A TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Invest in yourself, your career and your organisation

The Executive MBA programme is a transformative learning experience targeted at senior managers and executive leaders who consciously want to enhance their ability to conceptualise, rather than their proficiency in functional management.

EMBA candidates will learn to:

  • Go beyond knowledge and theory to include the felt experience of being in management 
  • Become more authentic in their engagement
  • Find new purpose and fulfilment in their role and develop greater resilience in the workplace
  • Develop the capacity to integrate multiple perspectives and strategies to build more holistic and sustainable organisations

* Application & Course fees are provisional for 2025, and are subject to annual UCT council approval

uct gsb EMBA Overview

Learn more about the annual term dates for the UCT GSB EMBA programme.

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The Executive MBA programme is a transformative learning experience made up of five courses and a minor dissertation over a 24 month period. Learn more about the UCT GSB EMBA.

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Learn more about which attributes and qualifications are required for the UCT GSB EMBA.

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A step-by-step guide on how to apply for the UCT GSB EMBA programme.

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The Executive MBA programme comprises five interactive courses and with a dissertation.

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Find out more about the UCT GSB EMBA Programme Fees Structure.

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WHAT OUR ALUMNI SAY

THINK AND LEAD DIFFERENTLY

Prepare yourself to lead in a world of new ideas

The UCT GSB EMBA will expose you to different ways of viewing the world, and build your capacity to integrate multiple perspectives and strategies for a more holistic and sustainable organisation. 

For your convenience, this is a modular programme with a reasonable workload: five, two-week modules held at the UCT GSB Breakwater campus in Cape Town – South Africa’s most iconic and beautiful city.

About UCT GSB EMBA

#1+

Ranked EMBA in Africa

#51

Ranked globally by QS Global EMBA Rankings

40%

are female executives

30%

of the EMBA class are entrepreneurs

Study abroad

Spend part of your course overseas at one of our reputable partner schools

UCT GSB Executive MBA students can participate in an EMBA Global Network week at any one of our 31 Global Network partner schools. These place annually in June.

Global Network Weeks give UCT GSB EMBA students the opportunity to pursue intensive study at another network school – tuition-free. Alongside their counterparts from elsewhere in the network, students attend classes, tour local businesses, and meet with experts focused on current business problems.

Each school offers a week focused on a specific topic designed to address the current challenges senior-level professionals may face.

Visit the GNAM website for more information about the topics on offer during previous MBA Global Network Weeks.

AP: EMBA class of 2020

Meet the Class of 2020

Our award-winning Executive MBA is enriched by the diversity and expertise of our students. Discover the driving force behind our EMBA: our students.

Meet our students

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The UCT GSB Executive MBA (EMBA) is aimed at senior level, experienced individuals who consciously want to enhance their ability to conceptualise and execute, rather than their proficiency in functional management. Whereas, the MBA programme at the UCT GSB is geared toward aspiring up and coming managers who want to hone their management skills, and as such, the MBA is strong on content in respect of the core disciplines of management

An Executive MBA is not full-time. Learning on the EMBA is interactive and collaborative and happens both in class and in the workplace between modules. Although contact time at the UCT GSB is only 12 weeks over the two years, the EMBA is an immersive experience that will require consistent attention in between modules.

 You will need to bring yourself and your experience to the classroom and be prepared to learn from others as much as from your teachers. The interactive nature of the programme requires that you attend all contact courses and contribute to the collective experience. Courses are assessed through group and individual assignments. 

Once you graduate from the UCT GSB you will join our alumni network which is a dynamic forum comprising more than 23 000 past GSB students in 68 countries worldwide. Many of the GSB’s alumni hold key positions in top companies or have started their own successful businesses. Alumni play a vital role in supporting and encouraging more recent graduates to follow in their footsteps and GSB students who find employment after graduation - particularly internationally - frequently do so through alumni contacts.

EMBA applicants have two options, they either have to write the GMAT or the MCPA. You can write the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) and obtain an acceptable GMAT score of 550. The UCT GSB offers a five-day GMAT Preparation Course to help students prepare for the GMAT. Alternatively, candidates can choose to write the Management Career Path Appreciation Assessment (MCPA), which provides an indication of the candidate’s current and future capabilities. 

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EMBA FT Rankings
Annual Reviews

UCT GSB's Executive MBA Ranked Top 4 Globally for Diversity

The latest Financial Times Executive MBA rankings have been released and the UCT Graduate School of Business’s EMBA Programme has once again made the Top 100 – the only African business school to appear on the list. Moreover, it is in the top five globally for women’s representation.

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Posted on 4 December 2023 by UCT GSB Press Office
FT EMBA Ranking 2022
Learning & Development

UCT GSB’s Executive MBA ranked among top 20 in the world for student satisfaction

Newest Financial Times ranking shows the Executive MBA at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) among the best of the best in alumni satisfaction and prior work experience, making it once again the only African programme to earn a spot on the prestigious list.

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Posted on 19 October 2022 by UCT GSB Press Office
Sean Sean
Learning & Development

Lessons Learnt: Advice for starting your career

Not many people can say they had to choose between completing their MBA and coaching the national female volleyball team, but Sean Lewis' career journey has been anything but linear. From high school teacher to working at Africa's leading premier ICT solutions services provider, and completing his EMBA along the way, Lewis has plenty of advice to share with graduates and career changers.

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Posted on 9 June 2022 by UCT GSB Press Office
EMBA alumnus Christophe Viarnaud
Learning & Development

Powering the continent’s growth through collaboration with entrepreneurs across Africa

EMBA alumnus Christophe Viarnaud is a man on a mission. The French national has made South Africa not only his home, but a country in which his passion for entrepreneurship and education has launched the ventures of scores of bright start-ups across the continent.

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Posted on 30 July 2021 by UCT GSB Press Office
Steven van Rheede
Learning & Development

MBA alumnus puts lockdown to good use

Steven van Rheede was part of the 2020 MBA class that, three months into the programme, quickly had to shift their studies online; it bore some unforeseen benefits, he says.

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Posted on 30 July 2021 by UCT GSB Press Office
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Can we risk our society’s future on a system that produces the leadership we experience?

The events of the past two weeks have brought into sharp focus the devastating results of selecting leaders based on popularity over other criteria. To avoid shipwrecking our country, it’s time to design a better system of stewarding our collective needs.

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Posted on 23 July 2021 by Kosheek Sewchurran
Quad Area - Media
Learning & Development

UCT’s Executive MBA programme is still number one in Africa

The QS 2021 Global EMBA Rankings have ranked the UCT Graduate School of Business’ EMBA programme number one in Africa and 51st in the world. This unique degree transforms executives by putting them into a better relationship with their lived experience to focus solving the complex problems of our times.

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Posted on 5 July 2021 by UCT GSB Press Office
Kosheek Sewchurran We need leaders and managers
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We need leaders and managers who have the skills and moral compass to build a just world

We need leaders and managers who have the skills and moral compass to build a just world

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Posted on 24 June 2021 by Kosheek Sewchurran