PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT
BIOGRAPHY Dr Pasi Aaltola is director of executive MBA education at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research focuses on executive learning, professional development and leadership identity formation, drawing on participant‑based datasets generated within EMBA education. He also serves as a faculty assessor for AMBA and BGA accreditations. In autumn 2025, he was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, where he further developed his research on executive learning in EMBA programmes
integral to the institution’s knowledge mission. They could connect research, teaching and practice in a way few other activities can. For accreditation-driven institutions, this approach aligns naturally with expectations around impact and engagement. It demonstrates how executive education contributes not only to individual development but also to the advancement of management knowledge. Starting small & learning along the way Importantly, treating executive education as a research platform does not require a large-scale research programme or immediate institutional change. Schools can begin in modest ways. Paying closer attention to participant reflections, systematically reviewing learning assignments or identifying recurring themes across cohorts can all generate valuable insight. In my own work, this approach has evolved gradually. It did not begin as a formal research agenda, but as curiosity about what experienced executives think about their work and how they articulate their reflections. Over time, this curiosity has opened new research directions while simultaneously informing programme development. While my own empirical work has so far drawn on EMBA education in my own institutional context, the same research questions could be explored collaboratively using participant material from other programmes as well. This exploratory stance is part of the point. Executive education is itself based on learning through experience and the same logic can apply to how institutions learn from their programmes. Schools do not need to have all the answers in advance. They can start by asking better questions and by taking their participants seriously as sources of insight. There is also a practical dimension for MBA programme directors. When done responsibly, the insight generated can support how programmes are communicated and positioned. Being able to say that a school studies its own participants, not only to teach them but also to learn from them, strengthens credibility. Used carefully, this is not marketing dressed up as research, but a way of grounding programmes in a genuine understanding of executive experience. At a time when universities are being asked to demonstrate relevance, innovation and societal value, executive education offers one of the clearest pathways forward. MBA and EMBA programmes have always been about developing leaders; they can also be about understanding leadership. When business schools treat participant experience as a source of insight rather than merely a backdrop for teaching, programmes become more than educational offerings. They become living laboratories where learning, research and organisational practice meet. Such programmes do not only teach executives – they learn from them and, in doing so, they can bring universities closer to the world they seek to understand.
Ambition • ISSUE 3 • 2026 27
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