Juggling study and a happy family

Business schools are realising the importance that potential students attach to family-friendly facilities, says Widget Finn

Balancing work and home life is difficult. When work means studying for an MBA and home includes small children, the prospect can seem overwhelming. Employers are introducing family friendly policies to recruit and retain the best people available, and now business schools realise that they must also offer assistance and support to attract a growing number of students who have family commitments.

For example, around 30 per cent of full-time MBAs at Lancaster University Management School are married or have a partner. John Mackness, director of management development, suggests that university business schools can be more family friendly than autonomous schools because they have access to facilities on the main campus. "Lancaster University has a crèche, on-site counselling to help with issues like stress management and is self-sufficient in terms of restaurants, bars, shops, banks and a post office," he says.

Some programmes, such as the Open University Business School (OUBS) MBA, are family friendly because of their flexibility. Dr. Mark Fenton-O'Creevy, director of the Masters' Programme at the OUBS, says: "Students have two years to complete the equivalent of 12 months' full-time study, and get plenty of notice for deadlines so that they can organise their other commitments around them. But no MBA is completely family friendly because it involves significant commitment, and study time is always competing with the demands of family life."

Ian Lazenby, who is doing an MBA at the University of Bath School of Management, argues that it is impossible to balance a full-time MBA and home life. He says: "During my first semester I was studying six days a week and had no time for anything else. My wife Helen was used to my being away a lot when I was CEO of a start-up company, but now we don't even have the weekends together. She has to look after the children and visitors while I study. Thankfully we have a strong relationship and she is totally supportive of my decision."

It is often the "other half" who bears the brunt and keeps family life on an even keel while the partner is engrossed in an MBA. Helen Lazenby says: "It's a nightmare. The course utterly takes over your life. We planned to keep Sunday as a family day but it doesn't often happen. Fortunately the children, who are eight and four, have responded very well. They know they must keep quiet when Daddy's studying, and that in the long run we will all benefit."

Increasingly business schools realise that it is the students' partners and families who need support. The Lazenbys were already based in the area and their children settled in local schools, but the University of Bath has a nursery on campus and a holiday play scheme for school children. There is also an English language centre which is available to students' spouses who do not have English as their first language.

When a family move is involved, Manchester Business School encourages students and their families to arrive in July or August so they are settled in before they arrange their children's schooling. Advice is offered on local schools and nurseries as well as accommodation. Dr Heather Spiro, associate director of MBA programmes, says it's vital to give partners an idea of what to expect during the programme.

"We make clear the pressure points facing students, such as assessment and exam dates, and we explain that there will be times when studying will make huge demands on them," Dr Spiro says.

For Stephen Yick, the emphasis put on family support at Cranfield Business School clinched it as his choice for an MBA. The community development office encourages a village atmosphere on the campus. There is a crèche, mother and toddler group and an on-campus medical centre as well as a regular programme of outings and events. Yick says: "Children love living on the campus because it's such a safe environment. My wife Anjana has made good friends through the partners' network, and is having a great time – without the hard work!"

Hisahuro Kato from Japan also had his family in mind when he chose to do a full-time MBA at Warwick. He explains: "I was offered places at other top-ranked UK business schools, but Warwick had a family apartment on campus where I could live with my wife and two small sons. I had little time to settle them in, but the social activities organised by residents meant that my wife and children never felt isolated."

Cambridge University Graduate Union has a spouse/partner association and the Judge Institute Business School suggests that partners contact MBA alumni who also had their family in Cambridge while they were studying to get tips on how to cope. The Association publishes a childcare guide, but Elena Wolf, now doing an MBA at the Judge, suggests that family information should be provided well in advance, preferably when parents come for interview.

Wolf says: "When my place at the Judge was confirmed I was working in Kazakhstan. I didn't know what the nursery choices were in Cambridge for my two-year-old or how the system worked. The childcare guide was sent by post which took two months so I had to find a nursery place at short notice when I arrived."

The ultimate test of whether a business school is family friendly comes when a student is also a new mother. Sonia Gavira was pregnant while doing an MBA at Ashridge Management College. She says: "The reaction was very supportive. My son was conveniently born between modules, and I was given extensions for my assignments." She breastfed baby Luis sitting at the back of the lecture hall. "The staff were very accommodating and included me in class whether or not I had the baby attached."

During exam week Gavira was up all night, not revising but dealing with Luis's vaccination reaction. Despite this, she did well in exams and won a prize for her consultancy project. So motherhood and an MBA can go together – with a little help all round.