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MBA at Exduco - www.exduco.net

What is an MBA?

Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines

Content

1 Background

1.1 Types of MBA programs

2 Admissions criteria
3 MBA program rankings
4 MBA accreditation
5 Worldwide MBA programs

5.1 North America
5.2 Europe
5.3 UK
5.4 Asia

6 Interviews with program admission directors

1. Background

The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging as the country industrialized and companies sought out scientific approaches to management. The first American business school, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, was established in 1881 (initially as an exclusively undergraduate institution). The Tuck School of Business, part of Dartmouth College, was the first graduate school of management in the US. Founded in 1900, it was the first institution conferring advanced degrees (masters) in the commercial sciences, the forebearer of the modern MBA.

As the US MBA model emerged at the turn of the 20th century, Europeans developed such business schools as at the universities of London and Manchester; elsewhere colleges such as Cass Business School, London, IMD, Instituto de Empresa, INSEAD, Henley Management College, Cranfield School of Management, and Ashridge were established for management training. In 1951 the first MBA degrees were awarded outside America by the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

In 1964, University College Dublin became the first European university offering the MBA degree, followed in 1969 by the HEC MBA Program and by the Sciences-Po MBA Programme. In 1968, the Asian Institute of Management was founded. The MBA degree has been adopted by universities worldwide, on every continent.

Types of MBA programs

Full time MBA programs are the most common, normally lasting two years. Students enter with a reasonable amount of prior real-world work experience and take classes during weekdays like other university students.
Part time MBA programs normally hold classes on weekday evenings, after normal working hours. Part time programs normally last 3 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, non-profit, government — representing a variety of industries. EMBA students typically have a higher level of work experience, often 10 years or more, compared to other other MBA students.
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 respectable schools offer these programs; however, so do many diploma mills. Potential students should check the school's accreditation before undertaking distance learning coursework.

2. Admissions criteria

Programs base admission on the GMAT test, significant work experience, academic transcripts, essays, references, and personal interviews. Schools are also interested in extracurricular activities and community service activities. All of these qualifications are important for admission.
Most schools are first concerned with whether or not the applicant can handle the quantity of course work. The GMAT (the quantitative score) and academic transcripts help determine this. Once the school determines that the student can succeed academically, they examine the remainder of the application to evaluate the applicant's experience and demographic background to assess the contribution of the applicant to classroom diversity and leadership abilities. It is important for the evaluators to admit a well-rounded class so that each student will experience a diverse range of views and ideas in the classroom.

3. MBA program rankings

The MBA degree has become one of the most popular masters' degrees. As more universities started offering the degree, differences in the quality of schools, faculty, and course offerings became evident. Naturally, establishing some criteria of quality is needed to differentiate among MBA programs, especially for prospective students trying to decide on where to apply. As MBA programs proliferated, a variety of publications began providing information on them. Some of these consisted of compilations of information gathered from the universities offering the degree, usually published in book form. Eventually periodicals began publishing articles describing various MBA schools and ranking them according to some perceived quality criteria. One of the most prominent of these is Business Week, which devotes much of one issue each year to ranking MBA programs. Financial Times, Forbes magazine, and U.S. News & World Report also publish MBA program rankings. See the External links section below to view some of these rankings.

Different methods of varying validity were used to arrive at rankings of MBA programs. The Gourman Report, for example, 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. Periodicals based their rankings on interviews with company recruiters who hired MBA graduates, surveys of MBA schools' deans, polls of students or faculty, and a variety of other means. The defunct MBA Magazine asked deans to vote on the best programs. The methods of obtaining ranks often changed from year to year. Initially, rankings included only a small number of universities consisting of the largest and best known Ivy League and state schools.

4. MBA Accreditation

Business schools or MBA programs may be accredited by external bodies which provide students and employers with an independent view of their quality, and indicate that the school's educational curriculum meets specific quality standards. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is generally regarded as being the most prestigious MBA accreditation, covering business schools worldwide.

The United States also has a six regional accreditation agencies as members of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA): Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA), New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASCSC), North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

Other US accreditation agencies include the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) which typically accredits smaller, private American schools, and the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE).

Accreditation agencies outside the United States include the Association of MBAs (AMBA), a UK organization that accredits schools worldwide; the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa; the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) for mostly European and Asian schools; and the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) in Europe.