Business school deans that have more characteristics of a CEO than an academic are currently winning many of the sought after dean positions at business schools, according to new research from The Korn/Ferry Institute, a talent management think tank.

A former MBA student has launched a website guide with advice on how to master the business school essay, which is an important part of business schools’ applications. The guide refers to U.S. American business schools mainly - however, it is also worth a click for students looking at business schools in other parts of the world, especially for students who might not be able or willing to pay for admission consultants.

LinkedIn is not even ten years old. The networking site was launched in 2003 and by now has more than 135 million members in more than 200 countries. According to the company, there were nearly two billion people searches on LinkedIn in 2010 and about double the amount only a year later. Especially for recruiters, LinkedIn is a valuable tool that allows them to find job-seekers, headhunt employees and see who is connected to whom. To make a LinkedIn profile strong enough for recruiters and companies to become aware of it, there are a few tips to be followed.

Small and medium sized companies have often been overlooked by job seekers in the past as they can’t offer the same salaries at the start as the big corporations. This initial downside, however, turns itself around quickly, as employees can advance their careers much quicker.

The international business school Insead will develop an Insead EMBA Test as an alternative to the GMAT. This announcement came with the launch of a new Asia section of the Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) programme.

It is certainly not only hardship for women in business. Many businesses, business schools and already successful women offer support for female students, managers and leaders. One way to open a few more doors for women are scholarships.

A joint research project from the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin and international business school Insead has investigated what leadership means to women in managerial positions. Professors Natalia Karelaia (Insead) and Laura Guillén (ESMT) collected data from 722 female leaders from 68 countries and a vast array of industries.

Project Firefly is a new, open, merit-based platform for university students and recent graduates to enhance their profiles. The initiative aims to encourage university students to develop and refine their ideas on pressing societal problems and become thought leaders! Financial service provider Credit Suisse and 15 leading scholars from around the globe support the platform.

A recent survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) found that the wage gap between men and women is smaller among MBA graduates than it is among the general U.S. population. Female graduates of full-time MBA programmes received starting salaries equivalent to 85 per cent of the earnings of their male counterparts. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the average percentage in the U.S. workforce is as low as 77 per cent.

Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business was the big winner of this year’s FT ranking. The American business school moved up to first place – an absolute first in the 14 years that The Financial Times has ranked full-time MBA programmes. Stanford leads the ranking followed by Harvard Business School, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and London Business School, which had both tied for first last year. Columbia Business School made it to fifth place this year.

Western Australia is home to only 2.4 million people, a bit more than a tenth of Australia’s population, but the state accounts for almost half of the country’s exports. While Western Australia’s economy and job market are expanding, the population growth can’t keep up and skill shortage has reached record levels.

Amidst renewed talks of a financial crisis, employees all over the world are more reluctant to give up their positions and go back to school for one or two years. This might be one of the reasons why the Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) is so successful these days.

A new survey by Training The Street (TTS), a corporate training provider, found that MBA graduates needed more hands-on training to prepare themselves for Wall Street careers. The training company conducted its analysis amongst a training class of incoming associates at a global investment bank.

Fear of another financial crisis has caused a slowdown for enrolments at Indian business schools. The impact has been relatively low in the top institutes, but a majority of the approximately 4,000 schools in India are facing a shortage of students. In some cases, they have lost up to 50 per cent of their students according to IIM Calcutta director Shekhar Chaudhuri.

Germany’s „Mittelstand“ – a term that stands for smaller and medium sized companies – are in desperate need of skilled workers and executive staff. Estimates show that the “Mittelstand”-sector could add about 33 billion Euro (43 billion US dollars) to its revenues by recruiting sufficient qualified personnel.

The Ross school of Business at the University of Michigan takes its executive MBA programme to Los Angeles. The programme is a once-a-month format.  Applications will be accepted in January, with the first course starting in August 2012. A key feature of the programme is the so called ExecMAP where students work in teams to conduct high-level strategic projects. These cover a variety of industries and company sizes from multinationals to start-ups. The course enables students to get to know different industries, gain overseas experience, or get inside an entrepreneurial venture.

More and more business schools are embracing sustainability. This is the positive finding of a study published by the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, part of Nottingham University Business School. The Centre conducted the analysis on the integration of sustainability in business schools amongst the first 100 schools that have signed the UN initiative „Principles for Responsible Management Education“.

Public relations has not been the focus of most MBA programmes. Usually most programmes touch the topic briefly, mostly in the way of teaching writing and communication skills. This might change in the near future as new research reveals gaps in MBA hires in this particular area.