MBA in Germany

Criticism of the MBA is always well-received in Germany, where the MBA concept and knowledge about it is still very marginal.

“Life is made up of things we are obliged to do and things where we have a free choice. And only those who master what they are obliged to will succeed.” – This is a popular saying that can be extended to many areas of life and also aptly characterizes the situation prevailing in the international MBA market. Only those who meet the globally accepted standards can focus their attention on what they freely choose to – positioning themselves as business schools with their own profile and their own competitive advantages.

The Mannheim Business School is expanding its range of programs and will be offering three-day intensive courses on selected management topics in September for the first time.

The financial crisis threw a wrench into the works for the joint MBA program from the France-based HEC School of Management in Paris and the University of Hohenheim. The planned Executive MBA couldn’t start due to a lack of participants. But now the HEC is denying ever having officially offered the program in Germany.

The leading German business schools are discovering executive education. Primarily, the schools are focusing on in-house programs for companies, but are also looking to establish a position on the open enrollment seminar market as high-quality providers.

Not even a special scholarship helps: international top schools are finding it hard to attract German students. The German candidates show a greater preference for PhD programs and domestic universities.

The Technische Universität München (TUM – Technical University of Munich) is establishing a center for Executive Education and cooperating with a European business school for it. The full-time MBA will be suspended.

Although the Wissenschaftsrat, the advisory body to the German Federal Government and the state governments for higher education institutions and the research sector, has accredited the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin, it makes no secret about the fact that it considers the business school’s ambitious goals unrealistic.

The European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin was accredited by Amba in January and is starting its smallest full-time class to date with 26 students.

The Handelshochschule Leipzig (HHL) has formed a new partnership with the France-based Audencia Nantes School of Management and the Italian school MIP Politecnico di Milano. The goal is the joint recruiting of students, the placement of graduates and Executive Education.

The Frankfurt school will have to forego the MBA title of Duke University in the future. Started in 2005, the “Duke-Goethe Executive MBA” flagship program will become the “Goethe Executive MBA in association with Duke.” The change is prompted not in the least by poor numbers.

The European Business School (EBS) is proud of its placement in a worldwide ranking from Eduniversal. EBS Director Axel Schumacher isn’t just on the scientific committee there – he even considers the ranking a “great start”. But this is more than questionable.

The Dutch business school TiasNimbas is offering a leadership program for young executives for the first time with the Jacobs University Bremen.

Leadership seminars are booming worldwide. Only at German business schools are they lacking.

Social networking has since long been an important skill for successful managers. Now the Handelshochschule Leipzig (HHL) is offering a course on the topic in its MBA program for the first time.

The Goethe Business School certainly has the potential to be among the top players in Germany. But it still has a lot to do to ensure that the international curve doesn’t pass it by.