Henley Business School, Africa (formerly Henley Management College, South Africa), in the Paulshof suburb of Johannesburg, is a branch of the British-basedHenley Business School, part of the University of Reading and one of the oldest business schools in Europe with operations in 17 countries across the globe. The African institution, which is locally accredited and has offered the MBA in South Africa since 1992, shares international accreditation with its parent school[1] and is also locally accredited in South Africa.[2] The South African campus has offered the MBA in South Africa since 1992. In 2002, the South African location became a fully owned subsidiary of its British parent. As the operation in South Africa is the only Henley Business School on the African continent, it has students living in neighbouring countries studying and being supported through this office. Henley Africa has two South African campuses, one in the Paulshof suburb of Johannesburg, and the other in Woodstock, Cape Town, and services students living in South Africa and neighbouring countries.
In 1992 Henley Business School introduced its MBA to the South African market, under license to the Graduate Institute of Management Technology (GIMT) and the first 18 MBA students graduated in 1995. When GIMT was sold, Henley UK bought back the license, the South African operation became a branch office and, in 2002, launched itself as a fully integrated school of Henley in South Africa. In 2008 Henley Management College merged with the University of Reading to form Henley Business School, one of the world’s largest full-service business schools.
In 2007, Henley established its social entrepreneurship arm. This was followed in 2011 by the introduction of Henley MBAid, an initiative whereby students, as part of their learning, provide expertise and support to NGOs.
In 2012, Henley Business School Africa celebrated its 20th anniversary and the opening of its current premises in Paulshof, Sandton.
Academics
Henley Africa’s internationally recognised Executive MBA, accredited in the UK and South Africa, is offered in South Africa in two formats: The Flexible Executive MBA and the Global Executive MBA. The Flexible Executive MBA targets experienced, practising managers seeking to enhance their leadership skills or prepare for a senior or executive management position. The degree is presented in South Africa as a flexible, family-friendly, 30-month, part-time programme delivered by way of a blend of face-to-face workshops, team assignments, on-line and off-line study, individual and group self-study methods. African students pay just 50% of the price for the same UK qualification if studied in the UK.
Students have the choice of adding a deep dive international immersion study visit with Henley MBA students worldwide, which builds global business acumen, learning and insights.
Henley’s Flexible Executive MBA attracts students from numerous African countries, including Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique and Ghana, it has also proved popular with students from creative industries, especially artists and creatives who want to develop their business skills. Graduates of the programme include South African musicians Loyiso Bala, Barry van Zyl and Andy Innes.
In 2024, the school introduced its flagship Global Executive MBA into South Africa. Built on the same core offering of the Flexible Executive MBA, the Global Executive MBA is offered over 24 months for high-touch, fast-track learning and includes five international study visits and immersions in strategic global locations along with individualised executive coaching. Students registered in South Africa benefit from being taught by Henley Business School’s specialist international faculty, who bring their industry knowledge and passion to the learning environment. Priced for affordability in the African context, Henley’s Global Executive MBA is offered at 70% of the price of the same UK qualification if studied in the UK.
In addition to Henley’s MBA programmes, the school offers a full suite of accredited programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as short courses designed for working South Africans and spanning key management-related areas essential for running sustainable organisations. Programmes include:
Undergraduate Programmes:
Higher Certificate in Management Practice (NQF 5)
Advanced Certificate in Management Practice (NQF 6)
Advanced Diploma in Management Practice (NQF 7)
Postgraduate Programmes:
Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice (NQF 8)
The Henley International Master of Business Administration (NQF 9)
Short Courses:
High Impact Communication
Finance for Non-financial Managers
Personal Mastery
Strategic Sales Leadership
Innovation and Design Thinking
AI and Data-Driven Leadership: Navigating Digital Transformation
Cybersecurity Leadership Essentials
Future-proof your Healthcare Practice
In addition, Henley consults with a range of leading global organisations to provide customised executive and tailored qualification programmes.
Executive Education
Henley is the highest ranked, locally accredited business school in southern Africa for executive education (FT 2023 & 2024) [3] and the only business school in South Africa to offer a full suite of accredited management practice qualifications from NQF levels 5 to 8, up to 50% of which can be customised to an organisation’s specific needs.
As a business school, Henley seeks to remain abreast of the ways in which adults learn in order to build leaders who are emotionally and intellectually agile. Adults learn best socially by doing, reflecting on the doing, and constantly practising and improving over time. To this end, Henley’s executive education programmes intentionally follow a format that allows this to happen, reimagining the classroom as a problem-solving machine, with delegates spending time together in formalised sessions, virtually, or face-to-face, to learn with and from each other as well as from faculty and other subject matter experts. Delegates’ own workplaces or businesses are the incubators for testing theories and ideas in the weeks between content blocks, ensuring that experiential learning takes place consistently in learners’ specific contexts.
Research & specialist centres
Research at Henley Business School Africa is multidisciplinary and geared toward the production of actionable research, including white papers and teaching case studies. In 2020, Henley appointed Professor Danie Petzer to head up its research office. Since then, the school has opened five dedicated research centres focused on research that aims to advance business on the continent and connect African researchers with a global research network.
The John Madejski Centre for Reputation Africa, established in 2023, is a sister to the centre of the same name in the UK, that focuses on understanding and building reputation in African businesses in order to drive sustainability and societal impact.
The Henley Africa Centre for Leadership, established in 2023 and a sister centre of the Henley Centre for Leadership in the UK, is focused on recognising, developing, transforming and sustaining positive and optimistic leadership in Africa.
The Dunning Africa Centre (DAC) was established in 2021 to promote collaboration between research institutions, universities and businesses. The DAC, a sister centre to the John H Dunning Centre in the UK, focuses on connecting researchers from outside the continent with Africa-based actors.
The Henley Africa Centre for Emerging Market Consumer Studies is an Africa-based research centre that focuses on understanding the trends and forces driving consumers in different African contexts and supporting the development of businesses, especially SMEs.
Henley Explore: Immersive Cases and Experiences is a pioneering research centre at Henley, Africa, that promotes immersive learning in business schools by developing case studies accompanied by Virtual Reality (VR) films to provide delegates with an immersive experience.
MBAid
MBAid is a learning initiative between NGOs and Henley Business School Africa. The rationale behind its establishment is that as funding has begun to dry up, NGOs have had to rely increasingly on their ability to fund themselves to survive. One of the principal ideas behind MBAid is to give the NGO a fresh perspective, by bringing in a group of people (students) who are unattached to the outcomes of the NGO. They bring in different insights and perspectives and engage with NGOs in such a way that there is a transfer of skills so that, ultimately, the NGO can become self-sustaining.
Accreditation
Henley is the only international business school in Africa accredited by all three major international accreditation bodies: the European Foundation for Management Development, which awards the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Association of MBAs (AMBA). It is also one of the first business schools in Africa to be accredited by the Association of African Business Schools (AABS), making it the first to be quadruple accredited.
Henley is also the only international business school accredited by the South African Council on Higher Education (CHE), the body responsible for quality assurance and promotion through the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC).
Rankings
In 2023, Henley Business School strengthened its position in several global business school rankings, reaching the top 20 globally for the Financial Times (FT) Executive Education Combined Rankings, top 25 for the FT Executive Education Custom & Open Rankings, and the top 40 in the Executive MBA rankings. Henley continues to perform strongly in the diversity criteria in these rankings, reflecting its commitment to student and staff diversity. Henley is ranked world number one across all three FT rankings for the gender balance of its advisory board, performed strongly in ESG and net-zero teaching content of its curriculum for its EMBA programme (world top 40), and was ranked in the top 30 for corporate social responsibility. Henley Business School Africa has also been ranked by South African employers as the number 1 MBA business school in South Africa for seven years in a row by pmr.Africa.
Henley Business School’s parent university, the University of Reading is ranking 160 in the world in the 2022 QS World University Rankings.
Notable recent rankings include: Financial Times Global Rankings
Executive Education Open programmes: 21 (2023)[7]; 23 (2024)[8]
Executive Education Combined Ranking: 20 (2023)
QS Rankings Global Ranking
Executive MBA: 87 (2023)
The Economist Global Ranking
Executive MBA: 21 (2020)
Financial Times Responsible Business Education Awards
Highly commended: Best responsible teaching resources (2024)
Corporate Knights Better World MBA
Executive MBA: 34 (2023)
QS International Trade Rankings
Executive MBA: 8 (2024)
PMR.Africa South African Ranking
Number one in South Africa (2018,2019,2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Campus & facilities
Henley Business School Africa is located in the Sandton suburb of Paulshof, close to the N1 Western Bypass and 10km from Sandton City. It provides a variety of facilities for workshops, learning events, coaching sessions, conferences, board meetings, strategy sessions, team meetings, courses and seminars. It is equidistant from Lanseria and OR Tambo international airports.
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