Euro*MBA

Age: 15

History: The Euro*MBA is a joint offering by a consortium of European institutions, formed in 1996 with the aim of developing international management education. They are: the Universiteit Maastricht Business School in the Netherlands; IAE Aix-en-Provence and Audencia Nantes School of Management in France; EADA in Spain; Kozminsky Business School in Poland and HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management in Germany. The consortium decided that a residential MBA programme combined with e-learning courses was the best approach.

Address: The central office is in Maastricht, at the Universiteit Maastricht Business School.

Ambience: In a word, international. There are six residential weeks, which take place at partner institutions all over Europe.

Vital statistics: One of the first European distance-learning MBAs, it takes two years and includes a thesis. There are currently 43 students on the course hailing from more than 20 countries, and 125 alumni.

Added value: A unique combination of residential weeks all over Europe and on-line modules that can be studied anywhere in the world. The programme not only covers the core elements of management, but also essential personal skills.

Easy to get into? You need at least five years of professional experience and fluency in English. A GMAT test is required if you haven't got a degree, and you also need two references.

Glittering alumni: Pavel Svarc, Coca-Cola; Fabio Ferrari, managing director, KENT/Premier Industrial; Jordi Torras, CEO, Grupo SBD; Slawomir Chomik, global product director of the Unit of Gastroenterology at Solvay Pharmaceuticals; Dave Puckett, senior director of IS operations at Sage Software; Alaleh Motamedi, senior procurement specialist (Middle East and North Africa) at the World Bank.

Gurus: Professor van Schendelen, lobbying in the European Community; Maurice Saias, intercultural business.

International connections: Couldn't be more international if it tried.

Teaching and research: A mix of research staff and teaching faculty from accredited European universities and business schools, including more than 200 management researchers.

Student profile: The average age of the current student group is 36, with 11 years of work experience and a male to female ratio of 2:1.

Cost: €26,500 (£22,800) for the two-year programme.

Return on investment: 87 per cent of students see their salary increased within a year.

Who's the boss? Dr Stuart Dixon is the programme/academic director.

Prospectus: +31 43 388 4619; www.euromba.org; information@euromba.org