Best Open Enrollment Executive Education Programs 2008

University-based executive education programs are often a once-in-a-lifetime developmental experience, and can enhance any resume.

These 1-4 week programs are an excellent way to develop leadership and management skills, as well as build external networks that can last forever.

They are a big investment, and there are a lot of choices. To get started, I’d recommend reading the article, “How to Select an Executive Education Program”.

Once you’ve done that, here’s a handy companion reference list to bookmark and save.

I cross-referenced the Financial Times 2008 Best Open Enrollment Executive Education programs with the BusinessWeek Best Open Enrollment Executive Education programs 2007 (2008 has not been published yet).

Keep in mind that these are the best non-credit executive education programs, not the best business schools for an MBA.

Here are the 14 schools, with links and locations, that appear in the top 20 on both lists. I’ve put asterisks next to the schools that I have experience with and can personally recommend.

Harvard *
Boston

INSEAD *
France/Singapore

IMD *
Lausanne, Switzerland

Stanford *
Stanford, Calif.

Columbia *
New York

London Business School
London

Pennsylvania (Wharton) *
Philadelphia

Chicago GSB *Chicago

Virginia (Darden) *Charlottesville, Va.

IESE Barcelona

MIT (Sloan) Cambridge, Mass.

Western Ontario (Ivey) London, Ont.

Instituto de Empresa Madrid

Northwestern (Kellogg) *Evanston, Ill.

Although they did not show up on the FT top 20, I would be remiss if I didn’t include the Center for Creative Leadership, with locations around the world.