Are MBAs out of date?

摘要

I sit on the international advisory board of European business school IESE and have just returned from a very interesting visit to the Barcelona campus. I talked with enthusiastic students from around the world and with dieir dedicated teachers. I came away impressed with their confidence and belief in themselves and their future in business. Yet they may be in a minority, as many business schools in the UK and the US are facing a double-digit drop in applications for their MBA programmes. Speculation about the causes of this has centred on the financial crisis and the decline of the banking sector as a potential employer, the Coalition Government's tougher immigration controls and a general disillusionment with business ethics and values. Whatever the reason, the deans of business schools everywhere are spending a lot of time thinking about the future of business education and its relevance to shaping future corporate leaders.