The Executive MBA Council and LinkedIn Team Up to Measure Return on Education for Executive MBA Graduates

MBA Blog / 28th November 2017

The Executive MBA Council (EMBAC), in collaboration with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, answered the age old question: ‘Is an Executive MBA worth it?’ According to respondents of more than 1,000 Executive MBA (EMBA) alumni across the globe, 72 percent said the EMBA program had a positive impact on their career. For those graduates, an EMBA degree resulted in promotions, substantial salary increases over time, career changes or even launching their own business. 

“The Executive MBA Council hears from alumni about how the program has enhanced their careers, but working together with LinkedIn to survey their members, we were able to gather concrete evidence that an EMBA program has a positive impact on one’s career,” said Michael Desiderio, executive director of the Executive MBA Council. “Interestingly, the results show that earning potential was not the main factor for prospective students when deciding to attend a program; rather, it was an increase in business knowledge and skills that could positively impact change for their career course.”

In fact, the study found that the most important decision factors for prospective students when deciding to enroll in an EMBA program are core business knowledge, and leadership and collaboration skills. Salary increases came in as the fifth reason, behind opportunities to do fulfilling work and ability to change one’s career trajectory. When rating how EMBA programs delivered on these pre-program decision factors, there was alignment for the top two reasons as graduates felt the program delivered well in those two areas.

“LinkedIn is actively investing in solutions for higher education institutions, so it was a natural fit for us to work with the Executive MBA Council to understand what graduates are gaining from EMBA programs,” said Ira Amilhussin, global senior marketing manager, higher education at LinkedIn. “On LinkedIn, schools have a unique opportunity to engage prospects, current students and alumni, and we were able to survey our worldwide user base to determine the return on education as it relates to EMBA programs.”

EMBAC is the academic association of business schools which offer EMBA programs throughout the world, which currently includes more than 200 colleges and universities that administer 300 plus programs in more than 30 countries worldwide. The survey was fielded Sept. 5 through 15, 2017, and included 1,017 graduates from North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions.