The new year has just begun, and there is already a lot of news concerning business schools: universities make New Year resolutions, students feel something is about to change, the problems of female MBAs are again in the center of attention, and there might be some new opportunities waiting overseas.
Resolutions and changes
At the beginning of this year, deans of several business schools have made traditional resolutions for their universities. Some of them (University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, dean Scott DeRue) wonder whether they are overcautious in managing their educational institutions, others (Stanford Graduate School of Business, dean Jonathan Levin) aim for better collaboration between students of different professions, and, finally, one dean (Idalene Kesner, Kelley School of Business at Indiana University) considers improving the system of encouragement for students.
Still, not only deans are taking new decisions this year. For students, there is a new trend coming: many MBA programs have changed their curriculum to fit into one year, not two. The reason for this? Lots of people think the MBA degree is taking too long. Apart from the often huge cost of the studies, staying in the program longer means losing a whole year of salary, missing out on career opportunities and spending less time with one’s family. That’s why more and more applicants switch to one-year programs.
Opportunities for women and overseas
As you might know, nowadays the percentage of female MBA students is 35-40% in any given business school. Not terribly fair towards women, is it? Recent studies have shown that it’s still psychologically difficult for female MBA wannabes to compete with their traditionally more aggressive male counterparts. It’s not that they are discriminated against or not allowed to enter, it’s that the effort often seems futile to them. Universities like Villanova School of Business and Forté Foundation are making steps forward to encourage female candidates to enter MBA programs and do better than men, having no fear of competition.
Meanwhile, it has been established that China turned out to be one of the greatest GMAT-taking countries in the world: it has the second place after the US. Thus, China has a lot of business schools. US universities have already started talks of partnership between the two countries to help students practice business administration.
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