Make a winning decision

An MBA is something that people are thinking about with increasing care

Why do an MBA? Roisin King, a 34-year-old IT manager, did it because she felt "I'd got to the top of my game. I wanted to apply for jobs with bigger companies and I was looking for something that would rubber-stamp the fact that I know what I'm talking about. Also, I think that these days you have to tick as many boxes as possible, especially if like me you're a woman trying to work in a mainly male world."

King is now coming to the end of a two-and-a-half year modular MBA at Bristol Business School at the University of the West of England and has moved to a new job with an IT training company. "They wanted someone who would think strategically and the programme has given me the confidence and credibility to do this. I now think much more about the company as a whole, not just my narrow bit of it. I think when you do an MBA, you almost have to change direction because it opens you up so much."

Deciding to do an MBA is something that people are thinking about with increasing care. Programmes are expensive and time-consuming, and the days when they offered an automatic passport to a golden future are long gone. The proliferation of courses, some of dubious value, along with open scepticism among some business thinkers about the worth of the MBA package, have helped put the brakes on a market already slowed by economics and demography.

Mark Fenton-O'Creevy, director of the Masters programme at the Open University Business School, says: "Ten or 20 years ago an MBA might have been enough to get you a job. Now it's more of an enhancement. Employers want to know, 'What did you do before?' and 'Where did you get it?'"

Chris Bristow, who recently moved from the London Business School to be director of postgraduate management programmes at the Kent Business School, in Canterbury (the business school is currently working towards accreditation by the Association of MBAs), agrees. "MBA programme admission numbers are down pretty much everywhere. There is a school of thought which says it has reached a pinnacle and is now in a slide." As a result, he says, schools are having to differentiate themselves more clearly. "We are changing our MBA. The development of personal management skills is very important to us. "

This is a trend seen everywhere, with increasing numbers of schools offering specialist programmes in public administration, human resources management, healthcare management, e-commerce and life sciences.

However, there are some signs that the job market for traditional MBAs is picking up again after some years of gloom. Julia Tyler, director of the MBA at the London Business School (LBS), says: "People are starting to hire again. Two major recruiters came and addressed our students on the very day they arrived." LBS is also seeing new recruiters, such as eBay and Anglo American, showing an interest.

So an MBA might well be a good investment in your future. But how do you decide which is the right one for you?

First and foremost, ask yourself what you want to get out of it. And then, whether you want to do it full-time, part-time or by distance learning. Next, where? Do you need to study locally, or is the world your oyster? In which case, a prestigious programme abroad might offer multiple benefits.

Carlos Losada, director general of ESADE Business School, in Barcelona, says: "We tell potential candidates that, given the investment in both time and money, make the most of the experience. If you study abroad, you will learn as much outside of the classroom as you do within." Also, he points out, employers value those individuals who stepped out of their comfort zone. "They know it takes guts and strength of character."

Next, you will need to make sure a course has some sort of quality assurance. Look at the recognised accreditation systems run by The Association of MBAs, the European body EQUIS or American AACSB, and check out rankings such as the Financial Times's annual MBA ratings, or those offered by the Economist Intelligence Unit. (Although bear in mind that tables are based on different criteria and must be judged accordingly.) If a course has no such kitemark, ask why not and make searching enquiries about its teaching standards and content before committing yourself.

After that, says Stephen Chambers, head of MBA programmes at the Said Business School at Oxford, key questions might include: do you want to do it in one year or two? Do you want to join a university or go to a stand-alone management college? Who else will be on the course? How do people behave? And, what does the school feel like? For example, he points out, on the Said programme students are not graded on class participation because the emphasis is on developing team-work and cooperation. "And we are more than averagely academic. We have a high percentage of reflective thought. You don't come to us to learn how to run a company, you come to work on your understanding of why the world is the way it is." Also, Chambers points out, Oxford's college system makes for a broader social experience. "Don't come here if you only want to hang out with investment bankers because you'll often find yourself sitting next to a historian."

Another key consideration is value for money. Where will you get the best bang for your buck? "People these days want to be very safe and sure in their decisions," says Malcolm Kirkup, director of the full-time MBA at Lancaster University Management School, "and looking at league table rankings is a good way to do that. We've been ranked 17th in the world for value for money, so although it's a tough market , we are bucking the trend quite considerably. Our numbers doing the full-time MBA have gone up from 40 last year to 72 this year. Our students are coming to somewhere where they know they will get consulting opportunities during the year, and can apply the theory."

Ian Turner, director of graduate qualification programmes at Henley Management College, says recruitment is holding up well wherever standards are first-class. "There is a flight to quality now. We started the year cautious, the market was slow, but there is definitely much more money around in company training budgets now than there was last year. Companies are recognising that they need to spend money on management training if they want to have the people in place who will take them forward."

As for Roisin King, she is delighted with the experience of studying for her MBA, even though she has had to fund it herself and work on it in the time left over after working and caring for a three-and-a-half-year-old. "I liked the people I met, I've really enjoyed the assignments I've done, and it's been great to open myself up to new things." All of which will, she hopes, ultimately lead her to her dream job of top client management with a major technology company.

'It gave me a terrific network'

Geoff Klaveren studied full-time for an MBA at Edinburgh University Management school

I studied geography at University College, London, and when I left I knew I liked management and I knew I liked aeroplanes, so I joined British Airways' graduate scheme and had an excellent four years there. But I knew I wanted to be a senior manager or run a company, and it seemed to me that in the future everyone in senior management was going to have an MBA. I also wanted the skills it could give me. I felt I needed them on the financial side, understanding balance sheets, and also in understanding business strategy.

I funded it myself and decided to do it in the UK because I knew that's where I would be going to work afterwards. I chose Edinburgh because it had the ratings, I could do it in a year, and my brother and sister were living up there. And it was great! I thought it would be a slog, but I made some great friends, it gave me a lot of confidence and a terrific network.

After I left, I went to work for easyJet and now I'm moving to work as an equity analyst, looking at airline stocks, for a French investment bank.

The sceptics out there say you don't need to do an MBA to make good decisions, but when you're doing your MBA you study hundreds of companies that have done well and hundreds that have done badly, and I know it's given me a much better chance of making the right decisions both in my work, and for myself.

Funding your MBA

An MBA will cost you anything from about £10,000 to well over £25,000, so even if the cost is spread over two or three years, as it can be for part-time or distance-learning students, it is still a heavy burden. Then there are living expenses, which will be particularly steep if you decide to study in London or the South-east, and your bills will come in even higher if you head for the USA or pricey parts of Europe. Calculate all your expenses very carefully in order not to be caught out half-way through your studies.

"Basically, it's just one hell of a commitment," says Malcolm Kirkup, director of the full-time MBA at Lancaster Management School, "because don't forget that, on top of everything else, you've got the even bigger cost of being out of a job for all that time."

Most full-time students fund themselves, sometimes from savings, sometimes with loans or help from parents, and sometimes with redundancy payments.

Bank loans are available through the Association of MBAs Business School Loan Scheme, operated by the NatWest Bank, provided you have been offered a place at an accredited school, you are a permanent UK resident resident, and you are the right age - usually between your mid-twenties and 40. Full-time students can get up to two-thirds of pre-course salary plus tuition fees; part-time students can get tuition fees, study equipment and courses expenses; distance-learning students in full-time employment can borrow up to £10,000.

Career development loans, covering up to 80 per cent of course fees (£8,000 is the limit) are also available to people who live or intend to train in the UK and plan to use that training within the EU. These are run by some of the major banks in association with the DfES.

Some students, particularly part-time ones, are lucky enough to be sponsored by their companies. "I'd say at least 60 per cent of our students are sponsored by their employers," says Mark Fenton-O'Creevy, director of the Masters programme at the Open University Business School. "I suppose they reckon that if you're doing it that way, then at least you'll stay for the three, four or five years you're studying. Also, students in this situation are putting into practice in their work what they're learning as they study. So the company can benefit in that way."

However, he says, with the MBA market filled to over-capacity, employers are more likely to ask than they used to: 'what's in it for us?'

The smart would-be student would do well to have some answers prepared, either by outlining what specific benefits they feel their enhanced skills will add to the company, or by pointing out that any company-based research that they do as part of their studies will come free.

A sprinkling of grants and scholarships are available to MBA students, but these vary from school to school. Cranfield School of Management offers a few scholarships for aviation managers and for public sector managers, while the London Business School has awards open to candidates who are women or who are the nationals of specific countries. A number of schools offer modest assistance for a limited number of more needy students. For instance, some schools offer help to charity and not-for-profit managers.