4 UK Business Schools triggering agile MBA talent

16 Nov 2018

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a golden ticket into a vast array of graduate jobs.

From a different angle, however, an MBA also has the power to enhance a business executive’s life by elevating their career to the next level.

Filled with invaluable management skills and offering entry into an extensive network of business contacts, it’s clear to see why so many international applicants apply for a UK MBA.

But what are top employers searching for from today’s fresh pool of MBA graduates?

That’s the question the Financial Times decided to tackle in a recent investigation.

During their discovery, four key advantages were disclosed.

The first benefit the MBA lies in its provision of soft skills. As a growing number of companies are on the hunt for workers who can comfortably converse in a team with a diverse assortment of characters, hard skills aren’t in favour as much as they used to be.

Source: Universitv of Bath

The second factor relates to the value of an MBA degree. As Anna Purchas, partner and head of people at KPMG UK tells the Financial Times, “At an MBA level we would expect candidates to have professional experience, be able to manage a team and act as a leader with clients.”

Global employers are starting to question the validity of the MBA, so business schools are working hard to enhance the student experience with practical learning tasks and placement opportunities. By matching it up with additional activities, graduates gain a competitive edge.

Following on from the benefits of equipping students with experience and soft skills, the MBA gives applicants the chance to dive into big data analysis. For instance, graduates who wish to use their MBA to secure a rewarding cybersecurity or data analytics role may do so with their new-found skills.

Nonetheless, the final and perhaps most relevant skill you may acquire from an MBA at a top university in the UK is agility.

To address the need for agile talent, the Financial Times suggests that schools build dynamic classrooms that allow students to work with a unique selection of individuals on unfamiliar challenges.

By encouraging MBA students to take a huge leap into the unknown, they are empowered by resilience and increased adaptability for the future workplace. This leads them towards ultimate success.

Here are four UK Business Schools that trigger agile talent with the MBA degree…

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER – UK

As a global institution for leaders, innovators and change-makers, the School of Business at the University of Leicester is a proud member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS), the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

With impressive rankings including 22^nd-28^th in the UK and 201^st-300^th in the world in the Shanghai Ranking 2018, the university serves as a contemporary hub of knowledge for aspiring international business students and professional executives.

Due to the school’s unrivalled reputation, it’s easy to see why the Leicester MBA was one of the first distance learning MBAs to achieve AMBA accreditation and has held accreditation for 19-years.

Promising great return on your investment, you can combine the Leicester MBA with online and face-to-face learning styles so you can study at any time, in any location.

Understanding the need for a flexible framework, this Master’s lets you concentrate on general management or to tailor the course to suit your individual career needs and specialise in marketing, finance or human resource management.

With Global Centres in the UK, Southern Europe, the Middle East, and East and West Africa hosting regular residential MBA workshops, you can stay close to home or travel the world to broaden your horizons.

At the University of Leicester School of Business, you’ll experience exceptional management and business education without limits!

ALLIANCE MANCHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER – UK

As many students’ trusted alliance, this business institution at the University of Manchester is racing ahead as one of Europe’s top 10 business schools, according to this year’s Financial Times (FT) Global MBA rankings.

Known by many graduates as a transformative learning experience, their recent MBA video displays the Alliance Manchester Business School in its natural environment and the real-world impact it has on the international student community.

For ambitious professionals, the Manchester Full-time MBA is a practical degree to choose. You can specify whether you wish to complete it in 18-, 15- or 12-months and you’ll have the chance to speed up or slow down your MBA at select points during the programme.

Alternatively, there’s the Global Part-time MBA for executives looking to increase their salary or to change their role, industry or location. With this degree, you’ll study core business and management courses, choose specialist electives and take on two practical business projects.

Or if you’d rather a part-time MBA delivered by US-based Kelley School of Business and Alliance Manchester Business School, you can apply here. With two world-class schools and eight global study locations on your side, what’s not to love?

DURHAM UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM – UK

With a strong desire to lead business thinking, the triple-accredited Durham University Business School is a truly international institution the teaches over 130 nationalities.

Awarded for its high return on academic investment by the Business Insider UK, the school has strong business links with global partners and exclusive access to valuable internship and placement schemes.

Strategic business projects students can get involved in include a sponsored MBA consultancy research initiative that investigates key cultural influences, behavioural trends and society norms in China for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and the Vodafone Global Enterprise project that looks into the issues of cloud computing.

In terms of MBA degree options, Durham presents learners with a full-time MBA (12-months), a full-time MBA (15-months), the Durham-EBS Executive MBA and the Online MBA programme. Plus, there’s an engaging collection of executive education schemes if you’re searching for something more.

As a full-time MBA graduate, Nabil Parkar explains, “It’s been a great experience and a fantastic way to develop essential business leadership skills. Overall, I would say that the Durham MBA will help you to develop an invaluable ‘skills toolkit’ that will benefit you throughout your career.”

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF BATH – UK

With a remarkable MBA programme that currently ranks 4^th in the UK by The Economist’s Which MBA? and featured in the Financial Times’ Global MBA Ranking 2018, the University of Bath School of Management is making its way up global tables.

The Bath MBA is focused on transforming you into a better version of yourself, introducing you to leadership skills and cultivating your critical thinking habits. Offering both the full-time MBA and the part-time Executive MBA, it’s a flexible study environment that can suit your current schedule.

As Bath MBA graduate, Chris Fey states, “Personal development underpins the School of Management programmes. I learned a lot about myself and my leadership style. As the pace of my course is incredibly fast, my multi-tasking skills have definitely improved.”

Right now, the university is in the process of building a new School of Management. After getting the green light for campus investment, the facility will host an immersive ‘Student Entrepreneurship Lab’ to support business creation and innovation for students at every stage of study, a ‘Behavioural Research Lab’ to support studies of consumer behaviour and state-of-the-art teaching spaces, including a suite for MBA students.

*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International