benefit you most. Take into account that in the September intake the internship during the program will take place approximately between February to April and in the January intake from August to October. There is also the option of doing post academic internships (after the program).
Q: Is it possible to take part in the Venture Lab and also to do an internship?
A: The Academic Department will inform you about all the options available at the beginning of the program. As it is a very intense 1 year program some opportunities will overlap so you will have to decide what your priorities are, what you want to get out of the masters, and what you want to focus on in career and you will need to take decisions that will help you to achieve your goals.
Q: When do I choose my Lab? When do I decide on how I will customize my Elective Period?
A: You will get the chance to choose your Lab during the core period. During the Elective period there are many customization options available (international exchange programs, dual degrees etc.) and so this is something you should start thinking about as soon as you start the program from the Academic Team.
Q: Can I customize my International MBA?
A: Around 40% of the program content can be tailored to your needs. Customizing your program begins with the Lab Period where you will choose between the Business Impact Lab, Start-up Lab, and Social Impact Lab. You will continue to customize your program during the Elective Period, where you will have a wide range of options to choose from, such as elective courses focusing on specific trends, exchange programs, internships, the Venture Lab, etc. The third and final customizable part of the program is IMBA Unplugged (for a select number of students) which allows you to extend the length of the program.
Q: Do the same professors teach in the International MBA Spanish track and English track?
A: The faculty is assigned according to functional area not by language tracks or programs, therefore, it will depend on the area they teach but professors tend to be the same in many occasions. Please note that more than 50% of our faculty is bilingual.
Q: How is the September intake different from the January intake?
A: The programs are designed to deliver exactly the same content, meaning it’s the same program for both intakes. The main difference lies in the elective options available. Please make sure you ask your admissions advisor or regional representative about the differences in timings on specific elective options if you have any doubts.