In the global business world, it increasingly takes more than a first degree to carve out a career in business and finance. A postgraduate qualification is fast becoming essential. Des Dearlove and Steve Coomber look at what the UK has to offer
For graduates set on a career in business or finance, the competition has never been tougher. A degree is no longer enough to guarantee getting into a firm on a fast-track programme or even getting in at all. Increasingly, people are turning to taught postgraduate programmes as an excellent way to kick-start their career, boost an existing one or help make a career switch.
The MBA is the main post-experience master’s programme. Students are generally expected to have five or more years of work experience. Various bodies provide accreditation for MBAs, including the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD).
Full time, part time and modular are the main methods of studying for taught programmes. With a few notable exceptions, such as the two-year programme at London Business School, most full-time MBAs in the UK are a year long. Part-time MBA programmes tend to be two years in duration. However, the popularity of the part-time MBA is increasing as more people decide to juggle their studies alongside their career.
Modular MBAs involve longer modules of residential study, interspersed with assignments, online seminars, discussion groups and distance-learning modules. Students are often sponsored by their employer, and switch between modules of classroom MBA education and periods at their company working on projects linked to the studies on campus.
Executive MBAs (EMBAs) are targeted more at senior managers. Typically, they combine part-time and modular programme delivery. Students usually receive support from their employer, ranging from full financial backing for the cost of the course to, at the very least, giving employees time off before they take their exams.
Of the different types of pre-experience master’s, the specialist programmes in particular are growing in popularity. As the name suggests, specialist master’s degrees have a narrow focus on a particular subject. They are normally one-year programmes. For example, at Nottingham University Business School, students can study for a specialist MSc in: Supply Chain and Operations Management; Industrial Engineering and Operations Management; Entrepreneurship; or Computational Finance.
Costs vary from upwards of £40,000 for a full-time MBA at somewhere like London Business School to less than £10,000 for some specialist master’s degrees. Living expenses and opportunity costs may increase the price substantially.
Scholarships can play a significant part in alleviating the student’s financial burden. Some business schools automatically consider all successful applicants for a merit scholarship. In most cases, however, students will have to apply for a scholarship. Scholarships available for international students include the Chevening, Marshall and Fulbright Scholarships.
Taught programmes
For the one-year pre-experience master’s degrees and MBAs, the programme structure is similar. Typically, there are three phases (although they may be spread over four terms). The first covers compulsory core modules: the educational foundation for the programme, covering the essential basic knowledge the student requires.
In the second semester, students select subjects from a choice of electives – optional programme units. The aim is to allow students to shape their study to fit their own interests and intended career path. For example, Cass Business School in the City of London offers 25 electives, including dealing with financial crime, managing strategic change, mergers and acquisitions, and derivatives. The third semester consists of a dissertation or a project. This involves a topic chosen by the student and will have an emphasis on empirical work.
Teaching methods range from predominantly lecture-based delivery through to groupworking and self-study. Pre-experience master’s degrees often offer teaching methods similar to first degrees.
Post-experience postgraduate programmes place more emphasis on groupworking and peer interaction. For the MBA-structured lecture-based teaching is often accompanied by case study. The case-study method introduced by Harvard Business School is a popular teaching method for the MBA. Project-based work is common for electives.
The cutting-edge research conducted at universities and business schools in the UK feeds into the postgraduate programmes. As a result, participants on taught postgraduate programmes can be sure that they are up to date with the latest specialist knowledge in their field of study.
Research-based programmes
Most business schools offer research degrees with a variety of routes towards gaining a doctorate. At Durham Business School, applicants with master’s-level research skills can take the combined MPhil/PhD three-year (six years part time) programme. Alternatively, if they lack a master’s-level degree containing the appropriate research-training content, they can take a one-year taught master’s in an appropriate subject and then switch on to the doctoral programme.
As well as conventional research-based doctorates, several universities and business schools run a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programme aimed at high-level executives who may have completed an MBA already. Some providers also offer diplomas. These target students without a first degree in a business- or finance-related subject, and will often equip them with sufficient subject knowledge to take a master’s degree if they wish.
Postgraduate education is seen as a natural step to improving career prospects in business, finance and management.
Postgraduates head for a variety of career destinations, depending on the type of qualification. ‘Traditionally, most MBA students head for careers in consultancy, banking, finance,’ says Carl Tams, Membership Services Manager at AMBA, ‘although we have noticed a trend towards entrepreneurship, IT and general management both in public and private sectors.’
A more specialist qualification, such as the Master’s in Finance at London Business School, naturally leads to a more specialist career. Twenty-four per cent of the Master’s in Finance class of 2006 obtained deal-making positions in disciplines that included mergers and acquisitions, along with venture capital and private equity.
Another good way of measuring the recruiters’ demand for postgraduate students in a particular field is to ask the specialist recruitment firms. ‘An MBA at a strong business school will provide networks for current and future career opportunities, and exposure to new career ideas that you may not have previously considered, and remains one of the best ways to change tack in career direction,’ says Aidan Kennedy, a partner in the Financial Services Practice at CTPartners, the global executive search firm.
Students taking business-related MA or MSc qualifications can expect to enter the management hierarchy further up than they would have with just a first degree. MBA graduates are likely to greatly enhance the prospects of boosting or switching career.
The experiences of business school alumni support the view that postgraduate business and finance education in the UK is highly regarded by recruiters. Pippa Grace studied an MBA at Saïd Business School, Oxford: ‘I was a CFO with no formal finance qualifications. Without an MBA, there is no way I could resume that role without working my way up from the bottom again.’ Just three months after graduating, she was appointed Managing Director of Rasini & Co, an FSA-authorised international fund of hedge funds.
Des Dearlove is a long-time columnist and former commissioning editor for The Times.
Steve Coomber writes for The Times, CEO Magazine, and Business Strategy Review.
