UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business formally launched its new Berkeley MBA for Executives Program yesterday, which will fast-track working professionals by teaching them how to generate fresh ideas that drive their businesses forward.

The new program—tailored for executives averaging 12 years of professional experience—stresses a convenient, business-friendly schedule, with classes meeting every three weeks on Thursdays through Saturdays over the course of 19 months.

Students stay at a nearby hotel while attending classes, and most meals are provided. The majority of sessions will be taught on the Berkeley-Haas campus, but other sessions–each with a special focus–will be held overseas and in various locations.

The program will include a campus-based lecture series; study trips to Washington, D.C., and the entrepreneurial San Francisco/ Silicon Valley area; as well as a week-long, required international trip to Asia that will further deepen familiarity with problem framing tools and the innovation process applied to an international challenge.

“Our strength lies in teaching students how to bring fresh thinking and new ideas to every facet of the organization, and to motivate others to do so as well,” says Haas School Dean Rich Lyons. “We do so by providing them with a set of tools that empowers them to enter any situation ”“ no matter how ambiguous ”“ and to find a way to frame the challenge and develop creative solutions from it.”

Students of the Berkeley MBA for Executives Program will be able to network with alumni of the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA, as well as the larger Berkeley-Haas alumni network of 40,000 undergraduate, MBA, financial engineering and PhD students around the world.

Recruiting for the first class begins with information sessions in Berkeley on August 30th and in San Francisco on September 13th. The program will enroll its first class in May 2013.