Asia: University of Chicago Executive MBA Program Attracts Older Ages

Writing in The Korea Times, Chung Ah-young reports on an executive MBA (EMBA) program that will help seniors successfully continue developing their business skills over their long careers in an aging society. According to the article, "Beth Bader, managing director of the EMBA Asia program of Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago in the United States, said getting an adult education and continued investment in oneself, through the EMBA course, are crucial in almost any field, for successful long-term careers."

``People begin to realize they don’t want to spend their whole or half their life just declining as they are getting older. In a sense, they can reinvent themselves, if they want to do that. Or they can make a very significant jump in their abilities and flexibilities in the very specialized business program,’’ Bader said.

She stressed that in societies with aging populations, people hope to work longer.

``That’s why I predict more demands for the EMBA course for older ages and more mature-aged students here in Korea and other aging countries. Particularly, business in Korea has been much more mature. People are going to need to work a lot longer than they have done in the past. I think it has happened already in the United States,’’ she said.

Source: "Executive MBA Program Targets Seniors" The Korea Times (February 1, 2006)