More interest in online MBAs as sponsorship dries up

Publish date	2008-03-25
Available Articles	Full articles without membership

The Financial Times has published its latest ‘ranking of rankings’ of European Business Schools – and the research shows a surge in interest in distance learning.

The new tables give a comprehensive snapshot of the best in business education throughout the continent, as they are based on five sets of school rankings published by the FT throughout the year. These include assessments of those offering full-time MBAs, non-degree executive education programmes, European masters in management degrees and executive MBAs.

The upper end of the rankings show little change from last year. The two top schools remain HEC in Paris and London Business School, which offers a range of distance learning programmes. The big mover is the French school Insead, up from number 10 to three.

Despite the increasing global economic gloom, the FT says its research has found that the appetite for business education is as healthy as ever – and there may even be a strengthening of this trend in the coming years. Like the stock market, business schools tend to do well when economic times are tough, because executives often choose – or are forced – to take up management studies in times of recession.

Most schools are reporting an increase in uptake of all courses, according to Jeanette Purcell, chief executive of the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the chief accreditation body for UK business programmes.

According to the FT, she said there was increased interest in distance learning MBAs because applicants were increasingly reluctant to leave work – and, crucially, one source of funding for professionals seeking a career-advancing MBA is dwindling.

Purcell said: “Employer sponsorship is declining and I think that probably has an impact that is influencing the move to flexible programmes because more students are now funding themselves.”

She added that distance learning is becoming more viable because schools are making much better use of technology.

David Bach, associate dean of the MBA programme, says that while the UK remains a tough market, there has been a great deal of interest from Asia and strong demand from India. There has also been greater interest from North America with 21 US participants on the international MBA programme.

If you’re looking to do an MBA, the various annual rankings of schools are an important tool in the decision-making process. Annual tables from the FT and The Economist are well-respected market indicators. But how much stock should you put in rankings?

Dr Heather Spiro, Associate Director of MBA programmes at Manchester Business School, says: “Rankings are useful but it’s more important that applicants go to open days and talk to alumni and professors.”

The top FT-ranked schools in Europe offering online-only or distance learning MBAs show the UK is ahead of its continental neighbours in the field. Included are Liverpool University Management School, Bradford University, Manchester University, Warwick Business School, Henley Management College, Tanaka Business School at Imperial College and Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University. Outside the UK, Spain’s Instituto de Empresa, the Robert Kennedy School in Switzerland and the Euro MBA consortium are the only ranked offerings.

The latest FT rankings can be viewed at: http://rankings.ft.com/european-business-school-rankings.

Keywords: Financial Times, school rankings, distance learning, the University of Liverpool, Bradford, Manchester, Warwick, Henley, Heriott-Watt.

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