Hello all,

I am a Ukrainian (37 years old) living in Romania for the last 7 years, I have a family here and for the nearest future, my focus will remain for Romania.

I have extensive expertise (over 15 years) in SME banking in both Ukrainian and Romanian markets, mainly in 2 areas - business development and credit risk. My diploma is equivalent to a Master in Accounting from a local University in Ukraine, no name really.

Currently, I have resigned and I can now dedicate my time to studying and boosting my skills, first of all, in the Romanian language (currently I am B2 level, but clearly it is not a professional proficiency).

I was certain the MBA would boost my career, for instance, to help me network locally and to increase my value on the market to find a better-paid job. After reading for a while this forum, which I found in many instances so insightful, I started to think if to look better for Masters in Management offered by local MBA schools. Anyway, the list of those is quite short in Romania.

My questions would be:
- does it make sense for me to pursue MBA or better to look for MiM?
- does it make sense to look for local schools (cause theoretically they should help me with local networking) or better to go for some better name schools in Western Europe to increase my chances on the local market?

I would greatly appreciate your advice!
anyway, all the contributors are doing just great work here, unfortunately, the Romanian topic is not so popular ;)

Anna

There are some international MBAs in Romania and Moldova, which are probably better than domestic alternatives. The Academy of Economic Sciences is obviously the best local school, but I doubt that is has an alumni network. Learning Romanian is really important. 

The challenge is to understand which schools will have the most brand equity with the firms or indtrusies you are targeting. 

There are some international MBAs in Romania and Moldova, which are probably better than domestic alternatives. The Academy of Economic Sciences is obviously the best local school, but I doubt that is has an alumni network. Learning Romanian is really important. 

The challenge is to understand which schools will have the most brand equity with the firms or indtrusies you are targeting. 

Thank you Duncan for your prompt reply! 

After all years in the banking industry, I would like to make a change towards FinTechs, even Big Tech. IT sector is on the rise now in Romania and it looks quite interesting for me. Also, my experience is based on sustainable business development and it would be great to combine this with the industries I am interested in. 

My purpose is to get first to mid-senior management level to be able later to get to the senior management. 

I was wondering if MBA or MiM or even MSc would help me to complete the move. But I am not sure which schools will suit me better. 
1. WU Executive academy - looks good (I see most of the alumni are C-suit execs) but comparing to the others is on a high-end budget - 35-38k eur, I don't know if with this budget it makes more sense to try some better schools outside of Romania?
2. BiSM (Bucharest International School of Management//Maastricht School of Management Romania) Accreditations - AMBA, IACBE, ACBSP 
3. Canadian-Romanian MBA 
4. ASEBUSS Romanian-American School of Business  5. CITY College - International Faculty of the University of Sheffield - Bucharest 

Overall, I am thinking which way would serve me better. From what I read, it seems that it should be the program where I want to work and better to be not online format. So, it means Romanian bus schools. Just not sure if to go to EMBA or try with Masters/ specialization (even though I am bit reluctant here cause I feel I might be too old for it?). 

thank you for your thoughts and insights! 

[Edited by annalit on Jun 01, 2021]

WU and ASEBUSS stand out to me. Compare the alumni. 

do you think EMBA/MBA makes sense in those schools? or it is better to try a specialized master? 

thank you!!!

As I understand them, your management goals correspond more to a course for middle managers entering senior management rather than a functional specialism. That sounds like the WU or ASEBUSS EMBA. The WU course costs more, and I think that reflects the quality of the career support and the higher profile academics. 

thank you Duncan for your thoughts! 

if I may ask, why do you think Maastricht School of Management Romania would not be a good choice comparing to the others? I was considering this one together with WU rather than ASEBUSS 

[Edited by annalit on Jun 02, 2021]

MSM is a much weaker organisation, than KSU or WU. It has very few of its own faculty, and a very unusual franchise model. This gives a good flavour: The 'Dean' of its Kuwait campus is an entrepreneurial partner, with no academic qualifications in management, who lives in Canada and teaches at six universities alongside a career as a self-employed trainer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaledwahba/?originalSubdomain=ca  

One other thing I note: if you take their MBA or EMBA in The Netherlands, you get a real Dutch degree, with accreditation from the NVAO, the accredition body supported by the Dutch government. If you take the degree in Romania, the degree does not have that accredition. 

Oh wow .. that's something I was not even thinking about. thanks a lot for these insights! You are absolutely right.

You know I was just thinking that local schools are nonetheless incomparable to those from Western Europe/UK. What I understood for myself while reading your posts on different topics that the biggest value of a good school is their career support ( I read employment) and the network, aside from the academic value. However, I haven't heard that some big firms here would partner or look for potential hires coming from the local schools. And maybe, just maybe, a better school name diploma from somewhere else would make a positive difference if I would have it.  

I might be wrong. But this really puzzles me as a dilemma of local schools vs those (with a better name maybe) from EU/UK. 

I would love to know your opinion on this. 

thanks a lot!

It's not easy. If you were a local, then a foreign brand amplified the acculturation and local network you already have. As a foreigner, you have more pieces of the puzzle to fill. A local coach would be a big help.

Looking at LinkedIn the ASE is obviously the major provider of senior people in the tech and finance sectors in Romania: 3,500, and no other school with more than 60 people. So, that's a big networking advantage potentially. Its MBAs are not really inspiring, compared to its full-time degrees: http://www.bbs.ase.ro/ I'm not sure that the modest networking between ASE people is really very powerful for you as a foreigner. 

I think you have to out the quality of the cohort and the transformative quality of the programme first, and that's what leads me back to those programmes. 

Yes, Duncan! I completely agree with you. I was thinking about the local coach also, however, it is rather difficult to find one who will add value or the one who will understand issues with business education and the needs of the local labour market. Moreover, only a handful of them has their own MBA or diploma from a good school. 

I will study more about the programmes you suggested. 

No, I was thinking about a local coach to help you map and fill the skills and resources you lack to progress professionally, rather than an MBA alumnus to help you pick an MBA. Generally speaking, an MBA certainly fills a part of the credibility gap for foreign talent, but not all of it. 

Ah yes I understood what you were suggesting. I was referring to the quality of the local coaches. 

Are there any suggestions as to what to pay attention to while choosing a coach? I would appreciate some hints.  
thanks! 

A good coach will be able to ask you cheeky questions. I work with a Ukrainian-speaking MBA who coaches managers making international transitions, Yana. She could be a great fit for you: https://yanamoldovan.com/ 

Thank you, Duncan! I will definitely check her out. 

[Edited by annalit on Jun 04, 2021]