The Essex MBA seeks to develop socially responsible entrepreneurs delivering sustainable business. Our students are talented, ambitious and full of energy. They possess an entrepreneurial spirit which will be cultivated at Essex. Our MBAs aspire to achieve lasting positive change for themselves and those around them. We aim to inspire them to create the world they want to live in.

Our course is for business professionals looking to challenge themselves to expand their knowledge and skills, and to advance their career.

You will study a broad range of business functions, which includes strategic marketing, sustainable operations, accounting and finance.

Our Director’s Workshops are integral to The Essex MBA and run as one and two-day workshops at key stages of the programme. The sessions may include presentations from industry practitioners, interactive group activities and opportunities to work with business incubators. The Director’s Workshops give you the opportunity to relate current business issues to content taught in your modules and develop your professional skills. Recent examples include sessions on personal branding, new business creation, business ethics, risk management, big data for small businesses, value proposition development and business consultancy.

Your course begins with one week of activities to develop your networking, team work and adaptive thinking skills. It ends with a Capstone, where you choose to complete a dissertation, comprehensive business plan or consultancy project that can be tailored to your professional experience or goals.

We hope to foster your entrepreneurial spirit, so you can build sustainable, resilient business models that make sense to shareholders and the environment and respond to economic pressures, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. You explore the impact of internationalisation on businesses, suppliers and customers and gain the skills to lead in increasingly demanding marketplaces.

We offer a range of learning styles to fit around your professional commitments. The MBA is available to study starting in January or October. As well as the year-long full-time MBA, we offer a part-time MBA so you can opt for a two or three-year pathway and complete your MBA alongside your existing employment or own business.

Scholarships and discounts

At Essex Business School, we are proud to support the best MBA candidates through our Essex MBA Dean’s Award offering fee discounts of 10% and above.

Accreditation

The Essex MBA is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA) making Essex Business School among the top 2% of business schools in the world. AMBA describes its accreditation as the “gold standard” for management training around the world and is highly respected by managers and leaders globally. The AMBA affiliation can add huge value to your MBA qualification.

Essex Business School is also in the process of applying for accreditation via Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

"I feel like an MBA is a growth journey, it is not just meant for people who want to go into management. It’s meant for everyone. It’s a journey that helps you to understand the whole system of managing a company. It teaches you to look at the bigger picture from birds eye view while working on the minuscule details. You get to balance and juggle between different activities and teams. I am studying things that I never even thought I would come across which are essential.

At the start it was a little difficult to cope with, coming from a professional life and getting back in to the habit of being a student but I think I am doing well now."

Parina Jain, full-time MBA student, 2020

"I always had an entrepreneurial spirit and I had many endeavours that made me wanted to learn formally about the concepts and practices of management in the corporate world.

I chose to study at Essex because I felt the approach of The Essex MBA to be very humanistic and liberal. I enjoyed that I was able to balance a focus on human rights and sustainability without leaving the more difficult areas of business (for me) like finance or mathematics behind. The international community was also key for me in choosing Essex.

My MBA gave me confidence to operate in an international setting and helped me to understand different cultures. It also helped me understand the importance of creativity as part of the business mind.

The Essex MBA was crucial to me laying the groundwork to found RacismoMX. I was able to reflect on my past entrepreneurial experiences and learn a lot of new concepts and it gave me the time to think about my real desires, which was the main engines which propelled me towards start a new endeavour."

José Antonio Aguilar Contreras, full-time MBA alumni, 2015

"One of the more interesting aspects of my experience has been the cultural exchange. There are 18 nationalities in our MBA cohort and this provides an environment of constant enrichment, allowing me to develop my global mind-set and learn more about different cultures and perspectives. In every module we have to work in different teams, the experiences are so diverse that there is always something new to learn from it. 

I have taken advantage of some of the extracurricular activities offered by the University such as the iTeams programme provided by Essex Startups. It’s a ten-week programme where you work in a cross-functional team and solve a real-world business challenge.  I have also attended workshops and talks offered by the Careers Services Team. There are also lots of opportunities to practise sports or other hobbies.

I am enjoying life as a full-time student. It is a great opportunity to undertake this professional, but also personal journey, to discover what I want to do next."

Daniela Morales, full-time MBA alumni, 2021

Find out more about our MBA students.

Academic and work experience requirements

A 2:2 degree. You are also expected to have an absolute minimum three years of good quality, relevant, professional work experience, post-graduation, at the course start date. You must also evidence that you have experience managing people, projects or budgets, that you have been able to progress in your career so far and/or that you have been involved in additional entrepreneurial or community focused activities. Once you have applied your experience will be assessed individually against these criteria before a decision is made whether your application will be progressed to the interview stage.

If you are a non-standard applicant (which is typically an applicant who has an undergraduate degree below a 2:2, or an applicant who does not have an undergraduate degree at all) we require at least five years of relevant managerial experience. You will also be required to write an essay (2000 words) outlining a range of business situations that you have experienced and identifying what you have learnt from them, linking this to how your MBA studies will support you in similar situations in the future.

CV and personal statement requirements

All MBA applicants must submit an up-to-date CV. For each professional role, your CV should include: company name, job title, dates of employment, details of your role and responsibilities and an outline of the skills required or learnt in the role. You must also submit a personal statement which is specific to The Essex MBA programme, tells us why you think it the right programme for you and how your work and other experiences will help you to succeed on the MBA.

GMAT

You don’t need to have completed GMAT to apply for the Essex MBA but we particularly welcome applicants with a GMAT score of 600 and above. If you have completed GMAT, please submit your score as it may strengthen your application and your chances of securing a scholarship.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum component score of 6.0

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Applying

You can apply for this course online. Before you apply, please check our information about necessary documents that we’ll ask you to provide as part of your application.

We aim to respond to applications within two weeks. If we are able to offer you a place, you will be contacted via email.

For information on our deadline to apply for this course, please see our ‘how to apply’ information.

MBA applicants will be asked to take part in either a face-to-face, online or telephone interview.

Contact us

For more information, please contact the MBA recruitment team on mba@essex.ac.uk. 

Course Fees

Full-time MBA fee

January 2023: £23,000
October 2023: £25,000 
January 2024: £25,000

Scholarships

The Essex MBA Dean’s Award

Essex Business School is offering tuition fee discounts to students funding their own MBA studies. The School is able to offer fee discounts between 10% - 100% of tuition fee value.

These are available to students funding their own part-time or full-time MBA studies. To earn an award you’ll have to impress during your MBA interview, the most important part of the application process.

Find out more about eligibility and criteria for The Essex MBA Dean's Award.