SKOLKOVO and HKUST to Offer New Executive MBA Scholarships

Not long ago, an MBA degree was regarded by many people as a passport to a lucrative professional job in a field such as investment banking or strategy consulting. While many students still pursue these career paths, a growing portion of them are looking for purpose as well as profit in their jobs.  In fact, making a positive social or environmental impact has overtaken pay and other perks as the top reasons MBA students pursue their career, according to an often-cited survey by Bain & Company, which, ironically, is a consultancy firm.  Curriculum changes are underway as business schools respond to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) revolution. Schools have been criticized for their apparent role in the global financial crisis and for focusing too heavily on maximizing shareholder return. Today many top MBA programs include an impact-related module, such as impact investing or social entrepreneurship.  The career opportunities in this field have flourished. CSR was previously something many companies merely paid lip service to, but they are making “impact” a fundamental piece of their business plans. There are now 2,655 certified “B Corporations”, or firms that verify their high social and environmental performance, across 150 industries and 60 countries, including the ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s and the social media company Hootsuite.  Picking the right program, however, is crucial. So we’ve ranked the best MBAs for social or environmental impact, below. 

A growing number of MBA aspirants are going Dutch. Figures from a multitude of sources show that applications to business schools in the Netherlands are skyrocketing. See the Top 7 MBA programs in the Netherlands.

German-speaking Europe, sometimes known as the DACH region — Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, along with parts of Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg — is home to a number of world-class business schools. Here are a list of 10 business schools in the region that are ranked by international publications

For future entrepreneurs or those who want to push new products or initiatives inside of companies, an MBA program can provide the basic fundamentals on how to do it