Smart, Innovative Design In A New Blended Executive MBA

Sasin School of Management in Bangkok, Thailand

Oftentimes, innovation in any field is more likely to be found by institutions that are not the brand leaders in their respective industries. That is no less true in business education than in any other field. And that is certainly the case with the Sasin School of Management in Bangkok, Thailand, which is launching a well-designed, highly innovative Executive MBA program this January.

For Sasin, a school without the benefit of a Financial Times ranking, it is the first new degree program since the launch of a DBA three years ago. It may also well become the largest and most successful degree at the school which has a total enrollment of only 150 students. Sasin’s in-person Executive MBA currently has 66 enrolled students. The school’s full-time MBA has just 47 students while a part-time MBA program enrolls 37.

Sasin expects the first intake of its Connect+ Executive MBA to total 40 students with half that number company-sponsored. “If it goes well, the sky is the limit,” says Ian Fenwick, director of Sasin and a professor of digital marketing.

AN INNOVATIVE MODULAR DESIGN FOR SASIN’S CONNECT+ EXECUTIVE MBA

What makes the program especially innovative is its block or modular format. As the program scales, the school plans to make available a series of credit-bearing blocks of courses that can then be stacked into a degree. Students would be able to take a block of courses at a time, accumulate the credits from the trio of courses in each block, and apply them to a full MBA degree. Sasin, which partners with 52 institutions in 22 countries, hopes to persuade some of those partners to also accept the school’s block credits, so students would also be able to apply them to their own studies outside the country.

At launch, the program features a half dozen learning blocks, all based not on academic disciplines but rather core business themes. They range from Leading In An Age of Disruption and Capturing and Delivering Value to Gaining Competitive Advantage and Managing Digital Innovation. The latter module, for example, features courses on Entrepreneurial Management, Managing Digital Transformation, and AI For Business. The school expects to vastly expand those modules so that they number 12 to 15 by the end of next year.

Initially, incoming students will take all six modules. But in the future, students would be required to take the first and last modules, respectively Skills & Values for Mindful Leaders and Managing Digital Innovation. They can then pick and choose among the different blocks to complete the six required for the degree. That allows students to tailor the Executive MBA to their own interests and career paths.

SASIN EXPECTS THE PROGRAM’S FORMAT TO ATTRACT STUDENTS FROM OUTSIDE THAILAND

The modular format, believes Fenwick, will make the school’s programs more attractive to students outside of Thailand, mainly in Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Singapore. Prospective students who might otherwise prefer to stay in their own country to study business would be more willing to come to Sasin for a three-course module for which they can gain academic credit from their own business school back home, reasons Fenwick.

It’s a novel idea in a well-designed educational experience tightly focused on doing business in the region. “Doing business in Southeast Asia is the focus of the entire program,” says Dibyerdu Bikash Base, deputy director of strategy, innovation and impact at Sasin. Connect+ EMBA, he notes, is part of a growth strategy for the school which has seen a 20% increase in enrollment in its full- and part-time MBA programs.

The full degree program features three four-day residential at Sasin’s modern Bangkok campus with workshops, interactive assignments, group activities, and networking opportunities. It’s a chance for online students to bond more closely with each other and the faculty. Sasin expects the program to draw mostly students ranging in age from 32 to 40 years and requires at least five years of post-degree professional experience for applicants.

CONNECT+ EMBA CAN BE COMPLETED IN AS LITTLE AS 20 MONTHS OR STRETCHED OUT TO 48 MONTHS

The entire program can be completed in as little as 20 months or extended to 48 months. Each of the required six blocks are composed of three five-week courses. Every course boasts up to six hours of video, weekly, live learning sessions on Saturdays, group projects and graded assignments. Students who complete each module earn a certificate that can be placed on their CV so students gain professional recognition for their studies, even before they complete the degree.

It has taken Sasin, founded in 1982 through a collaboration with Kellogg, Wharton, and Chulalongkorn University, two years of development to create the new program. Its design was informed by sessions with regional corporate leaders. “We borrowed the idea off a lot of business people and companies who told us their workforces of MBAs varied greatly in quality,” says Fenwick. Sasin was the first accredited business school in Thailand by both the AACSB and Equis.

While not inexpensive by Thai standards, Connect+ EMBA is affordably priced at one million Thai Baht or roughly $27,200, just $2K more than the disruptive MBA programs at Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois and Questrom School of Business at Boston University. Unlike those programs that have no in-person requirements, Sasin boasts three residencies for which it provides accommodation and meals. Compared to Wharton’s blended EMBA program, with an eye-popping price tag of $230,100, the Sasin EMBA is just 12% of Wharton’s price.

Now that is innovation on every level.

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