I just thought I'd share a few thoughts after a visit to Manchester Business School, where I spoke to several students and alumni.

It's important to recognise the context: All the UK schools face a challenging environment in Europe and the UK, and that continues. Students, and especially non-EU students, find it harder than they did (and that's also the situation in the US).

That makes it more remarkable that MBS is one of the few UK schools to have been able to hold its place in the rankings (and even rose this year - Forbes ranked it 2nd outside the US http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/03/best-business-schools-09-leadership-careers-nonus2yr_slide_3.html).

It's a very stable programme and school, but there are a few changes that seemed notable:
- MBS is now placing students into the top strategy consulting firms. BCG is one of the top recruiters, according to Forbes, and its recently been able to place some students into internships with other top strategy firms.
- The MBA is structured over six terms, each with a project (the summer personal project can be swapped for an internship, dissertation or electives). At the end of the final term the students come back to present the results of their international business projects. These projects seem to be growing in popularity with employers, and there's now a substantial surplus of projects.
- There's now a major integrative week after that, where the students draw together what they have learnt in the projects, and to help them refocus on their goals.
- There's a 60 million pound fundraising programme on to expand the school which (like London Business School) is struggling to squeeze both degree programmes and the growing executive education business into the main campus.

Thanks Duncan; did you happen to hear anything about the new executive mba format?
They told me it will begin next year but still no official announcement

Yes, they said it was on track. I guess it will have a very similar format to the old accelerated MBA (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/search_courses_details/university_of_manchester/manchester_global_mba_(accelerated)?p=1&keyword=&filter=institution/3888&id=48279)

Thanks for all this info, Duncan. Good to hear that they're placing people in BCG and other consulting firms.

I think placements will continue to be a concern for non-EU students, but I was looking at their recent employment data and it's not all bad. 60% of graduates end up finding work in the UK or in Europe - this is a relatively good figure considering a vast majority (90%) of the cohort are international students.

Internships and consulting projects seem to be growing in popularity - I think this is good because these provide more hands-on experience for students. Any indication from Manchester as to whether students have success in converting these projects to jobs?

FYI for potential applicants: I saw that Manchester is offering a 1300 GBP discount if you apply for the Global MBA program by April 29.

Yes, it's not bad -- really quite an accomplishment when you consider that some of the students are sponsored and need to return to their own countries.

I didn't hear anything specific about the projects being converted into jobs, but it's clearly a huge advantage. These projects can be like mini-internships where an organisation is exposed to a team of MBAs over a long period. Many of those will not be traditional, large-scale recruiters of MBAs.

Hi MBA Hipster

Regarding Manchester MBA's, you mention that "60% of graduates end up finding work in the UK or in Europe".

Can you please tell which year you are referring to? Is this a general trend that has been observed over the years or have you read this information in some brochure or document of Manchester? Since I am a non-EU student, I wanted to know how recent this information is.

Thanks.

Hi Duncan

Thanks for sharing this information about Manchester Business School.

I understand that the job scenario for non-EU students is pretty tough in Europe for all B- schools (maybe barring LBS ).

I wanted to know if you were able to get a some insights on the situation for internships + international business projects at Mancheter during your visit and whether these have also been impacted because of the slow-down in Europe?

I am trying to understand the inter-relationship between 1) internships 2) projects 3) jobs at MBS.

For example, do students from schools such as MBS face a tough situation for getting internships also these days in Europe? How about the international Projects? Any idea whether these projects are also impacted by the current situation in Europe?

Please let me know if you can provide any inputs on the above points.

Thanks.

Yes, the situation at LBS is different. It's much better there.

I might be wrong, but I get the impression that the number of projects coming in to MBS is increasing. I also think they are really interesting. I spoke to several second year students about their international business projects and they were all fascinating. What's especially good is that many of them are with mid-size business really dealing with growth issues (and thus might connect that to hiring needs). I don't know how that links up to placement, but it's clearly showing results if MBS's rise up the rankings this year means anything.

Regarding Manchester MBA's, you mention that "60% of graduates end up finding work in the UK or in Europe".

Can you please tell which year you are referring to? Is this a general trend that has been observed over the years or have you read this information in some brochure or document of Manchester? Since I am a non-EU student, I wanted to know how recent this information is.

Hi Duncan

During your visit to MBS, did you observe or get any new perspectives on:

1. Curriculum (e.g. some revamp in syllabus etc.)
2. Start-up scene or entrepreneurial ecosystem (e.g. students launching a company while in school as happens quite often in the USA B-schools)
3. Also, you spoke about certain tasks taking place after the IB projects. Example, students integrating the learning in a single package after the IB project and presenting to the faculty. Is this something new?

Hi there.

1. I think the curriculum is very mature. The basic structure of five terms plus a summer block, with six projects, first year core course and a heavy emphasis on the 'Manchester Method' seems very unlikely to change.

2. Entrepreneurship is much bigger than just the MBA at Manchester. The university operates UMIC www.umic.co.uk/ and the business school is the home to a start-up hub (www.mbs.ac.uk/about-mbs/news/view/?guid=b113ada2-27dc-49f0-9548-ce86d1dea76e), its activities (mec.portals.mbs.ac.uk/Enterpriseactivities.aspx) and to a raft of masters degrees in entrepreneurship (mec.portals.mbs.ac.uk/Studywithus/Postgraduatedegreeprogrammes/) and innovation (http://www.mbs.ac.uk/masters/courses/inno-manage-entrepreneurship/). So there's a huge ecosystem there to tap into.

3. Yes, the integration week is new. This was the first year.

Yes, they said it was on track. I guess it will have a very similar format to the old accelerated MBA (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/search_courses_details/
university_of_manchester/manchester_global_mba_(accelerated)?p=1&keyword=&filter=institution/3888&id=48279)

Regarding the EMBA, one of our lecturers tols us last year that the new program will be targeted to senior executives from different companies and will be in the range of 55-60K GBP, as far as I remember.

I don't see how the fees can possibly be that high. Perhaps it's a high sticker price which they discount for almost everyone, like at Hult or TiasNimbas? They can boost the price by bundling in the accommodation. If I was MBS I would run this programme out of their seven international sites: they could bundle in the flights and offer administrative support to book flights and limos, which would be a time-saver. I think that's a stretch for MBS.

The only thing that would really support this price would be a dual MBA with a top Asian or US school. Tepper, UCLA, UNC, NUS, Fordham might be open to this. Pittsburgh unsuccessfully launched its EMBA in Manchester, so that"s one possibility.

But it's more likely that MBS will go in under 40K.

I bet it'll be a very small class.... this is almost 50% more than Cass and Imperial, 60% more than Warwick and Cranfield and more on less on par with LBS

Well, UNC has the OneMBA programme with Rotterdam. I don't think Manchester would add a lot to that, and Manchester has its own campus in the south-east US. I think a course with modules in the locations where MBS has the most alumni (UK, US, SIngapore, UAE, China, India and Hong Kong) would work well. So, perhaps a dual-degree programme with a top Indian or Hong Kong school? The IIM-A, B and C have a small base in the UK, and (while HKU has a partnership with LBS and the Chinese UHK is in OneMNA) perhaps the City University in Hong Hong could be a partner for MBS?

It makes sense.However I believe that they will choose carefully the school (if any) and location since I do not believe that Manchester wants to cannibalize too much its already running Global MBA. As per my experience with the program, I directly know 3 persons who are fully supported by their companies for the Global MBA at Manchester and few more that are partly financed. Since these persons are very experienced ones, with more than 9-10 years of experience, I think that the EMBA will target these persons and companies. If I consider that I didn't have the chance to know all of them from my July 2012 intake (Manchester + the other centers), I just can estimate an enough number of persons that can be be considered as EMBA candidates.

The Global MBA has nothing to worry. The Global MBA is very much as close as possible to the full-time experience. It takes a lot of time and involves much more work than a typical EMBA. Many of them are attracted by the low price, especially Manchester alumni who get a discount. It involves little time away from home. Most students are self-funded

The EMBA should be different on all these points. It needs to be more of a leadership development programme, learning from the executive programmes at MBS. Imagine stage one compressed into five weeks: the AMA (http://www.mbs.ac.uk/executive-education/programmes/core-programmes/leadership/advanced-management.aspx) followed by the PHVM (http://www.mbs.ac.uk/executive-education/programmes/core-programmes/leadership/high-value-managers.aspx). Then go straight into the electives.

Hi Duncan

Can you recommend some good books to read in the Pre-MBA phase? I want to read some relevant books to:

1. Understand Accounts, Stats and Finance /other topics
2. Build Professional /Business Networking Skills in Europe
3. Lead a healthy life (becoming lean n mean), ensuring that I can manage the high-pressure stress and have fun along the journey
4. Hunt for internships and jobs in the UK (I am joining MBS)

In case these topics are already covered elsewhere in this forum, can you please guide me to those forums?

Thanks.

Google suggests:
http://dbs-applicant.dur.ac.uk/index.php?title=2012_Full-Time_MBA_Programme/Pre-Programme_Reading
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/bbs/mba/reading-list/new-students-reading-lists