MBA programmes have turned to practical applications to help graduates climb the career ladder.
As potential MBA students are spoiled for choice with programmes, many decisions have to be made as to which study route to take. Distance learning versus face-to-face learning, part-time versus full-time study, and so on. An important part of the decision-making process should be the consideration of how applicable the knowledge and skills acquired are going to be for the graduate.
MBA providers have realised this as well, and have started to move away from the mostly theory-based education model to one that incorporates the theories of business with their real-life applications.
However, from provider to provider there is not always consensus on what types of practicalities are best for students.
Some programmes feature specialist courses while others take a more generalist approach. One area that providers seem to agree on is the need for MBA students to be as globally minded as possible.
An important teaching tool increasingly used by MBA providers, whether universities or independent business schools, is the case study. Many of these were developed in the United States, but now providers are developing their own, tailoring them to their own markets. Laurence Franklin, adjunct professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Business School, said that the faculty developed their own cases.