Fifteen editions, one idea

In 2011, a small group of managers walked into a classroom on the USI campus in Lugano. They had busy jobs, families, and very good reasons not to go back to school. They came anyway. That was the first cohort of the USI Executive MBA.

In a few weeks, the fifteenth cohort will walk into the same building and do the same thing.

Fifteen editions is a milestone worth pausing on. Not to celebrate the number, but to ask a more useful question: after fifteen years, what has changed, and what has stayed exactly the same? The answer says a lot about what an Executive MBA is for, and about why it still matters.

What fifteen years have changed

Think back to 2011. Smartphones were still new in the boardroom. Remote work was a perk for a lucky few. Artificial intelligence was a research topic, not an item on the agenda of every leadership meeting. Sustainability, if it appeared at all, was a chapter near the end of the strategy textbook.

Today, a manager deals with all of this before lunch. Teams are distributed across countries and time zones. Supply chains that once felt solid can break in a week. Investors, customers and employees expect companies to explain not only what they earn, but how they earn it. And AI is changing how decisions are made, sometimes faster than organizations can adapt.

The USI Executive MBA has changed with that world.  Sustainability and digital transformation moved from the margins to the core of the curriculum. An international module in Boston became part of the journey. And the structure evolved into a hybrid model built around monthly weekend sessions in Lugano, combined with self-paced learning, so that participants never have to step away from their jobs.

A program that looked the same in 2026 as it did in 2011 would have failed its participants. Change was never optional.

What hasn’t changed at all

And yet, looking back across fifteen editions, the things that matter most are exactly the same as on day one.

Small classes, by choice

We have never wanted a lecture hall. Class sizes are deliberately limited, and that is a decision, not a constraint. In a small cohort nobody hides in the back row. Discussions go deeper, faculty know your name and your business, and the class slowly turns into something closer to a team than an audience. Many alumni say this is what surprised them most.

Theory that meets real work

An Executive MBA is not a place to collect frameworks. It is a place to test them against reality. Every month, senior managers from companies in the region join the class to discuss the challenges they are facing right now, not ten years ago. Participants bring their own organizations into the room, work on their own problems, and take what they learn back to the office on Monday morning. The best measure of the program has always been what changes at work, not what goes on a transcript.

A network that lasts

Ask alumni what they value most a few years after graduation, and many will not mention a course. They will mention people. The classmate who became a business partner. The one who opened a door in another country. The one they still call when a decision feels too big to make alone. Through the USI EMBA Club and the wider USI alumni community, that network keeps growing long after the last module.

What’s new with EMBA 15: three generations in one room

With the fifteenth edition we are taking the idea of the network one step further.

Two elective courses in EMBA 15 will be shared with the previous cohort and with the next one. In practice, participants will sit in the same classroom as people who started before them and people who will start after them. Three generations of the program, working on the same problems together.

Why does this matter? Because a cohort that only talks to itself has a natural limit. Those who are a year ahead can tell you what is coming and which choices they would make differently. Those who join after you bring fresh questions and a different moment in their careers. Your network does not start and end with your classmates: it extends backwards and forwards from day one.

After fifteen editions, it felt like the right way to make the most of what the program has built so far.

Is this the right moment for you?

The USI Executive MBA is designed for managers and entrepreneurs with solid professional experience who want to grow without pressing pause on their careers. Some want to move from a functional role to general management. Some are taking over a family business. Some are building a company of their own. Others simply feel that the way they lead today will not be enough for the next ten years.

If any of that sounds familiar, the honest truth is that there is rarely a perfect moment. There is always a project to close, a reorganization coming, a reason to wait until next year. Most of our alumni started anyway, and very few regret it.

EMBA 15 at a glance

• Start: 20 November 2026
• Duration: 18 months, until May 2028
• Format: hybrid, with monthly weekend modules in Lugano and an international module in Boston
• Language: English
• Degree: MAS Degree, Executive Master in Business Administration, 60 ECTS

A few places are still available, and admissions are rolling until the class is complete. If you have been thinking about it for a while, now is the time to start the conversation.

Fifteen editions in, the idea is still the same: bring experienced people together, give them the tools to lead what comes next, and let them learn as much from each other as from us. We can’t wait to meet the fifteenth cohort.