IN HIS PRE-BUDGET report last December, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announced plans to allow MBA graduates of 50 top business schools the right to work in the United Kingdom.
Under the terms of the scheme - which is set to begin in April - the right MBA will become a passport to living and working in Britain.
An extension of the British government's existing Highly Skilled Migrants Programme, the aim of the scheme is to attract entrepreneurs and talented business executives to British shores, with the expectation that these individuals will boost the country's economy.
Applicants to the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme ordinarily need to demonstrate their worth through criteria such as income range, academic qualifications, extensive work experience or outstanding achievement in a specific field. Under the new rules, holders of an MBA from any of the 50 schools will qualify automatically.
The scheme gives successful applicants the right to work in Britain for 12 months, but 'economically active' participants may apply for extensions.
In making its case for the new MBA provision, the British government's website estimates that as much as 15 per cent of the country's 'trend economic growth depends on inward migration', with skilled immigrants making the largest contribution. It said foreign-born employees with work permits earned GBP42,000 ($608,000) a year on average.The British Treasury Department drew up the list of schools by looking at the economic impact of MBA graduates from different institutions, and stresses that the list should not be used as an indicator of the inherent quality of the MBAs involved.
But being included on the list is undoubtedly going to be seen as a mark of prestige.
