The University of St. Gallen started its own MBA programme only in 2005. It may be one of Europe’s youngest programmes, but it is also one of its most successful MBA start-ups. Meanwhile, the St. Gallen MBA is being listed as number 23 in Europe in the FT’s Global Ranking 2012 and counted as number 13 worldwide for accelerated MBA programmes in the Wall Street Journal in 2009.

Six Harvard MBAs have started a new business to help new applicants get into the prestige business school. They have persuaded classmates to donate their successful application essays to sell them on to applicants. Essay writing is often the most challenging task for MBA applicants and one where students regularly turn to essay services and admission consultants. The new business model wants to allow applicants to view successful essays. The company works on creating a database over time that will allow potential students to search based on criteria as career experience, age, and whether international or domestic applicants handed in the essays.

Typically, business students enter graduate school with a first degree and about five years of work experience, meaning they are generally in their late 20s –an age where change is still part of the lifestyle. People in their 40s and older on the other hand are rather settled in their careers and work at a level where additional skills don’t necessarily guarantee substantial plus on the payback.

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) will be reshaped from June onwards. The GMAT is a computer-adaptive standardized test in mathematics and English language to measure students’ aptitude to enter and succeed in a business school. The test is widely used by business schools for choosing applicants.

Business schools are encouraging students these days to become active users on LinkedIn from the moment they start their MBA programme. Some business schools have even incorporated using the networking site into their workshops.

Full-time MBA programmes are still the most popular choice for students, but part-time, online, executive and distance-learning MBAs are catching up fast according to the QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey 2011.

The offer for MBA courses in Germany grew constantly over the last years, the number of providers became considerably high. The bigger the choice, the harder it is for one to choose.

MBA education is an increasingly popular choice of education for Asian students. In 2011 over 85,000 Asians took the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) – the entry exam for most business schools. Compared to only four years earlier this is an increase of almost 50 per cent. Most of this growth can be attributed to Chinese citizens.

When Jeannette Purcell demands to “rip up the existing MBA and start afresh” as she just did at the Financial Times, it is no small matter. She used to be the Chief Executive of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) from 2003 to 2010 – and a successful one, judging by the comment of Sir Paul Judge, President of the Association of MBAs: “Under her leadership the Association rapidly developed and established its international profile and reputation as the authority on MBA education and the most respected accreditation agency for MBA courses.”

Over six days last week all of our 32 full-time St. Gallen MBAs were put through a tough 70 minute oral exam, in front of a jury including a professor from a peer MBA programme, two private sector employers, and myself. What follows are my initial reactions to this innovation in the St. Gallen MBA programme–the views of others involved are being canvassed. But first some more background.

You might have been wondering where we have been hiding. Well, since the Electives phase started in late February, we are pretty much all over the place. The beauty of Electives is that you get to make your own schedule.

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) will be reshaped from June onwards. The GMAT is a computer-adaptive standardized test in mathematics and English language to measure students’ aptitude to enter and succeed in a business school. The test is widely used by business schools for choosing applicants .

Henley was the first business school in Germany to ever offer an MBA programme. In 1989, it ran its first class, managed through its associate organisation “Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Weiterbildung” (gfw) in Munich, a private supplier of management education. This partnership ended in 2010, and Henley was left to fight for German students on its own.

A university education is becoming less and less affordable for students in 40 countries around the world, according to the report “Global Changes in Tuition Fee Policies and Student Assistance” by the Canadian consulting group Higher Education Strategy Associates.

Our work environment is constantly changing. Some jobs are becoming superfluous, other jobs are developing at a fast pace. How many jobs will exist in 2035 that we all have never heard of or thought about? The future of work has already started and it is moving along without allowing us much time to breathe. For her new book “The Shift”, Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, has researched the key trends that will shape our future work life. Talking to our correspondent Barbara Barkhausen Lynda Gratton paints a vivid picture of our future business world.

Yet another media publication has ranked business schools. U.S. News focuses solely on the U.S. and only surveys American business schools. Nevertheless, the main results still resemble most of the other major rankings. The U.S.News Business School Ranking 2012 places Harvard and Stanford as the top business schools.