People who take a 1-year MBA tend to be a bit older and more experienced. Part of the attraction for the shorter programme is that taking the time away from “regular life” can be trickier if you’re a bit more established. Fortunately, someone with a strong track record of six to 10 years of business experience – typical of one year MBA students – already has good business knowledge and shows excellent leadership skills potential. This is why accelerated MBA programmes are designed with less time on the nuts and bolts of business management and more time developing skills potential.

Knowledge and skills must go hand-in-hand in business management. That’s why MBA programmes increase and deepen the knowledge you have, so you can access it like second nature in any business situation. Aside from the basic MBA toolkit, at Porto Business School (PBS) the leadership stream runs throughout the year combining experiential exercises, one-on-one coaching (each participant has different coaches following them for the entire year, each coach focusing on a different development agenda), peer learning, and classroom activities.

In experiential learning, students take part in on- and off-campus exercises – all the while getting constant feedback from experienced professionals (professors and leadership coaches), as well as their peers. Because PBS professors are also consultants and researchers, participants get the benefit of their first-hand experience and work with very current case studies. There is also consultancy project work where participants deal with real situations and real companies, seeing immediate results.

The Magellan MBA Consulting Project is the culmination of nine intensive months of learning about state-of-the-art management concepts, tools and trends in distinct areas of management and different industries. It is a great platform for all of Magellan participants to put into practice everything that they have learnt during the year and realize how far they have come. It is a step back into the real world where Magellan participants are working on a real strategic challenge being faced by a company who expects solid deliverables.

The time spent in a 1-year MBA is intensive. Many say they have never worked harder in their lives, never gone as far out of their comfort zones and never forged deeper friendships. When that environment is combined with top-level business learning by leading international business minds, it’s a perfect recipe for a transformational experience.

Marianne Baillot, a 2018 PBS grad, had been choreographer before she went to PBS. “Deciding to attend the Magellan MBA at Porto Business School was a great choice,” she says. “Coming from the art and the creative industrie, I wanted to be able to work in another sector. In the end, I got much more! I met a network of amazing people, mentos, and companies; I gained posture learning to be more assertive, focused and self-confident.” Her post-PBS career rose to a highly prominent position as Managing Director and Expansion with luxury hotels Milésime. Stay tuned!

Some of the strategies used at PBS include involving participants in hands-on experiences in global innovation hubs such as Silicon Valley and China. The business school also collaborates with renowed institutions for training in design thinking and digital technology expertise. “International week at UC Berkeley blew my mind with their innovative thought processes and frameworks” says Takahiro Hosoya, a 2019 PBS grad. “The Business Transformation Lab in IE Segovia gave me great insights into innovation thinking. The experience made me realize the Magellan MBA was the right choice to persue my career goal of entrepreneurship” he says.

Leadership is a personal skill – each person’s leadership style is entirely unique. That’s why business schools use self-awareness and leadership coaching to help integrate leadership skills. Executive leadership coaching is integrated into most 1-year MBA programmes. One-on-one and group coaching exercises help participants feel their responses in simulated situations. Coaches provide impartial, expert guidance in a safe environment.

Miguel Gil Mata, graduated in 2004. He says that having an engineering background, the Magellan MBA year made substantial changes and promoted him to managerial roles for the last ten years and, the latest, CEO of Sonae Capital.

The cost of a 1-year MBA is high, but less overall than a 2-year program, and of course there is one less year without a salary versus a traditional MBA. But the difference is also about time of life and the desire to transfor. One-year MBA graduates are ready to take a leap, drive their own futures and deliver real business impact wherever they go.

Our recruitment experience at the Magellan MBA has been extremely positive, as graduates bring enhanced business and people skills from day one, enabling them to tackle the challenges of their responsabilities with a renewed mindset and an assertive approach,and effectively contribute to the success of our teams.

Gabriela Castro, Head of Strategic Business Development, Sonae MC

MBA graduates coming out of top-ranked business schools find employment rapidly. 75% of those in PBS found work within the first three months. The Financial Times ranking suggests that 70-100% salary increase, just three years after graduation, compared to before the program, is a reasonable expectation. With a 1-year MBA program, the time it takes you to catch up the investment you made (the cost of the program and the year without income) is usually less than three or four years.

This is why one-year MBA programs like the Magellan MBA at PBS actively integrate global, entrepreneurial and digital dimensions into the curriculum. At PBS, a central “Business and Society” module disclose the talent of MBA participants in the corporate community.