06.25.08 by Bärbel Schwertfeger

Elite universities: MBA not a factor

“We focus on specialized Masters programs like the Executive Master in Insurance and have no plans to offer a generic MBA,” explains Professor Manfred Schwaiger, Dean of the Economics Faculty at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich. An MBA offer isn’t promised much. “The market in Germany is already split and we don’t see any market gaps,” says Schwaiger. Long-term disadvantages of not being active on the MBA markets aren’t feared. “Porsche doesn’t manufacture station wagons,” says Schwaiger.

In addition, it apparently isn’t clear to him how additional benefits can be generated at the LMU with standard MBA programs in comparison to the established competition abroad. Foreign students could be better acquired through consecutive Masters programs, like the new European Masters in Management, which the LMU has been offering since fall 2007 in conjunction with EM Lyon and the Aston Business School in Birmingham.

The adjacent Technical University of Munich also approaches MBAs half-heartedly with two specialized MBA programs: the Executive MBA in Communication and Leadership and the new Executive Program in Innovation & Business Creation. The fact that the program for founders concludes with an MBA title is viewed particularly critically by some experts. A “true” MBA with a focus on General Management is not planned for the foreseeable future.

There are also negative reports at the International Department at the University of Karlsruhe (TH). The local Hector School of Engineering and Management only offers a Master of Science (MSc) in five focus branches in engineering, finance and information management.
The Freie Universität Berlin has also clearly rejected the MBA. “Our Masters programs in the field of business administration are starting in the coming winter semester and are clearly research-oriented,” explains Professor Jörg Sydow, Dean of the Economic Science Faculty at the Freie Universität Berlin. The available capacity of the faculty is reportedly depleted, meaning that a real MBA in the near future can’t be factored in.

Within the frame of the excellence initiative of the Federal Government started in 2005, the chosen universities are meant to make Germany as a location more competitive and they receive an additional sponsorship from the state of approximately 100 million euros.