Management education is all about providing new skills

Updated on: Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Management education has been evolving over the last few years. However, in one of the latest trends, a study reveals that enterprise, innovation, change and entrepreneurship are becoming more important.

The joint study, 'Enter the Entrepreneur Report, Tomorrow's MBA,' has been conducted by CarringtonCrisp, The Association of Business Schools (ABS) and the European Foundation for Management Development ( EFMD). Andrew Crisp, one of the authors of the report, attributes this change to the job market. "With contractions among traditional recruiters of MBAs, especially in financial services, graduates have looked for other options. Now, whether they want to start a business on graduation or later in their lives, or simply work their way up within a large business , there is recognition as well as acknowledgement that a slightly different skill-set may be required than was previously the case."

Other factors that suggest a growing role for entrepreneurship are less of a focus on an MBA that will improve earning potential and more on providing new skills and challenging candidates to think differently.

Changing priorities

In another trend, the percentage of aspirants seeking full-time programmes is down slightly, while those wanting the flexibility of part-time study have grown by a small percentage. Only in North America, more than 50% of the sample indicates that they want a traditional two-year MBA programme.

However, as to the increasing number of aspirants from Asia opting for a 'fulltime' MBA, Crisp says, "There are two forces at work here. First, more students in western Europe are looking at the part-time MBA. With continuing uncertainty in the job market, more and more are reluctant to give up their jobs for full-time study."

In Asia, Crisp adds, economies continue to grow quickly and so the opposite is true. The MBA can be a great way to accelerate a career, but the opportunities are there today so the sooner the MBA can be completed the better to get back into the job market."

Times of India

Management education is all about providing new skills

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