As approved by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council in 2002, SCUT became one of China's first 30 universities to start Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme. By giving play to SCUT's academic, geographical and reputational advantages, the EMBA programme aims at cultivating versatile and senior international managers with strategic insights, global vision, strong social responsibilities and moral ethics, who understand international rules and the operations, and capable of combining global and local factors in corporate management. Until now, the programme has enrolled nearly 1300 students and nearly 700 of them were graduated. These students all occupy an important positions in the enterprises or government authorities across the nation.

The SCUT EMBA programme has cultivated a great supply of versatile and senior international managerial talent, and it is widely recognized as "the cradle of entrepreneurs in South China" and "the palace of business elites". The education outcome being well acknowledged by the community, the programme was awarded the Most Influential EMBA Programme in South China and the Southern Salutation - Best Marketing Award in 2014, the Most Recommended EMBA Programme in South China in 2013, the Greatest Leadership EMBA Programme in Chinese Market, which was evaluated by three indexes of "market reputation," "graduate appraisal" and "special feature evaluation", and the Best Teaching Force single award in 2011. The SCUT EMBA program was accredited by the AMBA in 2012, 2015 and 2020.

The EMBA programme is a part-time programme and organised in four consecutive days every month (from Thursdays to Sundays). The courses are delivered in Chinese and in the form of lectures, case studies, group discussions, seminars, and computer simulations. By targeting at the characteristics and demands of entrepreneurs in South China, the EMBA programme identifies its position by assessing students' different demands, designing customised curricula and deploying teaching resources accordingly. Teaching is conducted in multiple methodologies and means; sound environments and facilities are ensured; and extra-curricular activities are carefully planned. To guarantee that educational results are close to the original design, the instructors highly value students' feedback and make dynamic adjustments accordingly.