Welcome back to another edition of Stacy Blackman’s B-School Buzz, where we share the latest and greatest from the MBA blogosphere. This week, our Buzz bloggers share their waitlist woes, offer feedback on the admissions process from the other side of the hump, and point out the benefits that come with accompanying your spouse on the journey through b-school.

B-school trends come and go, but one that seems to prevail is the creation of specialized MBA programmes. The schools seem to find them useful for attracting students and cementing their brand identities at a time when competition among schools for the best students is intense. But the growing popularity of specialized master’s programmes has not diminished interest in general MBA programmes, reports the Graduate Management Admission Council.

New MBA specialization: Digital Marketing
NYU Stern announced a new MBA specialization in Digital Marketing. The new programme aims to educate students about guiding organizations in a digital world. Students can focus their studies on a mix of marketing and information systems (IS) courses.

E-learning is on the rise. Online universities constantly strive to perfect their e-learning content by supporting it with current examples, analogies, case studies or problem analysis. Virtual learning, however, takes completely new turns by intern-ships turning to the internet as well.

The excited buzz is almost tangible at an information session given by London Busi-ness School (LBS) in Sydney. About 70 potential students – mostly from Australia, New Zealand and Asia - share the room with 25 alumni from all over the world who just happen to be in Sydney on this hot summer night in the southern hemisphere. The potential students came to this conference room in the Four Seasons Hotel “to check out options” or to “learn how to compare different schools” and because “in the current economic situation an MBA seems to be the best step for me”. The alumni have shown up to share their own experience at LBS with their potential successors in the classroom and to help promote the school they once attended.

China cracks down on partnerships with foreign universities that aim at teaching business or accounting degrees, reports the “Australian Financial Review”, citing the website of the Chinese Ministry of Education. Chinese authorities rejected 116 applications for joint programs from universities from a number of countries. Programs teaching business, accounting and marketing were most frequently rejected, since they seem to fail to meet the major areas of national development defined by the Beijing government. The current focus of the Chinese authorities is obviously on degrees in engineering, IT, biomedicine and logistics at the moment - or at least programs in these fields were often approved.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School’s MBA program came in at 28th in the Financial Times 2012 ranking of the global top 100 full-time MBA programs. CUHK’s MBA program was also cited as number two in the Greater China Region for ‘salary percentage increase’. CUHK is now another Chinese school out there amongst the international top suppliers of business education. But how does a Chinese business school train leaders who will have to follow the mainstream official policies issued in Beijing – while success in business and life is often defined by people who break the rules? MBA Channel discussed this question and others with Prof. Michael Ferguson, Associate Professor of Accounting at CUHK and cur-rently serving as the Associate Dean and Director for the MBA Programs.

Last month we reported on the recent business school ranking from the Financial Times. The ranking showed that U.S. schools still fare a bit better than European schools and also continue to outshine Asian schools.

Forbes, the American business magazine notorious for its lists of the richest people on the planet, analyses the idea that the MBA is a road to corporate wealth.
But are things really so easy? Graduate at (from?) business school and then start to reap in the rewards? According to Forbes’ list of the wealthiest billionaires, super rich entrepreneurs are more likely to have dropped out of school: witness Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Michael Dell (Dell), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) or Steve Jobs (Apple). And that is not only true for Americans:

So you’ve decided that you want to take the next step in your business career and pursue an MBA. It’s a big step, and not one to be taken lightly. Outside of deciding what program works best for you, you should also consider the merits of earning your MBA online. If you’ve done your research, you’ll find that students who enroll in online degree programs are among the fast-est growing demographic in higher education. And it’s not just undergraduates who are complet-ing their degrees online. A great deal of highly ranked MBA programs across the United States is offering online options, including Notre Dame, Penn State, and Purdue. Also more and more schools are offering blended learning approach to MBAs, where students can take a combination of online courses and classroom courses to get the best of both experiences.

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) test takers of their exam changed considerably in their demographics. The GMAT test is the entry exam to most business schools and a high test result increases chances of admis-sion.

New programmes, new deans and a focus on Chinese economy are the schools’ highlights of the last month:

The second half our MBA is in full speed. After returning from Christmas break in January, it has been a whirlwind. I had the idea that after the 4th, and final core block, was finished we would be have a little “breather” in the curriculum. Wrong! We went straight into our Learning Assessment Week (more or less affectionately known by its acronym LAW), which was a 90 minute oral exam testing our knowledge of the MBA material thus far, presentation skills and current events in the business world. There was not a day that went by prior to LAW that every student in the class was deeply engrossed in world developments chronicled in the Financial Times. The students organized small discussion groups on what was in the FT that day, and during coffee breaks everyone was glued to the newspaper. The assessment itself was a fantastic experience (though I know I definitely was biting my nails just a few minutes before, trying to figure out what was waiting for me on the other side of the door where Simon Evenett, one esteemed professor, and two corporate panelists were waiting for me- but I am happy to report that it really was not as bad as it sounds), and I think this should be a mandatory assessment for all MBAs graduating from programs around the world.

AACSB International recently analysed the faculties of 598 participating business schools, reporting faculty salaries, discipline, and qualification status for 34,561 full-time faculty members.

As a HSG-MBA student, you…
Have a million things to do (no further elaboration needed).

Women across the western world have achieved a revolutionary success in the last 40 years. According to a recent article from the Financial Times the proportion of women with paid jobs across the western world has risen from 48 per cent to 64 per cent since 1970. This has given a massive boost to the economy and changed women’s lifestyle and thinking. However, there are still income gaps and the boards of big companies are widely deserted from female executives. A lot could be gained from achieving these last steps of equality. It is time to call for action – something that some of Europe’s leading business schools have done now. Amongst them is the University of St. Gallen. MBA Channel has spoken to Prof. Dr. Simon Evenett, the Academic Director of the St Gallen MBA programme, about the ideas behind the initiative.

“Put yourself in uncomfortable situations, which will allow you to field new challenges with ease, grace, and confidence.”
IAC’s Hatch Labs CEO Dinesh Moorjani’s shared this personal insider tip for becoming a successful business person during an interview with Business Insider.com.

As in many professions MBA graduates have developed their very own language that not many outsiders can understand. Business Week has recently compiled a glossary of the most frequently used terms and we thought this is a great starting point to develop an “MBA Dictionary” that puts an end to any confusion beginners might experience.