A US-standard MBA classroom in Việt Nam. — Photo courtesy of the programme

HÀ NỘI — The essence of US-standard management education lies not in textbook theory but in the ability to decode real-world problems and reshape learners’ methods.

From specialist to executive

Trần Phương Lan, who now holds a management role in customer experience after completing an MBA at Boise State University in the US, said the biggest barrier she had faced was moving up from a specialist to a managerial role.

“My biggest challenge was shifting from a specialist’s mindset to a manager’s mindset. Management requires not only pure expertise but also holistic thinking, analytical skills and decision-making tied directly to the core objectives of the business,” she recalled.

Studying under the US model helped her establish an entirely new approach: managing through systems thinking and data.

“When a customer experience metric drops, instead of rushing to intuitive solutions, my team and I analyse data to identify the root cause from multiple angles,” Lan said. “Rather than doing the work for them, I focus on asking the right questions to encourage my team to find solutions themselves.

“The greatest value of a US MBA for me is not just knowledge, but a way of thinking and approaching problems that can be applied directly to daily work.”

Deciding when there is no absolute right answer

Trần Hữu Đạt, an MBA alumnus of the Questrom School of Business at Boston University in the US state of Massachusetts who now works in finance, shares this view. He sees studying for an MBA in the US as a “stress test” of his entire way of thinking after many years of work.

“After many years in business, experience can sometimes inadvertently become a comfort zone. I chose to study for an MBA in the US because I wanted to step out of that comfort zone and re-examine how I think, make decisions and manage,” Đạt said.

For him, the most valuable lesson from US management education was the confidence to face market uncertainties.

“The MBA didn’t give me a ready-made answer; it gave me a method to make decisions with confidence even when there is no absolute right answer. It is a different way of thinking – broader, more multidimensional and better prepared for any new management challenge,” he said.

Upgrading management thinking at home

The experiences of alumni from Boise State University and Boston University show that the core strength of a US MBA lies in its capacity to restructure management thinking. Upgrading one’s “cognitive operating system” is not about memorising business formulas, but about acquiring a toolkit of strategic reflexes for responding to any market fluctuation.

Today, Vietnamese managers seeking a US management mindset and a prestigious internationally accredited degree no longer necessarily have to put their careers on hold to study in the US.

Joint programmes such as the CU Denver MBA, a collaboration between the University of Colorado Denver in the US and the FPT School of Business and Technology (FSB) under FPT University, bring the original US MBA learning experience to Việt Nam.

Professor Scott Dawson (dean) and Professor Andrey Mikhailitchenko (associate dean) of the Business School at the University of Colorado Denver discuss the programme’s content at FPT University. — Photo courtesy of the programme

Explaining the operating standards of the CU Denver MBA programme in Việt Nam, Mikhailitchenko said academic quality was one of the school’s core principles.

“The CU Denver Business School has continuously maintained AACSB accreditation for more than 30 years, and the MBA programme in Việt Nam falls entirely within the portfolio of degrees certified by this accreditation,” he said.

“The programme will operate entirely within CU Denver’s original academic framework, rather than as a separate programme with different standards.”

The programme is seen as a suitable option for executives seeking access to global thinking methods while maintaining their business work and optimising their investment in education for the future.