According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, in 2011, the Brazilian economy has become the world’s 6th largest, overtaking the UK. Brazilian exports are booming, creating a new generation of tycoons; therefore, it does not come as a surprise that business schools are keeping an eye on this country.

A Brazilian residency has recently been introduced by the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business as part of its Global Executive MBA (GEMBA), a programme designed for full-time managers. The students will go to Brazil and attend a two-week course there to gain an insight into the Brazilian business environment. There is also an Executive MBA programme for the Americas which is being developed by Canada’s Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, in collaboration with São Paulo’s FIA Business School, Mexico City’s ITAM and Nashville’s Vanderbilt University.

Brazil’s economy is changing: family-based businesses are being replaced by more professionally managed companies, who are looking for management talent more than ever before. 90% of the students enrolled in the OneMBA program at Brazil’s FGV Business School are funded by their companies, so applications to this programme have doubled in the past two years. In America and Europe, those interested in getting an MBA has fallen over the same period, and the share of students funded by their employer is about a third of the Brazilian one.