Each HiOP is offered in a completely online format that allows participants to reconcile their executive development with other work and personal commitments.

Designed around the concept of a small private online course (SPOC), each HiOP draws on the expertise of FT journalists and IE faculty members. These people bring their specialist sector knowledge to teaching and assessing the participants’ understanding of the programme’s topics.

The FT | IE Corporate Learning Alliance teaching team for each HiOP programme applies learning analytics to identify points at which students get stuck; generates patterns for engagement; identifies key issues to raise in live sessions; creates and fosters a community environment; and hosts forums. Moreover, course alumni, expert contributors, and guest speakers engage in the course to create practical learning.

"By their nature, massive open online courses (MOOCs) measure progress and completion through automated self-assessment and, at best, interaction with many hundreds of others taking the same course," says Liz-Ann Gayle, FT | IE Corporate Learning Alliance’s Head of Innovation. "In contrast, online courses aimed at smaller groups that provide direct interaction with the professors, with the other participants, and with a varied teaching staff are seeing completion rates of more than 85%."

The initial HiOPs programmes available are

• Digital Marketing, Social Media and Analytics: an omni-channel strategy

For marketing executives seeking to update their knowledge in digital marketing and its integration into a wider omni-channel marketing strategy, this programme examines the latest digital marketing and social media trends, as well as analytical tools, KPIs, and metrics used to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

• Start-Up to Scale-Up: what to do when a company starts to grow

Intended for entrepreneurs and business the management expertise needed to scale and grow their businesses, this programme focuses on key concepts such as product and customer intelligence, team culture and understanding the role of risk as well as meeting supply and demand.

• Leading Innovation

This programme is intended for executives keen on guiding their company through today’s increasingly volatile global economy. Provided with a framework for making robust, strategic agendas, learners acquire the knowledge and skills set to allow them to see uncertainty as opportunity and craft high-level portfolios of strategic options that have a higher chance of yielding success.

Upon successful completion of a HiOPs course, participants are awarded certificates of approval accredited by FT | IE Corporate Learning Alliance, backed by IE Business School and the Financial Times.