Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration (MBA or M.B.A.) is a master's degree in
business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic
disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from
the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out
scientific approaches to management. The core courses in the MBA program are
designed to introduce students to the various areas of business such as
accounting, finance, marketing, human resources, operations management, etc.
Students in MBA programs have the option of taking general business courses
throughout the program or can select an area of concentration and focus
approximately one-fourth of their studies in this subject.
Accreditation bodies exist specifically for MBA programs to ensure consistency
and quality of graduate business education. Business schools in many countries
offer MBA programs tailored to full-time, part-time, executive, and distance
learning students, with specialized concentrations.
History
The first graduate school of business in the United States was the Tuck School
of Business, part of Dartmouth College Founded in 1900, it was the first
institution conferring advanced degrees (masters) in the commercial sciences,
specifically, a Master of Science in Commerce degree, the forebear of the modern
MBA degree.
In 1908, the Graduate School of Business Administration (GSBA) at Harvard
University was established; it offered the world's first MBA program, with a
faculty of 15 plus 33 regular students and 47 special students. There are M7
peer recognition for top MBAs.
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business first offered working
professionals the Executive MBA (EMBA) program in 1943, first available in
permanent campus in three continents (Chicago, London and Singapore) and this
type of program is offered by most business schools today.
In 1946, Thunderbird School of Global Management was the first school to offer
an MBA program focused on global management.
In 1950, the first MBA degrees awarded outside the United States were by The
University of Western Ontario in Canada, followed in 1951 with the degree
awarded by the University of Pretoria in South Africa. In 1957, INSEAD became
the first European business school to offer an MBA program. In 1986, the Roy E.
Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College (Florida) was the first
MBA program to require every student to have a laptop computer in the classroom.
Initially, professors wheeled a cart of laptops into the classroom.
The MBA degree has been adopted by universities worldwide, and has been adopted
and adapted by both developed and developing countries
Basic types of MBA programs
Two-year (Full Time) MBA programs normally take place over two academic years
(i.e. approximately 18 months of term time). For example in the Northern
Hemisphere beginning in late August/September of year one and continuing until
May of year two, with a three to four month summer break in between years one
and two. Students enter with a reasonable amount of prior real-world work
experience and take classes during weekdays like other university students.
Accelerated MBA programs are a variation of the two year programs. They involve
a higher course load with more intense class and examination schedules. They
usually have less "down time" during the program and between semesters. For
example, there is no three to four month summer break, and between semesters
there might be seven to ten days off rather than three to five weeks vacation.
Part-time MBA programs normally hold classes on weekday evenings, after normal
working hours, or on weekends. Part-time programs normally last three years or
more. The students in these programs typically consist of working professionals,
who take a light course load for a longer period of time until the graduation
requirements are met.
Executive MBA (EMBA) programs developed to meet the educational needs of
managers and executives, allowing students to earn an MBA or another
business-related graduate degree in two years or less while working full time.
Participants come from every type and size of organization – profit, nonprofit,
government – representing a variety of industries. EMBA students typically have
a higher level of work experience, often 10 years or more, compared to other MBA
students. In response to the increasing number of EMBA programs offered, The
Executive MBA Council was formed in 1981 to advance executive education.
Distance learning MBA programs hold classes off-campus. These programs can be
offered in a number of different formats: correspondence courses by postal mail
or email, non-interactive broadcast video, pre-recorded video, live
teleconference or videoconference, offline or online computer courses. Many
schools offer these programs.
Dual MBA programs combine MBA degree with others (such as an MS, MA, or a J.D.,
etc.) to let students cut costs (dual programs usually cost less than pursuing 2
degrees separately), save time on education and to tailor the business education
courses to their needs. Some business schools offer programs in which students
can earn both a bachelor's degree in business administration and an MBA in four
or five years.
Admissions criteria
Most programs base admission on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT),
significant work experience, academic transcripts, essays, references or letters
of recommendation and personal interviews. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
is also accepted by some schools in lieu of the GMAT. Some schools are also
interested in extracurricular activities, community service activities and how
the student can improve the diversity of and contribute to the student body as a
whole. All of these qualifications can be important for admission; however, some
schools do not weigh GMAT scores as heavily as other criteria. In order to
achieve a diverse class, business schools also consider the target male-female
ratio and local-international student ratios.
Depending on the program, type and length of work experience can be a critical
admissions component for many MBA programs. Many top-tier programs require five
or more years of work experience for admission.
Program content
Most top MBA programs cover similar subjects within their core required courses.
For information about the typical content of an MBA program's core curriculum,
see the overview at the Wikiversity MBA topic page. MBA programs expose students
to a variety of subjects, which students may choose to specialize in a
particular area. Students traditionally study a wide breadth of courses in the
program's first year, then pursue a specialized curriculum in the second year.
Full-time students typically seek an internship during the interim. Typical
specializations include: accounting, economics, entrepreneurship, finance,
international business, management science, marketing, operations management,
organizational behavior, project management, real estate, and strategy, among
others.
History of the MBA in Europe
In 1957, INSEAD became the first European university offering the MBA degree,
followed in 1959 by ESADE, ICADE in 1960 (who had started offering in 1956 a
"Technical Seminary for Business Administration"), IESE (first two-year program
in Europe) in 1964, UCD Smurfit Business School in 1964, Manchester Business
School and London Business School in 1965, The University of Dublin (Trinity
College), the Rotterdam School of Management in 1966, the Cranfield School of
Management in 1967 and in 1969 by the HEC School of Management (in French, the
École des Hautes Études Commerciales) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de
Paris. In 1972, Swiss business school IMEDE (now IMD) began offering a full-time
MBA program, followed in 1974 by AGH University of Science and Technology in
Cracow, Poland. In 1991, IEDC-Bled School of Management became the first school
in the ex-socialist block of the Central and Eastern to offer an MBA degree.
Because of technology advances, distance or online MBA programs have recently
emerged in Europe. Several business schools in the United Kingdom now offer
distance MBA programs. In 2007, ESCEM became the first French Business school to
offer their own distance or online MBA.
Bologna Accord
In Europe, the recent Bologna Accord established uniformity in three levels of
higher education: Bachelor (three years), Masters (one or two years in addition
to three or four years for a Bachelor), and Doctorate (an additional three or
four years after a Masters). Students can acquire professional experience after
their initial bachelor degree at any European institution and later complete
their masters in any other European institution via the European Credit Transfer
and Accumulation System.
Accreditation
Accreditation standards are not uniform in Europe. Some countries have legal
requirements for accreditation (e.g. most German states), in some there is a
legal requirement only for universities of a certain type (e.g. Austria), and
others have no accreditation law at all. Even where there is no legal
requirement, many business schools are accredited by independent bodies
voluntarily to ensure quality standards.
Austria
In Austria, MBA programs of private universities have to be accredited by the
Austrian Accreditation Council (Österreichischer Akkreditierungsrat). State-run
universities have no accreditation requirements, however, some of them
voluntarily undergo accreditation procedures by independent bodies. There are
also MBA programs of non-academic business schools, who are entitled by the
Austrian government to offer these programs until 2010 (Lehrgang universitären
Charakters). Some non-academic institutions cooperate with state-run
universities to ensure legality of their degrees.
Czech Republic
January 1998 saw the first meeting of the Association of the Czech MBA Schools (CAMBAS).
The Association is housed within the Centre for Doctoral and Managerial Studies
of UEP, Prague. All of the founding members of the Association have their MBA
programs accredited by partner institutions in the United Kingdom or United
States of America.
Finland
In Finland, as in most countries, MBA does not have the status of official
degree. MBA programs are run by various universities including the top
universities in the country.
France and French speaking countries
In France and in the Francophone countries such as Switzerland, Monaco, Belgium,
and Canada, the MBA degree programs at the public accredited schools are similar
to those offered in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Most French Business Schools are
accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles, which is an association of
higher educational establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public
education system.
Germany
Germany was one of the last western countries to adopt the MBA degree. In 1998,
the Hochschulrahmengesetz (Higher Education Framework Act), a German federal law
regulating higher education including the types of degrees offered, was modified
to permit German universities to offer master's degrees. The traditional German
degree in business administration was the Diplom in Betriebswirtschaft (Diplom-Kaufmann;
Master's degree equivalent) but since 1999, bachelor's and master's degrees have
gradually replaced the traditional degrees (see Bologna process). Today most
German business schools offer the MBA. Most German states require that MBA
degrees have to be accredited by one of the six agencies officially recognized
by the German Akkreditierungsrat (accreditation council), the German counterpart
to the US-American CHEA. The busiest of these six agencies (in respect to MBA
degrees) is the Foundation for International Business Administration
Accreditation (FIBAA). All universities themselves have to be institutionally
accredited by the state (staatlich anerkannt).
Italy
Italian MBAs programs at public accredited schools are similar to those offered
elsewhere in Europe. Italian Business Schools are accredited by EQUIS and by
ASFOR.
Poland
There are several MBA programs offered in Poland. Some of these are run as
partnerships with American or Canadian Universities. For example, the CEMBA
program is run by the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Quebec at
Montreal, Warsaw-Illinois Executive MBA (WIEMBA) run as partnership of
University of Warsaw and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Others like
the programs offered by the Institute of Economics of the Polish Academy of
Sciences (INE PAN) rely on their own faculty and enrich their courses by
inviting visiting lecturers. The CEMBA, WIEMBA and INE PAN programs as several
other programs in Poland, are offered also in English.
Ukraine
Recently MBA programs appeared in Ukraine where there are now about twenty
schools of business offering a variety of MBA programs. Three of these are
subsidiaries of European schools of business, while the remaining institutions
are independent. Ukrainian MBA programs are concentrated mainly on particulars
of business and management in Ukraine. For example, 2/3 of all case studies are
based on real conditions of Ukrainian companies.
United Kingdom
The UK based Association of MBAs (AMBA) was established in 1967 and is an active
advocate for MBA degrees. The Association's accreditation service is
internationally recognised for all MBA, DBA and Masters in Business and
Management (MBM) programs. AMBA also offer the only professional membership
association for MBA students and graduates. UK MBA programs typically consist of
a set number of taught courses plus a dissertation or project.
MBA program rankings
As MBA programs proliferated over time, differences in the quality of
schools, faculty, and course offerings became evident. As a means of
establishing criteria to assess quality among different MBA programs, a
variety of publications began compiling program information and ranking
quality. Different methods of varying validity were used. The Gourman
Report, which ran from 1967 until 1997, did not disclose criteria or ranking
methods, and these reports were criticized for reporting statistically
impossible data, such as no ties among schools, narrow gaps in scores with
no variation in gap widths, and ranks of nonexistent departments. In 1977
The Carter Report published rankings of MBA programs based on the number of
academic articles published by faculty. Also in 1977, the Ladd & Lipset
Survey relied on opinion surveys of business school faculty as the basis for
rankings, and MBA Magazine ranked schools based on votes cast by business
school deans.
Most recently, well-known publications such as US News & World Report,
Business Week, Financial Times, The Economist, and the Wall Street Journal
publish rankings of selected MBA programs. Often a schools’ rank will vary
significantly across publications, as the methodology used to create the
ranks is different among each publication. The U.S. News & World Report
ranking incorporates responses from deans, program directors, and senior
faculty about the academic quality of their programs as well as the opinions
of hiring professionals. The ranking is calculated through a weighted
formula of quality assessment (40%), placement success (35%), and student
selectivity (25%). The BusinessWeek rankings are similarly based on student
surveys, a survey of corporate recruiters, and an intellectual capital
rating. The Financial Times incorporates criteria including survey responses
from alumni who graduated three years prior to the ranking and information
from business schools. Salary and employment statistics are weighted
heavily. Rankings by the Economist Intelligence Unit and published in The
Economist result from surveys administered to business schools (80%) and to
students and recent graduates (20%). Ranking criteria includes GMAT scores,
employment and salary statistics, class options, and student body
demographics. Although the Wall Street Journal stopped ranking full time MBA
programs in 2007, its ranking are based on skill and behavioral development
that should lend toward career success, such as social skills, teamwork
orientation, ethics, and analytic and problem-solving abilities.Other
rankings base methodologies on attributes other than standardized test
scores, salary of graduates, and recruiter opinions. The Beyond Grey
Pinstripes ranking, published by the Aspen Institute is based on the
integration of social and environmental stewardship into university
curriculum and faculty research. Rankings are calculated on the amount of
sustainability coursework made available to students (20%), amount of
student exposure to relevant material (25%), amount of coursework focused on
stewardship by for-profit corporations (30%), and relevant faculty research
(25%). The 2011 survey and ranking include data from 150 universities. The
QS Global 200 Business Schools Report compiles regional rankings of business
schools around the world. Ranks are calculated using a two year moving
average of points assigned by employers who hire MBA graduates. Since 2005,
the UT-Dallas Top 100 Business School Research Rankings ranks business
schools on the research faculty publish, not unlike The Carter Report of the
past.
The ranking of MBA programs has been discussed in articles and on
academic Web sites. Critics of ranking methodologies maintain that any
published rankings should be viewed with caution for the following reasons:
- Rankings limit the population size to a small number of MBA programs and
ignore the majority of schools, many with excellent offerings.
- The ranking methods may be subject to biases and statistically flawed
methodologies (especially for methods relying on subjective interviews of
hiring managers).
- The same list of well-known schools appears in each ranking with some
variation in ranks, so a school ranked as number 1 in one list may be number
17 in another list.
- Rankings tend to concentrate on the school itself, but some schools
offer MBA programs of different qualities (e.g. a school may use highly
reputable faculty to teach a daytime program, and use adjunct faculty in its
evening program).
- A high rank in a national publication tends to become a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Some leading business schools including Harvard,
INSEAD and
Wharton provide limited cooperation with certain ranking publications
due to their perception that rankings are misused.
One study found that objectively ranking MBA programs by a combination of
graduates' starting salaries and average student GMAT score can reasonably
duplicate the top 20 list of the national publications. The study concluded that
a truly objective ranking would be individualized to the needs of each
prospective student. National publications have recognized the value of rankings
against different criteria, and now offer lists ranked different ways: by
salary, GMAT score of students, selectivity, and so forth. Other publications
have produced “rankings of the rankings”, which coalesce and summarize the
findings of multiple independent rankings. While useful, these rankings have yet
to meet the critique that rankings are not tailored to individual needs, that
they use an incomplete population of schools, may fail to distinguish between
the different MBA program types offered by each school, or rely on subjective
interviews.
