I had an interesting message from someone on Find-MBA about pre-experience MSc's and I thought my reply might be useful for others. The other person wrote:
"I have done my bachelors degree in engineering and at present I am running my Dad's company. I feel that if I have more exposure I will be able to run it better. That's why I want to do a postgraduate course in the UK. I went through, researching a lot of colleges for their MBAs, but most good colleges want work experience. Then I came across the MSc. But I am not sure if an MSc degree will really help me."

Here is my reply:--

First, don't limit yourself to the UK. Business is international and, unless your Dad's firm is in the UK and does not export, you will benefit from an international education. MSc degrees are very well respected, especially from schools with international accreditation. There is a fairly new programme at London Business School, which has a top MBA programme, but will take a few years to appear in the rankings: http://www.london.edu/programmes/mastersinmanagement.html

The best-established MSc programmes in business are all ranked by the FT. Out of 70 programmes, 13 are taught in the UK. http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/masters-in-management-2013 The lowest fees are at non-UK public universities like Aarhus, Aalto, Cologne, Copenhagen, RSM/Erasmus, HEC Lausanne, Louvain, Maastricht, Mannheim, NHH, VSE Prague, St. Gallen, Solvay, Vienna and Warsaw. Those are some of the top MSc programmes worldwide and you can see from the salaries that they produce very high quality business managers. Some lower-cost schools are going up on price (like Stockholm and Kozminski) so these bargains won't be around for ever.

PS I updated this post to reflect the 2013 rankings. Please also read my post on Pre-experience masters in the USA www.find-mba.com/board/23411

The 2013 rankings are now at http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/masters-in-management-2013 Leeds and the LSE have rejoined the ranking, meaning that there are now 12 British schools and ESCP running top MSc's in the UK.

I have written much about this http://www.find-mba.com/board/38133

Hi Duncan,

I have 3.5 years of work experience in IT services industry . I am looking to Masters / MBA (MIS) to move to IT consulting . I got an admit from Maastricht University - Msc in Information and Network economics course .I really liked the course content . I would like to know how reputable is the course and the university in Netherlands and across western europe . I would like to stay back in netherlands after completion of my course . I also have an admit from MSM - MBA. Which is better ? My GMAT score is 640 and TOEFL score is 113 .

Regards,
Abhijeet

How good is your Dutch?

Take a look at Do you need to speak the local language? www.find-mba.com/board/34713

Hi Duncan,
The post is really informative. Thanks. I have zero knowledge of dutch but I am planning to start learning it ASAP.

Hi Duncan,

I would still like to know whether a niche course such as Msc in Information and Network economics at Maastrict University is reputable . Atthough , Maastricht university has a descent ranking , is it recommended to pursue courses which are not much fancied in the same university . And how does it stack up against MSM ?

Regards,
Abhijeet

Well, MSM is an export brand: most of this students are outside Europe, and I don't think it will have good placement in the Netherlands. Maastricht University is great, but without Dutch I'm not sure that either would be a safe option. Either way, if you wanted to study and then work in the Netherlands I'd suggest a full year programme in Dutch, and then a masters.

Thanks a lot Duncan for valuable advise .

Regards,
Abhijeet

Hi duncan!
Im confused whether to chose mba or msc management in uk .I have only a year of work experience and I want to come back to india for work.am very sure about it and mba programms in india are very difficukt to get into.so will mba in universities like cardiff help me fetch a good job in india or would msc managemebt in an ft ranking university help me