Hi All,

First, a very Happy New Year to everyone.
I am planning to get into a full time MBA course in 2010 and am hoping to get your opinion on the following schools:
1)Strathclyde
2)Henley
3)Bath
4)Durham
5)Aston
Amongst the ones above, except Henley, all are in the global 100 according to FT 2009 rankings with Strathclyde holding the highest position of 41 (2008 ranking - 30). Henley is not mentioned in FT ranking but EIU 2009 ranks puts it at 21 globally. Also Henley has the highest fee structure of 33,000 GBP.
It would be great if you can provide insights into the quality of MBA courses in these schools and the reputation of these in the business industry.
Thanks for your time. Eager to hear from you.

Regards
Anirban

Hey Anirban,

This seems like a good comparison list. I have been doing my reserch on UK schools lately and to me they seem to be in the same league, almost.
There aren't big facts that differentiate one from the other.
I personally know a Bath grad and he highly recommends the course (as does most from the alumni fraternity given their high loyalty for their schools.)
From your list, based on the fees asked for here is the descending list of cost (in GBP):
1)Henley - 33K
2)Aston - 22K
3)Strathclyde - 21K
4)Durham - 19K
5)Bath - 18.9K

Based on FT rank:
1)Strathclyde
2)Durham
3)Aston
4)Bath
* Henley is not in FT list -
However, Henley has strong industry tie ups and an impressive portfolio of recruiters along with an option for study tours to 3 continents (Asia, Africa, Europe).
If you ask for my personal opinion I'd put Strath at the front of the list due to the quality of their coursework while being in Glasgow, Scotland might be a nig disadvantage for job hunting.
I hope my 2 cents are worth your time.
Have a nice year!

- Rakesh

well well well, the quality of teaching and quality of coursework is very misleading. How the hell you can tell especially most of teachers are average Phd holders who publish things nobody will read but the author.

Henley is a special school from the rest why? Because it is a real MBA in a sense that it is for MANAGERS who want to learn management. Most students are pretty old in early mid 30. They have wealth of experience and the course is real management. And networking will be pretty good

The other schools are more or less similar because many students are younger and what they teach is not management but a combination of skills and insights into management.

I would not put any school in front of any other and whoever claim so without anything to back their reason should dont be treated so seriously

IF i were you if you are old and have experience and want to learn proper management then go for henley no doubt about that.

Else the remaining each has its own advantage and disadvantage but pretty similar to each other.

Let me warn you that Durham MBA has got bad feedback recently. a few left the batch after 2 3 weeks. the ranking was so high due to past not current performance. And this year they seem to accept far too many students.

Also if you want to work in finance durham abandoned their finance mba already. if you want to concentrate on finance then you have to study online courses which is not what most ppl looking for.

Again the situation could be pretty bad anywhere. 2 or 3 lead lecturers left and the quality is down, the problem with the funding and suddenly a lot of facilities could be dropped

Hi

Thanks for your opinion.
I have read closely into the EIU ranking and tweaked it to have my own rankings based on my preferred weights. Seems like Henley is a top choice when it comes to Career opportunities and Earning potential, you'll be surprised to know who all it beats.
Moreover, the information in their website confirms the fact that they only accept real managers with a minm of 4 years solid managerial exposure (check out their criteria for managerial experience) and the avergae age for admission is 35 yrs. Should make for a pretty interesting class.
Also it comes with tipple acrreditation...all seems positive except the fact that it has tied up with University of Reading which is not a renowned one and doesn't even come in the same radar wave as the other universities.
Also their fees is way too high than the others.

In comparison Aston seems to do pretty well in the rankings when it comes to career opportunities...the next one after Henley in the comparison list considered in this thread.

Strathclyde might be the best coursework amongst these with very strong academics and world class faculty. But has the disadvantage of being located in Scotland (luckily it's Glasgow, the capital and not Edinburgh or some other distant city with almost no industry).

Bath seems to remain in the middle tier with a good balance of everything.

Amongst the ones listed in this comparison only Bath doesn't have a tripple accreditation...missing out on the AACSB one. Without AACSB accreditation your degree won't be recognized in the USA.

why not warwick and lancaster?
if you pay 30 grand then go for cranfield, cass or imperial college

Out of all of these it seems like Henley is the wild card. I think it's because, like someone mentioned earlier, it appeals to more mid-career students, making it seem somewhere between an MBA and an EMBA. But for the majority of perspective students (applicants are getting younger and younger,) Henley doesn't even show up on the radar. So I'd rank them like this:

1. Strathclyde
2. Durham
3. Ashton
4. Bath
5. Henley

Personally I wouldn't really consider Bath because it doesn't have the triple accreditation, and if you're considering working in the U.S. then that would be important.

Hello,
We are of one mind! Strathclyde will definitely steal the show. The reasons are:
? AMBA, AACSB, Equis.
? Strong in Strategic Management
? Affordable
? Good structure and good reputation.
? Good performance in FT 2008 and FT2009
The University of Durham belongs to the champions League of the British Universities. But I?m not sure whether the Business school is so good. In spite of the triple accreditation there are some rumours that the quality is very bad. Ralph, would you recommend Durham.

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks a ton for all your valuable opinion.
Sultan - I've also read in some post that the Durham MBA is not good in quality. But, Durham got its AACSB accreditation only in 2007 or 2008. If it's going down in quality how can AACSB put its stamp, NOW? AACSB is also the toughest to get and focuses more on the potential of improvement than on current status.
It would be good to hear from people who has some more information on Durham.

About Strath - I heard that it takes students without a GMAT score and that a huge population of the class is with 2-3 years experience and is mostly Indians, resulting in a poor diversity of student mix. I know their course is A class but the composition is the batch isn't very encouraging. But this school surely has good reputation. I was talking to a friend of mine in Rotterdam Erasmus and she was very positive about Strath and mentioned that she had met a group of Strath students in a business case presentation competition and that the Strath presentation was very impressive.

If we are to compare the post MBA job prospects of these schools, would you put Aston on the top of the list, given its location and relationship with the industry?

You are right! Birmingham will hv better job prospects compared to other cities in consideration. And Aston is a good business school.

You are right! Birmingham will hv better job prospects compared to other cities in consideration. And Aston is a good business school.

Hey Guys,

Am also planning to go for sept 2010 Intake...I have 7 plus years experience.

I have applied to Durham, Leeds, Nottingham and Lancaster university till now. and planning to apply for Aston as well.

Based on what i have heard so far from people Durham sounds good university however there have been some bad news recent heard about Durham where in people left after starting the course.

Mitesh.

Dear Mitesh,

I'm current Durham MBA student for 2009 - 2010, There's only one person leave our cohort since he's got a job as a regional director in Asia-Oceania...in the beginning of our class.

The fact that Durham the cohort size this year is larger compared to previous is true...but it's purely about the current economic situation...that force the school to seeking for an additional revenue...

So it's totally for you to decide whether you are interesting in "Research Based" sort of studying or not? If not, just forget about UK...and go to US...

Cheers,

Hey anonymous

Thanks for your reply and clarifying on the doubt..I have already applied to durham ...waiting for their reply on the same...I have 7 plus years exp as on today in IT industry and IELTS score of 7.....have not taken GMAT .....hoping to get the admit confirmation soon............

Since you are an existing student of the university please do share your exp as that will help in finalizing things.....

miteshmcse, why did you not apply to more popular and highly ranked schools like: manchester, lancaster, warwick? You seem to have competitive profile!

Hi Attiwari...I have applied to Lancaster as well....but the reason for not applying to other 2 is that i dont have GMAT to support my application and for admit to these universities its must.....

I will have 8 plus years exp by sept 2010 and IELTS score of 7 to support my application......

If it wld have been possible to get in to these universities w/o GMAT then i would have defiantly applied there....

are you currently student at any one of them or you too are planning for admit this year?

Regards,
Mitesh.

Anyone applying for Henley?

Hi Attiwari...I have applied to Lancaster as well....but the reason for not applying to other 2 is that i dont have GMAT to support my application and for admit to these universities its must.....

I will have 8 plus years exp by sept 2010 and IELTS score of 7 to support my application......

If it wld have been possible to get in to these universities w/o GMAT then i would have defiantly applied there....

are you currently student at any one of them or you too are planning for admit this year?

Regards,
Mitesh.

hey guys i am planning to take admissions in Strathclyde for their MBM programme since i have only 2 years of experience. Shud i go for it or wait for another year to get into the MBA programme??

@Prachi25: MBA has much better acceptability around the world and especially with Starthclyde MBA being ranked high up with a triple accreditation an MBA from Strath is surely going to win a lot more miles than a MBM.
Whether it's MBM or MBA the investment is high, so it makes sense to me to gain some more exp and then go for MBA.

Hi
More facts to decide for the BATH MBA Program
Check this Out

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c6747a68-abc9-11de-9be4-00144feabdc0.html

as on the October 5 2009
BATH is the TOP 7th B School for Marketing

Best in Marketing
1 Mannheim Business School
2 Esade Business School
3 National Chengchi University
4 HEC Paris
5 Grenoble Graduate School of Business
6 Essec Business School
7 University of Bath School of Management
8 Kozminski University
9 HEC Montreal
10 Aston Business School