Hard on the heels of being named South Africa’s top MBA Business School – a spot it has held for the past seven years – Henley Business School Africa has come out on top in the inaugural PMR.Africa survey of institutions offering executive education programmes in South Africa.
‘It has been a superb few years for Henley Business School Africa,’ says the school’s dean and director, Jon Foster-Pedley. ‘This Double Diamond accolade reflects the school's growing reputation for graduating impressive human beings who show up and know how to get things done.
‘We prioritise the skills and mindsets that ensure students build resilience and are able to think and act strategically and decisively – even when situations are messy and complex. This makes them an asset to any organisation.’
‘Employers recognise and value what Henley graduates can do for them,’ agrees Linda Buckley, Head of Learning Experience and Executive Education Director at Henley Business School, Africa. ‘Education is ultimately about change, and South Africa’s employers see first-hand how Henley’s graduates are personally transformed and go on to transform their workplaces, creating new value.’
Buckley adds that Henley’s Executive Education offering also stands out in South Africa because it is the only international business school in South Africa that offers a “ladder” of accredited programmes at undergraduate- and postgraduate-level that can be customised to an organisation’s strategic goals and operational demands.
Henley received the highest score of all institutions surveyed by PMR.africa during September and October 2024. Respondents included HR directors and managers, CEOs and MDs, who rated the institutions across 11 attributes including:
‘Our diverse faculty drawn from our global learning network bring depth and multi-layered approaches, resulting in higher engagement, better research opportunities and a richer student experience,’ she says.
‘We are also continuously finding ways to adapt our programmes to the current business environment. This includes making use of virtual and augmented reality, experiential immersions and global perspectives. We aim to create new and unique simulations for current and future-focused learning that capture the rapid acceleration of today’s technological world.’
PMR.africa CEO Johann Hattingh lauded Henley's achievements, emphasising the importance of setting high standards and recognising excellence in the education industry to raise overall standards. ‘Henley consistently delivers graduates with strong business expertise within an African context, a skillset that is of enormous benefit to local and international corporations,’ he said.
‘This acknowledgement shows us that we at Henley are on the right track in providing industry and individuals with the knowledge and acumen needed to succeed in an accelerated and technologically sophisticated future,’ says Foster-Pedley. ‘It’s a validation of our vision of building the people, who build the businesses, that build Africa,’
‘We are in the business of disrupting traditional educational pathways to widen access to quality education and create a workplace skills revolution that has the potential to transform this economy and this country.’
Photo caption: L-R: Jon Foster-Pedley, Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa with Linda Buckley, Head of Learning Experience and Executive Education Director at Henley Business School Africa, and Shaka Zwane, Executive Head Insurance & Fiduciary, Standard Bank South Africa, at the launch of the 2025 Standard Bank Private and Personal Banking (PBB) Future-Fit Leadership Accelerator programmes.