The St. Petersburg Times
education special
Manchester Business School has seen the numbers of its Russian students increase dramatically during the past two years, and expects to see more and more Russians joining its ranks in the future.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 • III
Choosing an MBA
Continued from Page I MBA program in order to improve the production process of the company at which they work. Dyukov’s statistical research also shows that the main expectation SSE students have after completing a course is to improve their personal competencies. In second place are expectations of career growth and an increased salary. Dyukov said that the majority of the students enrolled on SSE programs are Russian, but during the school’s ten-year existence, students have come from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, India, Japan and the U.S. Lyudmila Murgulets, a senior tutor at SSE and recent MBA graduate, said that the students who come to the school are mostly Western oriented, open to innovations and the systematization of their knowledge and experience. Their primary aim is to obtain a Western diploma in Russia and to secure their career growth. “In the course of my contact with students, I have learnt that they have two basic motivations when deciding to attend a course – firstly, the fear that they might lose their competitive edge — a diploma makes them feel more confident. Secondly, an MBA opens new horizons for them, enabling them to improve their business,” Murgulets said during the forum’s MBA roundtable. Hired managers, not entrepreneurs, make up the majority of students at SSE, she added. According to Alexei Popov, head of the Executive MBA program at SSE, the prestige of the school has an influence on the prestige of students. The better rating an educational institution has, the better the starting position a student will have in their future role as manager. Experts named the Financial Times MBA rating as the most influential and popular in the West, because it is based on more than one hundred factors and has been in existence for a decade. Popov said that western ratings of MBA schools rate projected salary growth above everything else, unlike ratings published in Russia, like those of Delovoi Peterburg newspaper, which rate knowledge gained and contacts made as top criteria. “Western ratings take into consideration the starting salary, as well as projected salary growth over three and five years. The motivations behind studying at a business school in the West differ from those in Russia,” he said during the roundtable presentation, adding that the starting salary for an MBA graduate from the most prestigious Western schools like
global mba market trends
By Nigel Banister
S p e c i a l t o t h e S t. p e t e r S b u r g t i m e S
Globalization and technology have had a huge impact on the executive education market. The landscape has tremendously changed over the past decade. Many Western economies have entered a period of recession whilst other parts of the world continue to prosper and grow, notably in Asia. As an international school offering finance, construction and engineering MBA programs to more than 3,000 executives worldwide, though we haven’t felt a downturn in enrollment. On the contrary, in time of recession people are especially keen to get ahead of the crowd and also our student base is very widespread geographically. We have noticed a series of leading trends, beyond the increasing popularity of specialist MBAs, with vocational diplomas, which provide students with customized programs to suit their career. Flexibility has also been an important trend, as a lot of people are increasingly reluctant to take 18 months off to study for an MBA, especially in the context of the credit crunch. As I travel to our different centers around the world — Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jamaica, and soon Shanghai — I have picked up a number of other leading trends on the global MBA market. The first major trend is that any big business school will now have offices or be planning to open one in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Russia is very important to us; we have had Russian students for over a decade, and have noticed a huge increase in numbers during the past two years. We are also finding that we are getting a lot of students from Africa recently, now equating to 15 percent of the cohort. Many schools have launched Global MBA programs. Our own Global Manchester MBA program has been largely oversubscribed and is a huge success only a year after having been launched. Glo-
balization, which is being accelerated by the rise of emerging economies, in particular China and India, and by the falling of entry barriers around numerous countries, has been driving this demand. In parallel, a lot of business schools have started to offer shorter courses to meet the students’ demand, although this is not something we are considering at Manchester. In terms of popular modules, there has been a shift away from specific program modules such as banking and financial management to more traditional modules such as leadership and international business strategy. This reflects three major factors of today’s market: Increased competition and recession in the West, and globalization. When times are tough, improving leadership talent is more than ever a business priority, as leadership skills are really put to the test and organizations with the right quality and quantity of leaders will be those emerging from the mass, as they will weather the storm better than the less prepared and equipped. In the face of pressure to reduce costs, organizations must remain firm in their commitment to invest in leadership. International business strategy has also been a favorite. Specialists’ MBA, covering industries such as construction and engineering, have been very popular. For instance, three years ago, Manchester Business School Worldwide launched an MBA for Construction Executives that was developed with U.K. industry bodies of excellence such as ConstructionSkills, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Royal Institute of British Architects. The MBA for Construction Executives has met with phenomenal success in Dubai, which is the heart of a tremendous construction boom and where the school has a thriving branch. I can see a similar pattern occurring in Russia, given the huge construction spur currently underway throughout the
Back to Basics
country, the revenues it is generating (it is estimated that the construction industry is now comparable in turnover to the domestic oil industry), the launch of enormous infrastructure projects by private developers and federal agencies, and the tremendous need for more housing in the country. For years now, getting an MBA has been seen as a rite of passage for many executives wanting to further their career and get the most coveted jobs in a competitive and global market. Despite fears that the popularity of the qualification would dilute its “gold standard” reputation, the MBA remains the leading business qualification in the world. We see a clear path for us in Russia, as our next strategic point to open a branch given the rise in our student base here. With a thriving economy and dynamic workforce, we very much see a future for us here and very much hope that we will see more and more Russian executives joining our ranks. Nigel Banister is CEO of Manchester Business School Worldwide www.mbsworldwide.ac.uk. Manchester Business School is ranked 22nd in the world by the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings published in January 2008.
Wharton or Harvard is at least $160,000. Education experts, however, are skeptical over some of the information published about Russian business schools, and believe there is no such thing as a perfect ranking system. Olga Udovichenko, vice-dean of the Graduate School of Management (GSoM) at St. Petersburg State University, said during the roundtable presentation that international MBA rankings are more objective, but schools have to obtain international accreditation to be listed there. To avoid confusion in selecting the right school, experts recommend checking the school’s accreditation first, as the most valid assessment of the prestige and quality of the business school and MBA programs it offers. “If a school is looking to receive international accreditation, its programs and brand must be proven to be of an international standard; it must be examined and assessed according to more than 40 criteria,” said Udovichenko during her roundtable presentation. “The content of the programs is closely examined, along with teaching methods, quality control systems, the teaching faculty, available resources, the degree to which the school is international and its connections with businesses, the personal and professional development of the school’s graduates and many other factors,” she said. During the next five years, GSoM plans to maintain its current accreditations and start the process of applying for AACSB and EQUIS accreditation. Together with AMBA, which the school already has, these accreditations constitute “Triple Crown Accreditation,” considered the most prestigious status among contemporary business schools. According to Olga Chebotkova, partner at Transearch International, one of the biggest executive search companies in the world, only 10 percent of the biggest international and Russian companies operating in the country list an MBA diploma as a compulsory requirement for top management positions. This can sometimes make it difficult for an MBA graduate to find a common means of communication with the rest of the team, and for them to assess the previous achievements of the team. However, employers show an indisputable preference for people who have completed an MBA program. “Personally, I consider an MBA diploma to be an advantage. The knowledge obtained is structural, business is perceived as a game, an exchange of experiences. You sit on the desk, change your role and feel quite different; and at the same time you are faced with new activities,” said Chebotkova.
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Bricks and mortar
BRIC in Focus
Manchester Business school Worldwide is offering an MBA scholarship for russian students January 2009. the scholarship, which is worth £8,700 (approx 393,250 rubles) and covers 50 percent of an MBA fees can be won by answering the following question: “Explain in 1,500 words how an MBA from Manchester Business school could benefit your career and your organisation in the context of russia’s evolving business climate.” the competition paper must be sent to admissions@mbs-worldwide.ac.uk no later than 17 october 2008. A completed application form for one of the MBs Worldwide MBA programs should accompany it. for more information about the scholarship: http://www.mbs-worldwide.ac.uk/russian_scholarship.asp
the russian scholarship
for spt