Why is a Henley MBA a wise investment for you and your company? - Henley Business School South Africa

The Henley flexible MBA programme is not just a pathway to a top international qualification. It is an independently verified road to professional confidence, authority and recognition, based on intellectual, executive and personal development.   The Henley MBA is committed to graduating leaders who will build the next generation of business and organisations to build the African economy  – and together create a new future for our continent.  

Henley MBA graduates are taught to be better sense makers, change agents and active decisionmakers. By learning to ask better and more powerful questions, they learn to be relevant and insightful.   By learning to structure their thinking  and their preparation, they focus on having high impact.   By being developed to commit to action under conditions of uncertainty, they make a real difference.  

We build the people who build the businesses that build Africa.  

The people who matter are the people who make a difference. We need businesses that work, and at Henley we build the people who will make those businesses work by the force of their will, intelligence and training.  

Our MBA qualification is international 

The Henley MBA is a true international MBA, recognised globally. Achieving a Henley MBA means reaching an audited international standard given that the qualification is granted University of Reading, UK, the parent university of Henley Business School UK.  

Our rankings are outstanding 

Henley has been ranked: 

• #1 International Business School accredited in Africa for Executive Education 

(Financial Times 2018, 2019 and 2020)

• #1 MBA Business School in South Africa ranked by Corporate SA

(PMR Africa 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021)

• #1 Alumni Network in the World for Potential to Network 

(The Economist 2017)

Our standards are global – and sustained 

Not only is Henley the oldest business school in Europe, the Henley MBA has been delivered for over 27 years in South Africa. The MBA is accredited by the HEQC as a South African level 9 masters qualification. We are highly experienced in graduating exceptional executives at international level. The Henley flexible executive MBA is taught by Henley’s international faculty, marked and assessed by the same international examiners, completing the exact same programme at the same international level as our MBA students in Henley’s UK and other global campuses teaching the flexible executive MBA. Because of this the Henley MBA is recognised by the University of Reading in the UK and successful  students are  given a full UK MBA qualification at masters level.

Invest in substance and quality.  The Henley MBA is internationally triple accredited. We are deeply and regularly audited by international QA bodies 

Henley MBA graduates achieve a qualification from an internationally triple accredited business school, one of only 1% in the world to attain this. What this means is that the leading academic standards bodies in the USA (AACSB), UK (AMBA) and EU (EQUIS) have each separately accredited Henley as reaching the highest standards of educational delivery and operation. Each accreditation must be regularly renewed under intense scrutiny, so this means that you have an impartially sound basis for safe talent investment into yourself, your people, your company. You’re building your career on rock, not sand. And it’s really great value for money here in Africa. This exact same MBA qualification is offered at a considerably higher fee – nearly double – in the UK.  

A great business school shouldn’t just produce qualifications. Which is why we drive purpose and prosperity 

Our job is to drive economic development and a better quality of life. We don’t produce ivory tower academics or jargon-filled theorists. We graduate grounded, skilled, engaged and committed people who can make a difference straightaway in their organisations. People with purpose.   They build new and better forms of business, contributing to economic development and opening up pathways to employment and prosperity for those talented, excluded South Africans still locked in poverty.  

Henley graduates are a new elite of activist achievers; normal people: but with exceptional skills and extraordinary commitment – who get results.  

Why do we say that the Henley MBA is flexible? 

For three reasons: 

1. You can work while you’re studying, and have time for your family too. It’s learning for adults, who have jobs, families and lives, using adult learning methodologies. Its spread over 30 months, project-based, with a blended mix of company based projects, online learning, and the high impact workshops delivered by our international faculty.  
2. You can change the tempo. When work or home pressures get too intense, flexible deadlines and extensions can be arranged for some of the assignments and attendance on some workshops is not compulsory. In extreme cases studies can be suspended and restarted after a while.  
3. We are a business school that focuses on a family-friendly MBA. Students and their partners have a free program of support workshops (evening and weekend) around complex project management, adult learning, parenting, relationship management, work life balance and life skills. We arrange great children’s entertainment on site during these workshops.  

How is this MBA practical? 

It’s applied – to the person, the company, the industry and to the African context. Most of the assignments are projects specific to the students’ work and companies. So, it’s real and makes a difference. The theory is tested, there’s a contribution to company work immediately, the learning is contextualized to the company/ industry/discipline that is most relevant. It’s automatically contextualised to Africa whilst retaining the best of global insight and knowledge.  

Students get to know their companies better and from a higher perspective, preparing them for the next step.  

They build company-specific skills, company-specific knowledge all in the African context. Furthermore it’s real-life and real-time – they have to manage while they’re learning. They come out, stronger, tested, ready and confidence  – a tougher and better preparation for making an impact.  

Is the MBA the only and best way to learn and build executives? 

Of course not. There are many superb qualifications and ways to learn available, especially for specialised knowledge or skills. So, it’s worth looking around. But what a good MBA creates is unparalleled for building business and organisational leaders.  At Henley we’re not building executives who will just occupy a corner office; we are building the leaders who will be the cornerstones of progress and prosperity.   The best MBAs (and you can be sure a triple accredited MBA is one of the best)  will build maturity, better and wider thinking. They also grow critical thinking, systemic understanding, a deeper confidence in taking initiative and getting things done, and multiple sets of knowledge and skills appropriate for general management, senior executes and the emerging C-suite.

 We’d be delighted to talk this through with you at any time.