Fuqua School of Business

-The student population at the Fuqua School of Business has a diverse business background: from banks, IT, non-for profit organizations, arts, health organizations, and hospitality to mention a few. We got a well-rounded learning experience. The trips we took were to the most important international business centers such as Singapore, Dubai, London, and Saint Petersburg.

-It was outstanding. As an HR professional who has seen, recruited at, and sent top talent to top programs, Duke by far has been the most life-transformational experience of any. I'm sending our highest potential talent to Duke where it makes sense. Can't say enough good about the positive impact it's had on my professionally and personally.

-Overall a very good program. It's not Harvard but a precious and unique experience nonetheless. Other than that, in the real world it's who you know and what school you have attended (sad but true).

-The best feature of the Duke Fuqua Global EMBA program is the people. The curriculum is fantastic and balanced (very much balanced and even keeled). However, I found that the students -- my classmates -- were first rate.

-I did not get any real support from their career management recruitment office (considering that this was a flagship program I would have expected a lot more). The school should recruit some additional students from large companies (preferably executive level). Teachers need to present real-life problems from suppliers and allow students to devise solutions for these and present to the company representatives. This will help solve problems while learning, while also letting them potentially seek employment opportunities.

-The best classes had the most interaction between the student's teams and the class and where there was a hands-on component. An example of the former, in cost management we had role-playing experiences. In operations we experimented with supply chain management. Where applicable, the other classes could have taken advantage of these kinds of interactive classroom learning techniques.

-This is a GLOBAL Executive MBA program and the fact that most of the modules are held in different countries brings additional value to the program. Nevertheless, I think that global and international context could be explored more carefully during this trips.

-The foremost challenge was the technology. The legacy challenges and slightly dated interfaces and procedures led to some raised affective filters, which hindered learning. Some slightly dated content in some parts of classes may need to be addressed.

-The first two residency experiences in London and St. Petersburg were light on organization, and weren't as immersive as I had hoped. However, the subsequent residencies were amazing experiences, aided by a tightened organization (with backup plans!!) and a much more activist role by the cohort.

-The program would have also benefitted from a more heavy-duty distance learning technical platform. Most of the teams and individuals in my class quickly adopted other technology platforms (such as BaseCamp and Skype) to accomplish their distance learning goals.

-About five percent of the class were not of the caliber to attend Fuqua. Probably should not have been admitted.

-I'm not sure how it could be improved. We covered a lot of material in 18 month, bringing in many views and discussion points. We listened to both the professors and our classmates, many of them leaders in their industries. So to say we could improve the classroom experience is an exercise in discussing time limitations. Could we have gone longer? Yes, perhaps we could improve the classroom experience by extending the classes so issues could be examined in depth.

-All in all, I thought the Global Executive MBA program at Duke's Fuqua School of Business was excellent. It fulfilled and exceeded all of my expectations. I'm glad I waited to complete this program versus a more traditional full-time program due to my experience and focus on international business / affairs / etc.