I currently hold offers from Alliance Manchester Business School and Cranfield School of Management for MSc in Supply Chain Management.

I am looking forward to joining this year but confused between which one to choose.
Manchester has a place and university ranking advantage, whereas Cranfield has better course modules and cohort but is located in a village/small town (Ranked high for SCM)

With the current PSW permit in place, I'll be looking forward to working in the UK.

Please Suggest which School is better in terms of Employability and networking.

There's not a big difference. Both are month the best programmes in the country: https://www.best-masters.com/ranking-master-supply-chain-and-logistics.html

Cranfield has the advantage of being mid-way between London and Birmingham and, as you say, course design is much better and it has higher accreditation. 

Maybe it depends on whether you want to focus on studies and on networking in the management school, or if you want to maximise your time outside the business school? 

Thanks, Duncan for your input. Even I am thinking of choosing Cranfield. But all I am worried about is the employability factor. Manchester is home to some big recruiters and wider job opportunities (A city I can consider living in the future). Whereas Cranfield is close to London but still not relatively at par with London Schools in terms of reputation in the Capital. 

Can you highlight a considerable difference or factor for easy decision making? 
Thanks 

Of course this depends on the roles you are targeting. If you want to work in a logistics or supply chain role, Cranfield is the leading school in London and south east. 

I suggest you use LinkedIn to compare the outcomes of these two degrees. 

Hi Duncan,

I have an offer from Cranfield for Supply Chain too. I am also awaiting a decision from WBS for their business with operations management MSC. I do prefer the course structure at Cranfield, given a  choice.

I intend to take up supply chain / operations roles after the degree.

I have 2 questions:

1] Does the WBS brand hold a hugely better reputation than Cranfield SOM or is it something that I need not worry about as much?

2] Going through LinkedIn, I found that both schools have moderate to favourable outcomes, but one major difference I see is that Cranfield alumni in the last 4 to 6 (MSc graduates) years haven't been doing as well as those from WBS, though not by a huge margin. 
Can you please provide some insight on this, in terms of whether Cranfield still holds its reputation among employers, and if there are any other factors that I may have missed in my observation?

[Edited by NH95 on Aug 22, 2020]

Yes, I think WBS ranks above Cranfield and has done for some time: see the FT European Business School ranking for example. It has a big advantage as a full service school, with undergrad provision, able to attract more employers. Cranfield is very well respected, especially in science and technology industries. Certainly most schools with large numbers of nonEU students struggle more to place them. 

Thank you for your reply, Duncan. That's what I thought too, the FT rankings show WBS well above Cranfield and over the years, Cranfield has been losing a few places I believe. 

I have 3 years of work ex (~2 in engineering R&D and ~1 in project management / procurement), and was looking at changing job functions. 


So I guess I will wait for the WBS decision.

Thanks, Duncan for your input. Even I am thinking of choosing Cranfield. But all I am worried about is the employability factor. Manchester is home to some big recruiters and wider job opportunities (A city I can consider living in the future). Whereas Cranfield is close to London but still not relatively at par with London Schools in terms of reputation in the Capital. 

Can you highlight a considerable difference or factor for easy decision making? 
Thanks 

[Edited by Abhinav KB on Jan 02, 2021]

Since he probably will have enrolled, why not write to the two programs and ask to be connected with him.