The Sloan Fellows program is a mid-career master's degree in general management and leadership supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It is targeted at experienced managers who have already demonstrated a significant degree of career success (either within organisations or as entrepreneurs). Alfred P. Sloan was the Chairman of General Motors from 1937 to 1956, and envisioned the Sloan Fellowship as a means of developing the 'Ideal Manager'. The majority of the Sloan Fellows take on executive level roles in the global marketplace following the program. This is distinct from the Sloan Fellowship in mathematics and science.
The Sloan Fellows Program was started at the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1940, which still has the largest class every year. In the following decades, the program was expanded to include Sloan Master's at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Sloan Master's at London Business School.
Sloan Fellows comprise a mix of company- and self-sponsored candidates. On all three tracks, a significant degree of experience is required for admission. This is in keeping with Alfred P. Sloan's conviction that experienced managers would benefit best from the program. Alumni describe it as "transformational", in keeping with the original vision of preparing successful managers for senior business leadership positions.
Unlike most Executive MBA programs which are part-time over 18-36 months, the Sloan Fellows program runs full-time over 12-months. All three include an extensive international field trip. LBS and MIT Sloan optionally offer a major research project/thesis. [1] [2] [3]
The program recognizes the importance of developing leadership as well as management competences in Sloan Fellows. As such, in addition to the standard MBA curriculum of management courses, the Sloan program contains a strong personal-development component designed to develop the leadership and strategic thinking capabilities of Sloan Fellows.
Sloan Fellows at MIT Sloan may opt for an M.B.A. degree, an MS in management, or an MS in the management of technology depending on their curricular and research choices. Sloan Fellows at London Business School and Stanford are both awarded a Master of Science degree.
Among others, notable MIT Sloan Fellows alumni include previous Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan; Philip M. Condit, former Chairman and CEO of the Boeing Company; Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard; William Clay Ford, Jr., Chairman of Ford Motor Company; Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company; and John W. Thompson, Chairman of Symantec.