The FINANCIAL — Professor Peter Tufano, Peter Moores Dean at Saïd Business School, has todayOxford announced the Oxford 1 + 1 MBA Programme, a new initiative that will allow students to pair Oxford University’s one year full-time MBA course with one of a selection of one year MSc programmes offered by other University departments.
“In many areas, it is important for successful practitioners to have strong technical skills or domain knowledge in conjunction with rich management training,” says Professor Tufano. “Given the frequently stated complexity of the challenges faced by the next generation of leaders, this combination could become a dominant theme of 21st century postgraduate education.”
High calibre applicants will be offered the opportunity to apply to both the MBA and MSc programmes at the same time, and to undertake a two-year Oxford postgraduate experience that combines the depth of study of an MSc, with the managerial and leadership breadth of an MBA.
Oxford's 1 + 1 MBA Programme will be offered to students applying for 2012 matriculation at the University of Oxford, with the intention that they will spend the first year completing an MSc and then begin the MBA in September 2013.
Candidates will need to gain admission separately to both programmes and meet both programme's entry requirements. The benefits of this combination will be unique; students will be cross trained, drawing upon the resources of a world class university. You will develop two complementary networks of peers and alumni and engage in Oxford's collegiate experience, interacting with students and faculty from all over the university. Depending on your chosen 1+1 combination, you will be able to craft a summer experience that permits you to investigate career opportunities.
So far four departments at the University have committed to linking their MSc programmes with the MBA as part of the 1 + 1 Programme: the School of Geography and the Environment, the Department of Education, the Oxford Internet Institute and the Department of Computer Science.
The Oxford 1 + 1 MBA Programme will offer students an experience akin to the two-year MBA programmes that are currently the norm at North American business schools, giving them a longer lead time into entering the job market, as well as access to a larger and more diverse network of fellow students at Saïd Business School, on their MSc course and in their Oxford college.
Oxford has historically offered this type of experience to its Rhodes Scholars, who have often constructed customised, multi-year programmes, and Professor Tufano now plans to make it available to MBA candidates who demonstrate a high level of potential as future leaders. The aim is to create Oxford graduates who will be identified by employers as having detailed subject knowledge, combined with highly developed delivery skills.
The Oxford 1+1 MBA Programme is still subject to final University approval and we expect to begin taking applications in December.
