MBA Universe Unfazed by Global Recession
An article in Thursday’s edition of The Independent explores how business schools today are finding new ways to customize their offerings and lure in students. Whether you want to study at home or abroad, a medical MBA or Islamic finance, there’s a program for you.
Reporter Michael Prest finds that this increasingly complex market has forced business schools, even the highest-ranked, into a Darwinian struggle to differentiate themselves.
Top schools argue that they offer a superior education and better value for money: Spain’s IESE has a student-to-faculty ratio of 4:1, despite boasting an MBA cohort of 220. But even so large a school cannot ignore the multitude of offers from less prestigious institutions which students may find tempting ”“ especially in recessionary times, Prest writes.
Well-established European schools often already have courses which set them apart from the pack. Nottingham University Business School, for example, stands out in the area of entrepreneurship. And Cass Business School, in London, has set up a business ethics task force to examine how this thorny subject can be applied across all its courses, Prest writes.
Another dilemma has risen from the number and quality of applicants for full-time and part-time MBAs. Should schools increase class sizes as far as facilities allow or stick to their normal cohorts? That the answer partly depends on each school’s capacity and teaching philosophy. A smaller class might offer more personalized experience, but will it offer enough diversity of opinions to enrich the experience?
The choice, as they say, is yours.
If you’d like to read more about these and other European schools, and the choices they offer, click here.
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