In the spotlight: short MBA

Every month, we highlight one course of study. In the month of September: everything you want to know about the programme… short MBA!

About the programme

Ideal for those who do not want or cannot follow a complete Master's programme and want to develop themselves efficiently and effectively in a short time. The Dutch-language Short MBA is the way to broaden and brush up on targeted knowledge. For some executives and professionals,
their knowledge and experience mean that it is not always important to follow a Master’s in full depth. Or perhaps the first step towards a full Master’s is currently not interesting for another reason. For that reason, this specific short MBA programme has been set up.

MBA vs. short MBA

The short MBA or mini MBA is a term that comes up more and more often in education land. But what is it? For whom is it suitable? And how does the shortened programme compare to a ‘regular’ Master Business Administration? Read all about it in this interview. Here, Susan van
Zwieten, who stood at the start of this programme for NLBA, tells all about the programme and its relationship with the full master’s programme.

Further education

Short MBA is for some a stand-alone programme, for others a pre-master's programme to qualify for the full MBA or perhaps a taster to make sure that lifelong learning suits you. We therefore often see students wanting to progress to the full master’s programme. If you have completed the short MBA positively, you are basically admissible to the MBA programme. You get an exemption for the module Self-Management, Leadership & Coaching and you already have a very good basis for almost all subjects in terms of paper by writing your portfolio during the short MBA. So if you
move on, you will master the material faster and in greater depth; after all, it's not all new to you anymore! It can also be interesting financially, as you get a discount on any subsequent courses at NLBA.

What do students say about this programme?

Marleen Dolman Alumni short MBA year 2021:  ‘Having made a career switch to a direction I was not trained for, I was looking for a course that could tell me briefly but broadly about the ins and outs of a company. An abridged MBA course that covered all aspects in a nutshell seemed ideal. I ended up at the NLBA because of the course times, as this was the best way to combine it with my home situation. I have absolutely no regrets!

The course started with a 3-day kick-off led by Prof Jan van Zwieten. Thanks to this introductory module, in which we got to know ourselves and our fellow course participants particularly well, the step to reviewing each other’s work and giving honest feedback was small. We lifted each
other’s work to a higher level. Because of corona, it took a while before we could resume the course. once we could, we met almost every week. That was quite tough. In the beginning, it took some time to find out exactly what was expected of us, but an extra explanation about this from
the leadership helped enormously. The NLBA leadership was also willing to take a look at an intermediate product of our final project, to see if we were on the right track.

In the end, the course brought me what I was looking for, namely more insight into how a company is run. Using real-life examples, we learned how to apply the theory to our own company. Mission/vision, strategy, key performance indicators, I now understand what they are, how to define them, what they are for and how my current employer formulates and deploys them.’

More information

Want to know more about this programme or are you interested in attending this Master? Download the brochure here or sign up for one of our trial lectures.