The Copenhagen MBA

Programme Structure

Spread over one intensive year, the Copenhagen MBA curriculum is taught by world-class lecturers and business experts who promote an informal learning atmosphere with small class sizes. You will encounter a mix of teaching styles including lectures, guest speakers, case studies, immersive experiences, and group work.

Sustainable Management is the central theme and you will find yourself reflecting on this as you progress through the programme.

Alongside your core courses, you will take part in the Leadership Discovery Process, designed to help you uncover your personal leadership style. Through our personalised Career Module, you will identify your goals and how to get there. The Advisory Board Programme will let you put your new MBA skills into practice by advising a start-up and helping the business grow. You will finish the MBA year with your Integrated Strategy Project, allowing you to bring your entire MBA skillset to life.

How You Will Be Assessed

The assessment of each course varies, but it typically includes take-home assignments and written and oral examinations. Tested material blends a mix of theory and practice that covers seminal academic work to current affairs. The Integrated Strategy Project culminates in a group thesis, individual thesis defence, and a presentation to the company.

What You Will Study

The Copenhagen MBA curriculum has been designed to gradually build up your skills and knowledge across the course of the year, testing and challenging you along the way.

We also offer a one-week optional pre-MBA course to allow you to familiarise yourself with number-crunching business subjects, whether you have come from a humanities background or you are just a little out of practice.

Personalise Your MBA

You can take your MBA (and your career) in the direction you want to when you choose to study one of four key areas, Concentrations, in-depth.

Make Your MBA Your Own

In addition to your core courses you will be invited to dive deeper into an area you find particularly interesting or you feel will benefit your career. Choose from four concentrations: Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship, Finance or Governance & Sustainability – all important topics for the leader of the future.

What is more, these concentrations will be shared with our Executive MBA students, allowing you to further expand your network.

Explore the concentrations below to find out more about them.

Concentrations

Digitalisation

Giving you practical tools to drive change in the digital economy.

Learn to embrace innovation and harness the capabilities of digital technology to inform your strategic thinking and transform every area of business.

You will discuss the threats of disruption, new market entrants, and global platform companies as well as learn how to use data to lead the way forward, how to motivate and manage a digital workforce, and how to act to prevent and control the damage of cyberattacks such as we have seen hitting large businesses in recent years.

Course examples: Digital Platforms, Innovation Strategies in a Digital World, Managing the Digital Workforce, Digital Delivery Models

Entrepreneurship

Valuable tools for start-ups and established companies facing transformation.

Understand key aspects of the entrepreneurial journey along with frameworks and methods to help manage the inevitable uncertainty.

You will learn how to use design thinking to help articulate and map your entrepreneurial vision as well as how to create a value-driven business model, engage stakeholders in the process, and build a platform strategy to shape the market around your innovation. We will use applied, hands-on projects and work through common challenges with innovation-driven start-ups in the entrepreneurship lab.

Course examples: Venture Creation: The Entrepreneurial Process, Platform Disruption, and Platform-Based Business Models, Entrepreneurship-Lab, Resources for Scaling-Up: Engage with The Innovation Ecosystem

Finance

Understand how companies finance their operations and investments while simultaneously controlling risks and fulfilling the expectations of their stakeholders.

We will look at how entrepreneurs finance start-ups and how organizations raise funds both inside and outside of organised markets; the ways to control strategic and financial risks; how to value your own or another company; and how you can seize upon the opportunities provided by international financial markets.

Course examples: Private Equity & Venture Capital, Strategic Risk Management, Valuation & M&A, International Financial Management

Governance & Sustainability

Understand the importance of corporate governance and sustainability for the leader of the future.

We will explore the need for strong leadership in understanding business risks and opportunities in an age of sustainability; compliance management and the importance of an ethical approach; the need to design production and supply systems in a more sustainable way as well as the need for leveraging finance and investing to expand long-term business contributions to a sustainable economy.

Course examples: Leadership & Corporate Governance, Compliance & Risk Management, Circular Economy and Sustainable Supply Chains, Sustainable Finance

We are proud to be one of a select number of business schools with the ‘triple crown’ of accreditations. This sought-after distinction is yet another guarantee that an MBA degree from CBS is recognised, respected, and rewarded worldwide.

Quality Assurance

Our triple accreditation from AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS sets us apart from all other universities in Denmark and puts us in the top one per cent of business schools worldwide. We are also delighted to have been recognised by ACE and PIMS in Denmark for both the quality of the school and the programme. Each accreditation is outlined briefly below. To find out more, please visit the respective websites.

In addition to the triple-accreditation:

The Copenhagen MBA is among the top 100 global programmes on the prestigious Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2021. Copenhagen Business School is also ranked no 30 among European Business Schools in the 2020 Financial Times European Business School Ranking and no 64 globally in The Economist Which MBA ranking 2020. The Copenhagen MBA also features as no 24 globally in the 2020 QS MBA Ranking.

The Association of MBA, AMBA

In 2007, CBS became the first university in Denmark to receive accreditation from the AMBA, underlining its international credibility and status. The number of MBA qualifications available worldwide is now in the thousands, but only a small percentage of these would achieve accreditation if they were submitted to AMBA’s rigorous international criteria. Accreditation by the Association of MBAs identifies programmes as the best there is. In a crowded and complex market, the AMBA accreditation provides a reliable list of meticulously tested programmes and ensures that students' investments are rewarded with the finest business education available.

European Quality Improvement System, EQUIS

CBS has been accredited by EQUIS since 2000. The EQUIS accreditation is awarded to business schools based on general quality, taking into account the business school's level of internationalization. EQUIS assesses institutions as a whole. It assesses not just degree programmes but all the activities and sub-units of the institution, including research, e-learning units, executive education provision, and community outreach.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, AACSB

In August 2011, CBS was the first school in Scandinavia to receive the AACSB accreditation. The accreditation standards are used as the basis to evaluate a business school’s mission, operations, faculty qualifications and contributions, programmes, and other critical areas. AACSB accreditation ensures students and parents that the business school is providing a top-quality education. It also ensures employers that AACSB-accredited business school graduates are ready to perform on day one. Additionally, AACSB accreditation provides many benefits to the faculty and staff at its accredited schools by attracting higher quality students, providing greater research opportunities, and allowing for global recognition.

The Global Alliance of in Management Education, CEMS

CEMS is a strategic alliance of leading business schools and multinational companies. Its first mission is to set a global standard of excellence for a pre-experience Master in management. Founded in 1988 in Europe, CEMS provides the global league of leaders on the pre-experience Master's market and it cannot be equalled in terms of the reputation of its members: 28 world-class academic institutions collaborate together with over 70 corporate partners and 4 NGOs to offer international, postgraduate students a unique blend of high-quality education and professional experience.

Partnership in International Management, PIM

PIM, Partnership in International Management, is a consortium of leading international business schools, founded in 1973. Each member institution represents the highest degree of excellence in the fields of business administration and management, demonstrates leadership in their geographic region, and delivers an MBA or a graduate-equivalent degree in management.

Your Career

With the course ‘Managing Your Career’ we will facilitate opportunities for employment and support you in the process of landing a job.

A Tailored Career Service

From the very start of your MBA journey, you will benefit from our MBA career service. The course ‘Managing Your Career’ is a tailor-made, individual journey that lets you reflect on your post-MBA goals and your personal strengths and talents, as well as your ideal job situation and past experiences.

Throughout the year you will experience company visits, welcome guest speakers, and attend events – all of which are designed to help put you on the road to achieving your career goals.

Your Personal Career Mentor

As part of our commitment to your career, we will introduce you to our valuable MBA Alumni network, the biggest MBA network in Scandinavia, giving you numerous opportunities to interact with CBS MBA alumni, both on formal and less formal terms.

And if you, like many of our graduates, are interested in staying in Denmark post-MBA, we will match you up with an alumnus who will be your personal career mentor in the third trimester. Your mentor will not only assist you in creating a plan needed to achieve your career goals, but they will help you better understand the industry you have chosen and provide valuable insight into the Danish job market too.