Columbia Business School's Executive MBA (EMBA) Program is a 20-month graduate program designed specifically for businesspeople that are looking to enhance their education without interrupting their careers. The first year of classes consists of the same core curriculum as the Full-Time MBA program. Executive education is the focus of the second year.In addition to the New York–based EMBA Program, Columbia offers two partner programs to meet the differing needs and geographical distribution of prospective students. The EMBA-Global program started in 2001. It is a 20-month program administered in partnership with the London Business School. The program enrolls approximately 70 students from around the world per year. Courses are taught by the full-time faculty of both schools. During the first year, the core curriculum classes alternate monthly between the campuses of Columbia University and the London Business School. The core curriculum is similar to that offered in the regular EMBA programs offered separately by each school, but with a more transnational-business emphasis.
The second partner program is the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA, administered in conjunction with the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. This 19-month program enrolls approximately 70 students per year. Classes are divided into five terms. Each term contains five sessions that typically meet Thursday through Saturday. One session per term is held at the Columbia University campus, the other four are held on campus at the Haas School of Business. Courses are taught by the full-time faculty of both schools. The core curriculum is taught during the first three terms and consists of material similar to that given in the other two EMBA programs. The last two terms offer elective courses. Students may opt to spend one term studying exclusively in the NY-EMBA program at Columbia or taking classes in the full-time MBA or evening-weekend MBA programs at Berkeley.
Because students in the partner EMBA programs must satisfy the separate requirements of each partner school, they earn two MBA degrees, one each from Columbia and the partner school.