TEN years ago there came a rash of executive MBA programmes, more often than not with “Global” in their name, that required an enormous amount of commuting relative to time spent in class. The Globe and Mail recounts the experiences of a recent graduate of Wharton's executive MBA programme, who commuted from Toronto to Philadelphia for the course:

The two years leading up to Jason Thacker's graduation from Wharton's EMBA program went something like this: Every other Thursday, he would take a 9:10 p.m. flight from his Toronto home to Philadelphia, hoping to find a friendly customs officer (“Some of them recognized me,” he says). He'd arrive at his hotel at midnight, and catch up on his work... until the wee hours, after which he'd take classes for the next two days, returning late Saturday night. During the week, while working and spending time with his new bride, he'd do coursework and hold conference calls with fellow students in the United States.

As commutes go, Mr Thacker's could have been worse: the Toronto-to-Philadelphia flight is an hour and twenty minutes in the air. And he seems to have been exceptional in his class, four-fifths of whom lived within an easy train ride of Philadelphia.

But there are plenty of executive MBA programmes guaranteed to increase their students' frequent-flyer mileage banks. Fuqua's Global Executive MBA spends two modules on campus and the rest in London, New Delhi, Shanghai, Bangkok, Dubai and St Petersburg. The TRIUM programme is split between New York, London, Paris and an emerging-market location. UCLA's Anderson School of Business co-hosts a Global Executive MBA for the Americas, in Miami, Los Angeles, São Paulo and Santiago.

Several thoughts come to mind. One is curiosity as to how valuable a single week, or even weekend, spent in a foreign country can be as part of an MBA curriculum (readers?). Another is amusement that the schools involved do not seem to spend a lot of time promising to make up the greater-than-average carbon dioxide emission contributions of their executive MBA students.

But these are side issues. The value in these far-flung MBA programmes seems to be in signalling. Mr Thacker can now justifiably claim to be something of a personal logistics expert, and have shown dedication to his career: if he did all that travelling and juggling just to get an MBA, think of what he would take on for an actual job! His reward was a promotion landing him in New Jersey.

A fair bit of sacrifice on the part of his “new bride,” with her own career and commitments, can thus be presumed. But if global executive MBA programmes are not particularly family friendly, neither are the executive positions that their students aspire to. With economies troubled and businesses not hiring, more MBA students might feel the need to signal, with similarly conspicuous consumption of flights, how much disruption of their lives they can tolerate. Mr Thacker (and his wife) may be ahead of the demanding curve.