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Studies & Degrees in Company Management

Company management is the study of how to run a business as a whole: setting its strategy, organising people and money, and taking the decisions that keep it working. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics describes managers as the workers who establish plans and policies, direct business activities, and oversee people, products and services.

It is rarely a first job. Most people reach general management after a first degree and some years of work, which is why much of the teaching in this field takes place at postgraduate level, in MBA and executive programmes.

What students learn

Programmes bring together the functions of a company and add the skills needed to lead it. EAE Business School lists the key contents of its MBA as strategy, leadership, innovation, project management, finance, marketing, operations and the use of artificial intelligence in decision-making. Undergraduate degrees give the base: the Universidad de Murcia describes its bachelor's degree in business administration as training to understand the business environment, interpret the economy and apply that knowledge to run a company efficiently.

Qualifications and levels

  • Bachelor's degree. In Spain the usual route is the Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ADE), with 240 ECTS credits over four years. In Germany, the Fachhochschule der Wirtschaft (FHDW) teaches business administration (Betriebswirtschaft) as a dual bachelor's degree of six semesters, in which students alternate between study phases and work phases in a partner company. In October 2026 its page lists €670 a month plus a one-off examination fee of €1,500.
  • MBA and master's degrees. Official master's degrees in Spain have 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits. The EAE MBA has 60 ECTS credits, is offered in Spanish and English in Barcelona and Madrid, and takes 12 to 24 months depending on the format. It is aimed at university graduates with previous work experience.
  • Executive MBA. For managers already in post. EAE addresses its Executive MBA to people with 5 to 10 years of experience and teaches it part-time, over 15 months in Barcelona. ENAE Business School in Murcia offers a Global Executive MBA of 60 ECTS credits in a live online format.
  • Online programmes. Cerem, a business school based in Madrid, teaches an MBA with a specialisation in project management fully online: 14 months and 72 ECTS credits.

Official degree or the school's own?

In Spain an MBA can be an official university master's degree or a qualification of the school or university itself (título propio), and the same school may offer both. The schools say which on their own pages. EAE lists its Barcelona MBA as its own qualification with the Universitat de Lleida and its Madrid MBA as an official one with UNIE. ENAE describes its Global Executive MBA as a double qualification: its own title plus a title from Panamerican University that the school describes as official in the United States. Cerem explains that the permanent-training master's titles it issues with partner universities are títulos propios, that is, studies that do not lead to an official qualification.

Ask the school in writing which qualification you will receive and what recognition it has, in Spain and in your own country.

Where to study it

The SpainExchange directory lists 12 schools for company management: 3 in Spain, 2 each in the United States, France and Colombia, and 1 each in Italy, China and Germany. In Spain they are business schools in Madrid, Barcelona and Murcia that teach in Spanish, and in some programmes in English. In Colombia the directory lists the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá.

Careers

Experience counts as much as the degree. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, top executives typically need at least a bachelor's degree and considerable work experience, usually in an area related to their field such as business or engineering, and those in large corporations may have an MBA. People promoted from within can sometimes substitute experience for education.

The same source counts 3,890,600 jobs for top executives (chief executives and general and operations managers) in the United States in 2025 and projects growth of 5 per cent from 2025 to 2035. For management occupations as a whole it expects faster growth than the average for all occupations, with about 1.1 million openings a year. These figures are for the United States.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need work experience to study company management?

Not for a bachelor's degree. MBA programmes usually ask for it: EAE aims its MBA at graduates with previous work experience and its Executive MBA at people with 5 to 10 years of experience.

How long does an MBA take?

It depends on the format. EAE gives 12 to 24 months for its MBA and 15 months for its part-time Executive MBA in Barcelona; Cerem gives 14 months for its online MBA.

Is an MBA an official degree in Spain?

Some are and some are not. EAE, for example, lists one of its MBA options as official and another as its own qualification. Check the type of qualification on the school's page before enrolling.

Can I study while working?

Yes. Part-time, live online and fully online formats exist, and the dual bachelor's degree at FHDW in Germany combines study with work in a partner company.