DIVERSITY AND THE MBA


The Association of MBAs’ Research Manager, George Murgatroyd takes a look at the changing dynamics of the MBA and how entrepreneurship, internationalisation and responsible management are becoming the most important topics for today’s managers to study.


If you thought that an MBA was only for those in the financial sector, think again. Since the 1970s, the Association of MBAs (AMBA) has surveyed MBA graduates to find out more about their careers, salaries and their attitudes to work. In each of the 20 surveys conducted over this time, the one thing that stands out about MBA graduates is the great diversity of their roles.


Whereas in the 1970s,


manufacturing employed a great deal of MBA graduates in the UK, today you are just as likely to find an MBA graduate working in the


public service as you are in the energy sector. Indeed, less than 10% of MBA graduates surveyed in 2012 worked in the financial services: the technology and industry sectors employ twice as many MBAs. This should come as no surprise, as the MBA remains, at its heart, a management degree designed to improve the expertise of managers from any type of background. Furthermore, the increasing flexibility of part-time MBA delivery – often taught in blocks at the weekend and via distance learning modules – allows many students to retain their full-time positions whilst studying.


The many MBA scholarships which UK business schools offer attest to the diversity of the students they attract. There are scholarships and bursaries available for entrepreneurs, those in the armed forces, marketers, managers who have shown great social responsibility and candidates with experience in the charitable or voluntary sectors. The Association of MBAs’ Entrepreneurial Venture Award 2012 finalist Sameer Hajee, who gained his MBA from INSEAD, set up a social enterprise to provide affordable energy to residents in Africa and India. The winner of the 2012 Award, Cathal Brady, an MBA graduate from Dublin’s Smurfit College, runs a company that develops software products for the utility industry.


The perception of the MBA being linked to large corporate organisations is changing, as business schools seek to engage more and more with SMEs, entrepreneurs and responsible leaders. In AMBA’s


most recent Careers Survey more than a third of the MBA graduates surveyed said they felt entrepreneurship was the most vital topic for today’s management students to engage with, followed by internationalisation and responsible leadership.


Almost 500 of the world’s leading business schools participate in the Principles for Responsible Management Education, which aims to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally. The schools involved are all committed to helping develop a new generation of business leaders capable of managing the complex challenges faced by business and society in the 21st century.


The long-term benefits of studying for an MBA, whatever the background of the candidate are clear. AMBA’s research shows that the average salary for an MBA graduate from an accredited school now stands at over £80,000 in the UK. And whilst 10% of MBA students at accredited business schools begin the course in a senior management role, two-thirds are in middle-manager or higher roles after just one year of completing their MBA.


The skills and experience that an MBA provides make it a degree like no other, and it remains a prestigious and highly valuable qualification. Studying for an MBA provides students with exceptional access to new ways of thinking, an unrivalled platform for networking, as well as the opportunity of working with leading international faculty and


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