Executive MBA

Católica Porto Business School’s MBA programme was an exceptional experience that allowed me to enrich my social and technical skills in an extraordinary way. Thanks to this self-improvement I am now able to achieve one of the goals that led me to choose the International MBA in the first place – rise to higher levels in my professional career, especially from a global and international perspective. The faculty was, for me, one of the most valuable aspects of the programme, not only because of the vast knowledge and extensive work experience shown by its members, but also for their strong focus on the practical and professional contexts and their great willingness to help students.

The international weeks, particularly the one at ESADE, and the foreign teaching staff add an important international complexity to the programme enabling students to perceive the distinct facets of management in different cultural contexts, which are crucial in the current business context. The team spirit instilled in the group and experienced by its members throughout the programme is distinctive and fundamental inasmuch as it allows us to gain a new family for life, both for the time spent together and for the sharing of experiences.

An MBA is an important event in our lives and, for this reason, our goals must be clearly defined and choosing the right programme is key. In my case, I was driven by the wish to validate the skills and knowledge acquired along a career with several years of international experience. The Católica Porto Business School’s MBA programme was the one that seemed to me to be more compatible with my needs: the excellence of the Católica brand combined with its competent and recognised faculty and the programme’s strongly international component were the right ingredients.

The superior quality of this programme is visible from the outset and is present at all times: the care paid to the selection interviews, the permanent contact and constant provision of information about the whole process culminate in a path that while marked by rigour and accuracy it is also extremely challenging and rewarding.

Now that I have learned new concepts, relearned others and viewed the same problems from another perspective, I feel reborn as a professional, much more confident and much more capable and empowered. I certainly owe all this to the excellent faculty (because we can use the MBA to the best advantage and their support and willingness are crucial), to my classmates (who are my friends today) with whom I have had the privilege to share the 10th edition and to the entire school staff, always friendly and welcoming.

Católica Porto Business School’s MBA has exceeded my expectations and to some extent it has influenced my decision to pursue an international career and use all my knowledge and experience in a different setting. I must emphasise the quality of the faculty, the topical practical cases developed inside and outside the classroom, enabling us a better grasp of the concepts addressed in the different courses, the selection process and the level of the admitted students, which allowed me to enhance my networking and to know distinct experiences. The MBA’s curriculum is very well put together to meet the needs of businesses in the face of the current economic environment in Portugal and worldwide and to train managers who can address these challenges.

I have a degree in Business Management and Administration from Católica Porto Business School and I believe it is vital to update knowledge and upgrade the skills that are needed to perform duties in the field of management. Católica was my first and only option due to its undeniable value and recognition, from the faculty to the administrative support staff.

Because I am fully convinced that the only way to enhance my Organisation’s competitiveness is to invest in training and in the development of human capital, I chose the MBA as a way to foster new career development capabilities.

The school selects the group in a particularly careful way, the latter consisting of elements with a variety of academic backgrounds and different work experiences. Conviviality and knowledge sharing foster my development as an element of a team and allow me to turn differences into opportunities. In addition to technical skills, the programme is strongly committed to the development of personal skills, which are a valuable asset in one’s personal and professional evolution.

At a time of financial and political turmoil, the MBA boosted my confidence and flexibility to cope with unforeseen incidents. Aware of this learning, I am prepared to accept and embrace new challenges, strengthen my role with regard to relationship management, information sharing and motivating working teams.

I decided to do the MBA for the same reasons as any other individual would – exclusively for professional reasons. Coming from a totally different field of expertise, the MBA offered me what is most looked for in labour market today – to differentiate myself and to differentiate the service that I provided. As a holder of a degree in law and working in that area, which due to its complexity focuses significantly on the technical component, I saw the MBA as a way to broaden horizons and develop other technical skills that would bring me closer to those I was providing services to.

The fact is that the MBA has enabled me to achieve those goals and acquire those technical capacities (today I am able to talk to CFOs, business managers, and marketeers without having the feeling that we speak different languages), but it also went far beyond the scope I had initially assigned to it.

I had the privilege and the luck of attending the MBA with a group of unique students coming from widely different backgrounds and with very diverse experiences, which they were willing to share, and with soft skills that matched (and exceeded even) their technical skills. I learned a great deal both in and outside class, from each one of the classmates that were and are part of the 9th edition of Católica’s MBA.

Católica Porto Business School’s MBA was a fantastic experience lived in a great atmosphere between faculty, classmates and the entire school staff. The stimulating learning environment and the highly experienced faculty, both academically and professionally meant rigour and strictness as well as sharing and inspiration in which dialogue and the exchange of ideas prevailed. The programme helped me to complement my knowledge of finance, accounting, marketing and operations in a coherent whole, closing loopholes and sparking innovation, factors which are increasingly important to meet the daily challenges posed by international business management. I should also like to underline the importance of the international weeks, the partnership with Dynargie and the events and activities organised by the school, all of them carefully planned and highly appreciated by everyone.

At the end of the rich learning journey that was the 11th edition of Católica Porto Business School’s MBA, we had the opportunity to experience a true business simulation game. The game allowed us to integrate a large part of the concepts learned in class (marketing, finance, human resources, production, strategy) by putting them into action and immediately seeing the impact of the decision-making process.

The international week at ESADE enhanced the relevance of teamwork, the commitment to an objective and competitiveness in the markets where organisations operate. I should also like to underline the added value brought to the whole process by the ESADE faculty, by “forcing” us to think and act in an innovative way. In short, it was a truly enriching and interactive lesson in Management Strategy that will be etched in my memory forever.

The week at ESADE had three different facets: 

• having the privilege of engaging with a school and faculty of excellence;
• experiencing the challenge of a management simulation exercise which feels almost real and forces us to think in a strategic and operational way and to make decisions based on the knowledge acquired in the course of the MBA;
• deep and intensive teamwork where each individual plays a key role in the final outcome.

It is a week marked by great intensity and discipline, only possible thanks to the skills and work capacity acquired with our teachers throughout the MBA, which enable us to understand concepts and make quick decisions within the competition’s global context.

However, it is mostly a week for sharing and witnessing the union and friendship links that grow between us and that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. We are left with the memories and the experience of moments of hard work and application of knowledge as well of good humour and comradeship.

Due to the assignments for the MBA’s course in the Marketing course, the office became the first Portuguese law firm to be studied in academia, something which has earned us significant national and international reviews. While opening our doors to people outside the organisation and taking up their suggestions appeared to be a rather complex thing to do, we found, in practice, that it was fundamental to engage with those who master this area of knowledge and think about it openly. It was equally crucial to understand how important this is and to set in motion the plan designed by the group of students, who were able to watch and follow up the implementation of their recommendations, every step of the way. The challenge to differentiate took shape and gained content, and now that we have achieved it, it has established new objectives and posed new challenges. A special thank you goes to Católica Porto Business School’s team for inviting us to take part in the challenge and, above all, for making it possible to integrate the real school into real life.

Within the framework of our partnership with Católica Porto Business School, we have agreed to take in a group of students enrolled in the MBA’s Marketing course, and I’m glad we did so.

Our challenge to the group was the following: they were to solve a specific Marketing issue for which we had still not found a satisfactory solution.

The methodology used, the students’ natural curiosity, their rigour and their “independent” vision helped us to find “the” solution to the problem. 

The experience was, therefore, very positive for our team and for our company.

Management is a complex, global and multicultural challenge. Access to the knowledge generated by the University in close relationship with organizations is a basic pathway for those who want to become better managers. Sharing experiences and self-knowledge are also key factors in the development of management skills. Católica Porto Business School’s Executive MBA was designed according to these objectives. It helps participants to know themselves (through “My Leadership”, a 360-degree assessment) and enables them to access updated, reasoned and relevant knowledge. Students have the opportunity to acquire enabling tools in management and leadership skills that prepare them to work in a dynamic and global business environment.

The Executive MBA provides students with a holistic and systemic vision of management that motivates and challenges them to design and implement integrated management systems. The search for the best combination of people, processes and systems in an organisational ecosystem allows to focus on value creation provided by the implementation of a strategy. The exploring of practical cases, including successes and failures, helps to illustrate the rationales that are taught both historically and in practice. The challenge posed to students to build and explore cases in the classroom stimulates group interaction; listening skills; speaking skills; cooperation and collaboration!

Because it provides a transforming experience that represents a definitive boost to one’s professional career due to its international vision, active and innovative learning methodology, up-to-date content in line with the business world, combined with the prestige of a top-level university, and experienced participants to share the learning process with and present and future networking.

I teach Corporate Finance at Católica Porto Business School’s Executive MBA. The strength of this MBA lies in the inclusion of international lecturers such as me and a few other colleagues. Moreover, Católica Porto Business School is open to different teaching styles provided that professional rigour and the focus on business practice are safeguarded.

Students in this MBA are highly active learners, because they are people with great human and professional quality. Executives who attend Católica Porto Business School’s Executive MBA learn a great deal from their lecturers and from their classmates while building interesting professional relationships.

All faculty members are very much involved with the Business School and, in addition to it, we are also very close to students. The strength of an MBA today lies in its differentiation from other proposals. The difference about Católica Porto Business School’s Executive MBA is the professionalism and the international reputation of its academic staff who are motivated by top-quality participants.

The change in paradigm of the Executive MBA that is now being proposed is a consequence of Católica Porto Business School’s concern with bringing its educational offers into line with the entrepreneurial dynamism by focusing on the priorities of every stage of corporate development. It is a promise of value designed from within businesses that enables to adjust content to existing needs in a perfect way.

This innovation also has to do with the fact that this is a process based on an initial skills assessment that makes it possible to define a development model to train and develop professionals capable of creating a corporate sustainability commitment suited to the business ecosystem.

It is therefore the recognition that the School is naturally an integral component of an ecosystem and calls for an active involvement in business life.