Why many seek further business education away from their alma mater

Business schools are discovering a hard truth: while their graduates are keen to keep learning, few are returning to their alma maters to do so.

New research shows that nearly half of business school alumni are actively pursuing further education — but only 30 per cent plan to do so through the institution where they earned their degree. 

The findings, from the Alumni Matters study by consultancy CarringtonCrisp and accreditation body EFMD Global, are based on responses from more than 2,000 business school alumni across 87 countries. They highlight a mismatch between the learning opportunities schools provide and the expectations of their graduates.

That gap presents a challenge for business schools hoping to grow their executive education revenues, a cash cow for decades, by re-engaging former students. Many have stepped up outreach, offering discounted rates, often 25 to 50 per cent off, and expanding online access. But the results have been mixed.

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Andrew Crisp, co-founder of CarringtonCrisp, says the issue is often practical rather than personal: “Some people do not know what their school offers, and it can be difficult to find the information. There’s a job for schools to do around awareness and marketing.”

Alumni cite a range of reasons for going outside the fold: online formats that reduce the need for travel, or the cachet of adding another globally recognised name to a CV. 

Eric Cornuel, president of EFMD, cautions against reading the figures as a sign of discontent. “Importantly, this isn’t a reflection of dissatisfaction with their original experience,” he says. Most alumni still see value in their schools, with 70 per cent interested in tailored programmes and 64 per cent seeking online content from their alma mater. 

However, Cornuel says the gap between interest and re-enrolment suggests that schools need to rethink their role — connecting alumni to broader learning networks beyond their own walls. While cross-school partnerships are more common in executive MBA programmes, they remain rare in non-degree executive education. 

In the meantime, many institutions are broadening alumni offerings as time constraints make full programmes harder to commit to — adding shorter sessions, informal events and career support.

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business offers alumni-only learning experiences — free aside from a flat administrative fee — ranging from brief online sessions in evenings to weekend courses on campus in Washington. Popular topics include sustainability and data fluency.

While attendance is strong, McDonough’s director of alumni relations Sara Martinez says the aim is not to convert participants into paying customers. “We don’t want this to be a transaction,” she says. “We want to walk alongside alumni for their entire professional journey.”

At other schools, alumni learning is more directly linked to executive education. IE University in Madrid runs more than 400 alumni events globally each year, including faculty-led masterclasses and professional development workshops. About 9,000 alumni attend these sessions annually, while a further 500 return for executive education programmes.

“These initiatives reinforce the idea that learning is not a finite journey,” says Sara Lindgren, head of global alumni relations at IE.

Still, many graduates continue to look elsewhere. Fabrice Rosenstiehl, a 1997 graduate of HEC Paris and now interim chief operating officer at French chemicals start-up Separative, has completed executive programmes at MIT Sloan and IMD — but has not returned to his alma mater for formal study.

Rosenstiehl remains engaged with HEC through events, but says he is looking for content that clearly sets the school apart from other providers. “Returning to HEC would depend on whether its offer stood out not just on flexibility or price, but on the value it signals to peers and employers,” he says.

That sense of selectiveness is not uncommon — and in many cases, employer-provided training is also shaping alumni decisions. Companies such as Google, Amazon and PwC offer in-house programmes, covering topics often found in short business school courses.

Daniel Cady, a 2020 MBA graduate of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and now a manager at Google, has relied on internal training rather than returning to school for formal study. But he remains open to a return. 

“Affordable pricing and personalised content on topics like investing or entrepreneurship would potentially pull me back,” he says.

However, a growing range of alternatives — from online platforms like Coursera and edX to branded certificates from providers such as Harvard Business School Online — has made the sector more competitive.

“The market for executive education has grown and diversified greatly in the past decade,” says Thomas O’Toole, associate dean for executive programmes at the Kellogg School of Management in Illinois. 

This, he says, has made alumni more focused and selective in their search for further learning.

In response, Kellogg has developed a broader alumni offer, including free executive coaching, peer accountability groups — small, peer-led groups designed to support alumni in their professional growth, and a leadership programme for recent graduates. The school reports more than 20,000 alumni interactions each year, spanning coaching sessions, career support, webinars and networking events.

Other schools are testing new formats. Columbia Business School in New York offers Alumni Edge, an online programme featuring short, low-cost courses for working professionals. More than 3,200 alumni have completed modules in topics such as Python programming, value investing and business analytics.

The pace of job change and technological disruption means skills acquired even a few years ago may no longer be enough. “While life-long learning has always been of interest to alumni, now it is an imperative,” says Erin Dodd, vice-dean for alumni relations and development at Columbia.