University of the Witwatersrand Business School
Wits Business School (WBS) is the Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
WBS offers a variety of postgraduate academic and executive education programmes. WBS also specialises in the design and delivery of in-company programmes whereby we partner with client organisations to develop management capacity.
The Wits Business School Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme is the flagship academic programme and is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA). Wits Business School is the only business school in Africa to have been admitted to the Partnership in International Management (PIM) – a student exchange programme for international study at over 54 leading business schools around the world. The MBA is offered in full-time and part-time (weekday evenings or Saturdays) class attendance formats.
Over the past 48 years, 3500 successful MBA alumni have landed leading leadership positions in South Africa and internationally. These include the leading Australian female CEO (Gail Kelly at Westpac Bank) as well as six CEO’s and two Chairpersons of Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) ‘Top 100’ companies.
Students looking for a more specialised Masters qualification can choose from one of the following special areas:
- Master of Management in Finance and Investment (MM FI)
- Master of Management in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation (MM ENVC)
- Master of Management in Business and Executive Coaching (MM BEC)
- Master of Management in Strategic Marketing (MM SM) &
- Master of Management by Research (MM R)
The WBS Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PDM) is hugely in demand as well as students who have a strong undergraduate degree but lack full-time work experience. PDM classes are known for the young and vibrant energy in the classroom.
The WBS PhD programme ranks amongst the largest within a South African business school.
The School’s strong research base is underpinned by an actively publishing full-time academic staff cohort, ninety-five percent of whom have PhDs. In 2015 WBS staff published 49 academic articles, 2 books, 8 book chapters and presented at 14 international conferences. This cutting-edge knowledge cascades down to the classroom and is what students internalise and apply in their places of work.
WBS is the only business school in South Africa to have a dedicated case centre. The case centre has developed more than 200 cases on companies as diverse as AngloGold, SABMiller, Nando’s, Discovery, Harley Davidson®, Avis, and Massmart and Capitec Bank. While WBS uses many international cases in its courses, the real-world decisions, companies and scenarios depicted in these cases are not always applicable in the South African context. WBS cases are now also used in other South African and international universities and business schools.
WBS Executive Education offers a wide variety of attendance and certificate programmes ranging from five days to nine month courses, with an option for full-time, part-time and block release class attendance formats.