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India is one of the most exciting MBA destinations at the moment. The economy has been going strong in the last few years and MBA applications are on the rise. On top of this a new foreign education bill is in discussion which will allow the entry of foreign universities into India. Schools like Duke University’s Fuqua, York University’s Schulich and Georgia Institute of Technology have expressed interest in setting up campuses in India. MBA-Channel spoke with Ajit Rangnekar, dean of the Indian School of Business about the new competition, the lack of quality education on the subcontinent, and a higher number of scholarships.

The FT’s 2011 ranking of global Executive MBA programmes is out and the first three places go to Kellogg/Hong Kong UST, Trium and Columbia/London School of Economics. The winners are all combination programmes where students study in more than one place and often receive a title from more than one university. Of the top 10 EMBA programmes in 2011, seven involve studying on more than one continent.

There is no shortage of MBA graduates in the U.S. these days. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), there are over 150,000 MBA graduates every year in the U.S. alone. The challenge, however, is to create not only graduates but business leaders – something that has been discussed over and over again in the last few years. 

Originally, the MBA was a typical U.S. degree. The Master of Business Administration emerged in the U.S. at the end of the 19th century as America became more and more industrialized. Over time many other Western countries took on the degree and only a few years ago even emerging markets jumped on the train. By now the so called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) have fully embraced the MBA education for example. These days the trend is spreading further and further. Who would have thought the following possible a few years ago?

Social media has an ever growing effect on our daily life. Business schools as well as MBA applicants feel the pressure to compete in the social net. Recently, MBA Tour conducted a survey amongst B-school students. Its results suggest that a massive 85 per cent of potential students worldwide use social media sites to research their top school choices. The students’ verdict on the schools’ use of social media tools is quite scathing: about 14 per cent said they were disappointed by the schools’ use of Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn and 63 per cent wished for more information while acknowledging that the schools had made an effort.

2011 turns into an exceptionally good year for MBA demand worldwide with 36 per cent growth. That is a turnaround from the five per cent decline reported for 2009. MBAs are playing a central role in the worldwide battle for talent, with economic growth in emerging markets fuelling the demand for MBAs, claims a report from QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. And as ever more employers seek MBAs in all corners of the world, their salaries are slowly equalizing around the globe.

The emerging world is home to many businesswomen. Seven of the 14 women identified on Forbes magazine’s list of self-made billionaires are Chinese. Many firms in emerging markets do a better job of promoting women than their Western rivals, some surveys suggest.

Year after year, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (or IIM-A) made it to the top in Indian rankings of its B-schools. IIM Ahmedabad is one of the oldest business schools in India and is nationally as well as internationally well recognized. However, this year, two other schools kicked the renowned school from the top spot.

In an unexpectedly generous move the Australian government decided to lift most restrictions on the issuing of student visas to overseas students applying for a place at university. The hope is to create a new flood of new applications from China, India and other Asian countries. Australia’s 39 universities are preparing for 2012 when the government lifts not only the quotas on the number of local students, but also the restrictions to recruit as many foreigners as they wish as a result of a new fast-track visa system.

Business schools team up with companies on programs in which students play the role of consultants – often at little or no cost to the organization.
Management consulting is a very popular career choice for graduates. The “Management Consulting Club” of Harvard Business School, for example, is one of the largest professional clubs on campus. It aims at providing face-time with consulting companies. Monthly cocktails with senior consultants in an informal setting allow for extensive networking opportunities.

This year two-year, full-time MBA programmes received less applications compared to 2010. About two-thirds reported a decline in a new survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

IMD’s professor of finance and governance, Didier Cossin feels that financial education has misled a whole generation of managers, “encouraging them to behave badly under the pretext of pseudoscientific principles”.

Asia is developing into a strong market for business schools and Insead has been active on the continent for several years, teaching from its own campus in Singapore and forging ties with universities in China. In 2007 Insead started the so called TIEMBA programme (Tsinghua Insead Executive MBA) that enables students to finish a dual-degree Executive MBA with Insead and the Chinese Tsinghua University.

Academic business research has economic value: MBA students from schools where teachers frequently publish in high-level academic journals tend to earn more after graduation. That is the result of a study published in Booz & Company’s publication “Strategy and Business”. MBA students who go to schools where the research level is high get paid more than peers who went to other schools - as much as 21 percent more after three years in the real world.

August was the month of rankings. Rather than picking one particular ranking, we have looked at different ones and tried to compile some sort of comparison for you. The most prominent ranking on the market was the one from Forbes magazine.

Western students are now finding jobs in China more easily, reports China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Its 184 members of the 2011 graduating class received 1,500 job offers from 480 companies.

Companies like Facebook made headlines in the past looking only for top talent. A wrong approach says a bestselling American author who claims “great people are overrated”. Good teams are much more valuable than single stars, says William C. Taylor.

One-year MBA programmes have risen in demand and new offers reflect the new trend. In 2010, 48 per cent of students preferred a one-year programme compared to 38 per cent that voted for a two-year programme, when questioned for the QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey.