Dear all,

I am going to pursuit the MBA in the UK next January and Nottingham Trent Business School (NTBS) is among my options because of its quite good fee (~15,000£ for 1 year) and its new MBA director (Professor Roulla Hagen who was the head of MBA at Durham University in 5 years before moving to NTBS). The school's representative confirmed with me that the MBA program was completely revamped 3 years ago by the new MBA director and is now looking to take the AMBA accreditation very soon (as it had to wait for 3 cohorts to graduate).

However, I found that such information is not sufficient for me to make up my mind in the case I get the offer from this school. Therefore, I really need your opinions about its reputation and teaching quality compared to its tuition fee. If possible, I would like to hear some more suggestions for other B schools in the UK (currently I am aiming to Lancaster, Bath and NTBS).

About me: I'm from Vietnam, 3yrs work exp in audit, IELTS ~7.5, GMAT 630 and wish to work in consultancy industry in my country after graduating.

Thank you for reading!

Bath or Lancaster would be much better options. Nottingham Trent doesn't have accreditation by AACSB/EQUIS/AMBA, which are general indicators of teaching quality and of a school's network.

While it might be less expensive, it's really a gamble in that you won't have the same resources that you would have at a better school.

I understand the fact that Nott Trent hasn't had any well-known accreditations and this actually makes me hesitant to select it. Beyond the accreditation issue, do you know any further information about its teching quality from your friends who study/teach there and its reputation in the view of recruiters in the UK or other European countries?

Btw, can you compare Nott Trent and Bradford?

I can't see any reason to apply to Nottingham Trent's MBA. The curriculum is very modest: really limited to the core demanded by AMBA, and with only two electives. The MBA doesn't see to have any dedicated careers services.

You'd be much better off taking an MSc or MBA at an internationally-accredited school.

If you did not want to work in the UK but just wanted a good academic experience then, for the same price, you could take the ESCP Europe Master in European Business, the Anglo-American University MBA in Prague with AACSB accreditation, or the MBADual Degree MBA/M.Sc. in Strategic Management at the International Graduate Business School Zagreb.

And there will be unaccredited MBAs with better support and better locations, like Richmond University or University of Buckingham MBAs.

Hi Duncan, it's very nice to see your comment. However, I am a bit confused with your information about Nott Trent's curriculum. As I see on its website, the school offers 8 core modules and 14 electives modules in which I can choose 4. Here is the link to the school's curriculum:
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/pss/course_finder/60659-1/1/mba_business_administration_.aspx#course

First about the core modules, I compared them with those offerred by Lancaster and Bath and realised that they are quite similar with subjects coverring 4 main areas: Marketing, Strategy, Enterpreneurship and HR. Then about the elective modules, even though Nott Trent offers more options to its students (Lancaster & Bath each offers 12 elective choices), I must say the modules are not very compelling but personally, I still think they are fairly diverse, not modest. How do you think about my opinion?

Moreover, as I want to study in an English-speaking country where I can also improve my communication skills, two shools in Czech and Croatia you recommended seem not to suit my needs well but thank you so much for that. I will consider the other two schools you suggested.

Oh, I was going off http://www.ntu.ac.uk/nbs/document_uploads/152387.pdf but perhaps that document is out of date? It is hyperlinks on http://www.ntu.ac.uk/nbs/nbs_mba/full_time/index.html

Clearly NTU is looking for AMBA accreditation: the course reflects its criteria very closely. But it's not an accredited programme, and it lacks the careers services, faculty, students, alumni network or brand equity of an accredited programme.

I give the courses in the Czech Republic and Croatia not as recommendations, but to show that at the same prices there are AACSB-accredited programmes available which will have higher quality students, faculty and brand equity. These are small business schools, but they will have some modest careers services (maybe not useful ones, but they exist).

Of course my recommendation is that you focus on your goals and get into the best programme you can.

Thanks for your information. I emailed the ad com of NTU to clarify their latest curriculum and hope they will reply soon. Honestly, at the end of the day the main reason that could make me choosing NTU is its director. Do you have any idea about Professor Roulla Hagen? Do you think she can bring along her success from Durham, which is now in top 100 best B school, to NTU?

Professor Roulla Hagen's LinkedIn profile explains that she was Joint Director of Durham's full-time MBA over the 2002/05 years. It seems unlikely that the development of the MBA there was her sole accomplishment. The Durham MBA was accredited by AMBA more than 30 years ago, and has behind it the resources of one of the world's top 50 universities. It can be totally excluded that a former polytechnic could equal Durham's performance, even given 30 years, without a gift of some hundreds of millions of dollars.

I do notice that her publications are very light: http://www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/staff_profiles/staff_directory/124749-4/26/roulla_hagen.aspx Just three papers in refereed journals are listed on her page, in 2000, 2002 and 2007. I'm not surprised she chose to move from Durham to a less research-active school.

You are very convincing, Duncan, and the information you posted here is quite informative. Thanks for that. Definitely I will take careful consideration when make decision whether to attend the MBA course at NBS. One more thing, do you think it is offensive if I ask her to compare NBS's MBA program with other accredited ones in the UK? And her expectation about when the program can achieve a well-know accreditation?

Well, she will say that the programme is modelled on accredited programmes and that she expected to win accreditation in the next few years. What else could she say? There is no way it will win accreditation before you start the course.

The difference is not so much on the content of the MBA, but in the experience created by having stronger students, a powerful alumni network, research-active staff, good careers services in the school.

Durham's business school is 50 years old. It takes time.

You're right Duncan. There is nothing else she could say. In fact, the ad com once confirmed with me the school is in the final stage of the AACSB accreditation. I hope it's not just PR.

One alumni told me that at NBS, the weak classmates can be compensated by the caring lecturers. It means that because not so many students applied for the MBA at NBS, the class size is small (that alumni shared there were only 15 students in her intake 2 years ago) and therefore, lecturers would pay more attention on each individual. Now the class size may be getting larger but compared to other schools, it is still smaller. Do you think it is a pros?

AACSB accreditation will not extend to your degree, and is not highly valued in the UK.

I think you need to focus on your goals. If you have a limited budget and don't want to work in the UK, then the other programmes outside the UK will give you a better cohort and better education. If you want to work in the UK, then go to a better (much better) business school.

A small class size is not an advantage. The leading business schools in the world have classes of 50 to 100 students in order to have dynamic case study discussions. Students learn as much or more from a high-quality cohort than from their lecturers.

I got what you mean, Duncan. Thanks for all your advice :)