I am working professional with 5 years of work experience as a technical sales engineer. I want to pursue my career in operations management. Which one of these schools should i choose from?

[Edited by Maneet Yadav on Jun 16, 2020]

I think the only business school on this list with international accreditation  is RGU. If you need good careers services with placement into traditional MBA roles, you'd really need to look at FT-ranked MBAs.

I imagine you are concerned about investment. See https://find-mba.com/lists/other-top-business-school-lists/top-10-budget-mba-programs-in-england

Thank you for your prompt reply. The main problem is that I have already received rejections from the likes of Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield, Southampton. So I don't think there is even a slightest chance of getting into top 100. I know these are not the top schools but that's all I have to choose from. RGU is double accredited but its overall ranking is below 600. Does that matter?

Also, I am planning on working in UK for a while then will move to Canada where my family resides. 
It would be of great help if you could guide me here a bit. 

Thank you.

RGU is well known as a school for oil and gas. I suggest reading the discussion there: https://find-mba.com/schools/uk-ireland/uk/aberdeen 

I think there's a lot for an operations professional to learn from the oil and gas setting, even if energy isn't their focus. At the undergraduate level, it's ranked in the top third of Uk schools: https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/business-and-management-studies For entry standards it ranks 17th out of 126 UK business schools, and 24th for student satisfaction, so clearly it's not a terrible choice. It's one of the outstanding schools for energy worldwide and will have a higher quality of students and employers than other programmes you have considered.

Since your alternatives are [unranked, have limited careers services, modest brand equity and are mostly] 'freshers' MBAs' with inferior accreditation, I think RGU is a good choice, especially since you are looking for work. Scotland always seems more open to foreign talent than England. 

[bit in brackets added]

[Edited by Duncan on Jun 17, 2020]

Thank you for your valuable feedback. I have also applied for Aston, Brunel, Surrey, and Westminster. Can you rate these including RGU in descending order if I can get admission into one of these. 

It would take a bit of research to see which of these schools was best for your goal. Read: How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571 

[Edited by Duncan on Jun 18, 2020]

I want to know why you think Essex MBA is a fresher's one. They have AMBA and in process of getting AACSB. 

I don't think that. I'll edit my post to clarify. 

[Edited by Duncan on Jun 17, 2020]

I understand what you are saying. As I want to pursue operations management, Can I then do an MBA from Essex and MSc in operations and project management from a prestigious school?

That makes no sense to me. Why not simply take the MSc, or find a longer MBA with four semesters or four terms so you can really specialise in operations, like Cranfield, Manchester or the two year option at Birmingham? The MIT Scale MSc degrees are strong for operations: the Zaragoza program has a double MSc and MBA option,  and I imagine the new Luxembourg  degree will do too.

Well, that was something that crossed my mind. Will doing a MSc from a reputed school instead of an MBA from a lower ranked school help my case for a job? I thought MSc was for freshers.I will be applying to Strathclyde, Manchester, Cranfield, Bradford, Newcastle, Heriot Watt, and Birmingham.

The MiM degrees are for freshers, but specialised masters are for people at any age (for example, I was 31 when I did my MSc in business analysis at City University London).



I know the MIT program in Zaragoza has an average starting salary higher than most MBA. In the Malaysia program, students are younger but still double their salary. 

Start from your goals. What role do you want, and in what industry and country? Use LinkedIn to see which schools those people tend to have attended, whether they took the MBA or MSc, and which if those schools have a higher percentage of their graduates in that industry or role. See the post about using LinkedIn on my profile page. 

[Edited by Duncan on Jun 18, 2020]

These degrees will be better at helping you make the transition into operations, logistics, supply chain etc. The most costly ones, especially those in business schools and with high local fees, will tend to have the best career services. 

Cranfield has a long history of supply chain and operations management excellence. My original background was in supply chain and operations until I switched to IT. I worked for a specialist supply chain consultancy that regularly used to work with Cranfield and I noticed that one of their VPs is still a visiting professor there. I did look at doing the Supply Chain MSc at one point and knew someone who did the course to switch from IT to supply chain funnily enough.

Thank you Duncan, I have applied  for the MSc course and will update once I hear from the universities. 

[Edited by Maneet Yadav on Jun 22, 2020]

Hello Duncan, One more question. My sister has got offers from Strathclyde, Aston, Liverpool, Bath, NTU, Henley, Kent and Surrey for Business Analytics courses. Which of these would be a good school for her. 

You might want to tell him what her goals are. 

In terms of international mobility, the FT MiM ranking places the top schools as Bath > Henley > NTU > Strathclyde. It's the same order for 'aims achieved', 'career progress' and % female students. For career services, it's Henley > NTU > Bath > a big gap > Strathclyde. 

She is working as an analyst in a software company and wants to gain international exposure. Also, she wants to improve her quantitative and analytical skills. 
Can you tell me about FT MIM rankings. Does it include all the master courses including MSc Business Analytics offered by the school of business, or only MSc Management?
Why do you think Strathclyde could be a bar choice? She has her heart on going to Glasgow. 

[Edited by Maneet Yadav on Jun 22, 2020]

The MiM ranking is just about the MiM but there's no better ranking, and it's unlikely that a school would perform very differently on one from the other. 

Strathclyde is certainly the best option in Glasgow. It scores lower than the other schools you mention on the criteria in the MiM ranking, so that's why. Of course she could attend a better school and then visit Glasgow. It's a small island, and a flight from Bristol to Glasgow is just £30. 

[Edited by StuartHE on Jun 22, 2020]