Executive education (ExEd or Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools for executives, business leaders and managers, globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometimes lead to certificates, and some offer continuing education units accepted by professional bodies and institutes. Estimates by Business Week magazine suggest that executive education in the United States is an $800 million annual business, with approximately 80% provided by university-based business schools. Many traditionally upper-tier schools, as well as business schools and other academic institutions, offer these programs.

Customized programs, which are tailored for and offered to executives of a single company, represent the fastest-growing segment of the market. Customized programs help organizations increase management capability by combining the science of business and performance management with specialized programs that enable executives to develop new knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Research shows that a firm which has a clearly articulated and understood business strategy — and the capability to carry it out — will have a higher market-to-book value than a firm that does not.

Open enrollment programs are also available as part of university-based executive education offerings, which occur throughout the year on selected dates, and are available to participants from different companies and organizations.

Shorter executive education programs tend to focus on specific roles or industries, or on improving specific leadership skills, such as persuasion, negotiation, team building or communication.

Some executive education providers offer more comprehensive management training options, such as the modular Advanced Management Program (AMP) offered independently by several business schools.

Not all observations of university-based executive education are positive. There is some debate about whether professional development is an appropriate part of a business school's curriculum. Some believe that university-based executive education has caused some business schools to "lose track of their professional mission." This argument is made by Rakesh Khurana, among others.

The genesis of executive education can be traced to Frederick Taylor and his 1911 treatise Principles of Scientific Management. This book described how the application of the scientific method to the management of workers could improve productivity. Taylor's ideas, also known as "Taylorism" would become the standard for businesses worldwide.

On the heels of Taylorism came The Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, which in 1914, began offering Course XV, Engineering Administration, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At that time, the concept of providing business training in the academic environment was gaining popularity, thus MIT created a program “specially designed to train men to be competent managers of businesses that have much to do with engineering problems.” Harvard also began offering short five-week selections of standard MBA material in the late 1920s.