Master of Business Administration

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Master of Business Administration ( MBA ) is a postgraduate generalist management - studies that should cover all the main management functions. MBA is also the designation for the academic degree acquired through this degree . Since around 2009, numerous moderate specializations have developed under the label MBA, which are also recognized by the accreditation agencies .

history

A pre-form of the MBA called Master of Commercial Science was first awarded in 1902 at the Tuck School of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire ( New Hampshire , USA). The Harvard University in 1921, the second university to offer such a program. Universities in the UK followed. However, the importance of the MBA - in comparison to the Bachelor and also in absolute numbers - remained low. It was not until the 1950s that curricular standardization and profile building emerged, through which a number of compulsory subjects such as accounting and finance were firmly anchored. At the beginning of the 1970s, the American business press predicted a negative future for the MBA course due to the decline in student numbers due to a lack of demand for MBA graduates, against the background of the increasingly bad economy, later the oil crisis . The opposite occurred and the number of MBA programs on offer quadrupled compared to the previous decade.

In 1989/90, the economist Rainer Marr and the Society for the Promotion of Further Education at the Universität der Bundeswehr München eV founded the first MBA in the distance program in cooperation with the Henley Business School in the United Kingdom. The first purely German MBA was created in 1990 at the MBA School, Saarland University . One of the first German universities of applied sciences with an MBA program was the FHW Berlin in 1993 . In the 1970s, curricular innovations such as simulation games and practice firms found their way into training. Since the 1990s, increasing internationalization has also shaped the image of MBA programs. Communication skills are becoming more and more important today.

An MBA program in cooperation with the Distance University Hagen and the University of Wales, which has been organized by the Allfinanz Academy since 1990, is an early example of an MBA program that emerged from an industry (here insurance). The MBA program was offered in the two variants “General Management” and “Financial Management & Controlling” alongside work with a study period of 24 months. Teaching was carried out exclusively by university professors, most of whom came from the Hagen Open University. This example shows that commercial sectors recognized the meaning of the MBA for employees in their sector at an early stage and wanted to create corresponding offers. Over time, it was not uncommon for industry-specific MBAs to become freely accessible, as the content-related teaching was mapped across sectors.

positioning

An MBA program is designed as a predominantly general management degree that should cover all essential management functions. Limited specializations are allowed. The target groups of these programs include engineers, natural scientists and humanities scholars, lawyers and medical professionals who want to qualify for management positions or high offices in the public service. It is less often aimed at business economists who have dealt with other areas of focus in their previous studies.

As a master’s degree , an MBA in Europe is classified in the second level of the study system in the Bologna Process . In Germany, this means that the MBA is usually preceded by a first degree (e.g. Bachelor ) or a comparable qualification, classification into the European Credit Transfer System is required, the MBA must be completed with a master’s thesis and comparability through a diploma supplement must be documented. According to the decision of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of April 21, 2005, since the degree is a "Master" and entitles to a doctorate, a total of at least five years or at least 300 ECTS must be proven. Very many MBA do not meet the new bachelor's degree (usually with only 180 ECTS) and are in a transition phase, since previous accreditations are valid for five years.

The MBA guidelines developed in 1997 are of central importance for understanding MBA programs . They were developed by education experts and accreditation organizations from 19 European countries and the USA.

In Austria there are MBA programs in the field of further education (university courses, courses for further education at universities of applied sciences, courses of a university nature ). In order to gain access to these "extraordinary" studies, a completed degree is not required; mostly only several years of professional experience or the positive completion of an entrance examination are required. The study effort for an MBA course is usually 60 to 90 ECTS points, i.e. H. Without a previous study, the total effort for such a master’s degree is around 60 to 90 ECTS. In comparison, a typical Bachelor's degree, which is the entry requirement for a "proper" Master's degree, requires at least 180 ECTS. The master’s degrees in further education are therefore not identical to the master’s degrees due to the completion of regular studies (master’s studies), even if their titles have partly the same wording. For example, a master’s degree in further education (e.g. MBA, MAS etc.) does not entail admission to a doctoral program.

Conditions of admission

The admission requirements are not uniformly regulated in the universities. The minimum formal requirement is usually a completed university degree (bachelor or diploma) and several years of professional experience. In some universities, applicants without a degree are also admitted, provided they have substantial management experience.

Applications or motivation letters, which are to be sent to the admissions committee or the head of the course, as well as an admission interview are common. At some universities you also have to take an English test ( TOEFL or IELTS ) and a GMAT . For some years now, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) has also been used by universities such as Stanford, MIT and Wharton, but also in Germany.

Conception of the MBA courses

Curriculum

The curriculum of an MBA program covers all functional management functions, in particular accounting , finance , marketing , sales , production management , information technology , business law and human resources management . Furthermore, micro and macro economics , strategic management and scientific methodology are to be taught. An MBA program is expected not only to impart knowledge and methodological skills, but also to develop leadership, entrepreneurial thinking, negotiation skills and communication skills.

The international study Tomorrow's MBA (November / December 2010) shows some recent trends: For many years, the focus of many MBA students has been on the finance, banking and management consulting sectors . These preferences have evidently started to move. Starting a business is now one of the five most important topics for MBA students. The other four most important topics are strategic management, leadership, leadership and organization.

Only in North America do more than 50 percent of respondents say they want to complete a traditional two-year MBA program. Across the sample, there is a desire to mix work and study more closely.

Special forms

In addition to the generalist MBA programs, which are mostly designed for corporate management, programs with specializations in individual management disciplines (e.g. controlling & finance, sustainability management, etc.) have also become established. These programs are aimed at those who seek an expert rather than a managerial role. There are also programs for company founders and medium-sized entrepreneurs. Programs that are not carried out as postgraduate studies for applicants with professional experience, but rather as a continuation of an undergraduate degree (so-called "Junior MBA") do not comply with the recommendations of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), an accreditation organization for business Schools that recommend degrees other than MBA.

Teaching methods and examination performance

MBA programs are characterized by a strong emphasis on project teaching and group work and the use of case studies . As is customary in master’s courses, a master’s thesis must be written at the end of the course and defended in an oral final examination.

Study organization

The standard period of study for a full-time course is between one and two years, which corresponds to 60 to 120 ECTS points, whereby 60 ECTS programs are only suitable for graduates with a diploma after a transition period, since 60 ECTS are required for a (German) bachelor’s master’s degree Usually not enough. Due to the characteristic demand from the ranks of working academics, the course is usually offered alongside work in the form of part-time or distance learning with face-to-face events, sometimes combined with a stay abroad. In this form it can take up to three years.

tuition fee

MBA programs are considered to be continuing education programs and are therefore usually entirely financed by tuition fees. Depending on the provider, the fees in German-speaking countries vary between EUR 1,000 and EUR 60,000 for the entire duration of the study. The average value in Germany is around 17,000 euros. In other countries, well-known universities still have significantly higher tuition fees. For example, Harvard states on its site that the full-time MBA program costs approximately $ 73,000 per year (2019/20). The tuition fees in Switzerland are well above the average . The well-known International Institute for Management Development charges tuition fees of over 100,000 Swiss francs. Leading public and private providers, the University of St. Gallen , the Lorange Institute of Business by Peter Lorange or the University of Zurich calculate between 60,000 and 70,000 Swiss francs for their MBA programs.

Quality assurance through accreditation

To assess whether an MBA program meets certain minimum qualitative requirements, accreditation is required in many countries, or the providers voluntarily undergo one. In the accreditation process, defined, internationally compatible standards are used by independent bodies to check whether the institution and its courses meet minimum qualitative requirements. The requirements of the accreditation institutions, however, differ considerably in some cases.

The following institutions are of international importance for the accreditation of business schools and MBA programs:

Business schools that have all three major accreditations are called triple crowns .

Accreditation in Germany

In Germany, MBA programs are regarded as continuing education courses. In many federal states this means that the financing is exclusively or mainly through tuition fees. The accreditation is carried out by accreditation agencies recognized by the Accreditation Council, whereby the accreditation can be carried out by several agencies at the same time. There are currently (March 26, 2011) ten recognized agencies: ACQUIN , AHPGS , AKAST , AQA , AQAS , ASIIN , evalag , FIBAA , OAQ and ZEvA . However, the validity of the accreditation is limited because the MBA degree is not precisely defined in German higher education law and the European MBA Guidelines of the EFMD are not binding in Germany. In this way, special forms can be accredited as MBA, for which the EFMD recommends other degrees than MBA.

Accreditation in Austria

In Austria, MBA courses at private universities were accredited by the Austrian Accreditation Council until 2012 . Since then, the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ) has been responsible. MBA programs from three private universities and one university of applied sciences are currently accredited ( FH Burgenland , Module University Vienna , Private University Schloss Seeburg and Webster Vienna Private University ).

State universities in Austria do not have to have their programs accredited, but sometimes they voluntarily undergo an accreditation process. Some MBA programs of the Executive Academy of the WU Vienna are accredited by AACSB , EQUIS or FIBAA . The programs of the LIMAK in Linz, the Montanuniversität Leoben , the SMBS , the Continuing Education Center of the TU Wien , the International Management Center Graz of the University of Graz , the MBA course of the FH-Wien as well as some programs of the Danube- University of Krems . MBA programs are also offered by the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the University of Klagenfurt , but their website does not provide any information about any existing accreditations.

Furthermore, in Austria there were programs from non- university providers in the form of so-called courses of a university character , which were set up by ministerial regulation and without the requirement of accreditation. These courses could only be operated until 2012; some of these institutes have since offered their MBA programs in cooperation with Austrian or foreign universities. There are also some of these providers who voluntarily undergo accreditation, mostly by FIBAA. Some foreign universities also offer MBA programs in Austria and then award degrees from their home countries.

University rankings

Ranking lists are published regularly by various media such as the Financial Times , The Wall Street Journal or The Economist . The underlying criteria are very different depending on the source and are also controversial. Above all, it is criticized that by far the most weighty criterion in the rankings is the income development of the graduates in the years after completing the course. This leads to the paradoxical effect that MBA programs that are aimed at young university graduates with little work experience tend to have higher chances of a top ranking than programs that target already experienced managers with good incomes. Distortions also arise if students from the Third World are specifically recruited who, after completing the MBA, achieve a significantly higher income at the place of study.

In 2005, Harvard Business School withdrew from all MBA rankings because some well-known MBA schools published dubious and falsified graduate statistics in order to get a large number of applicants.

Industries and areas of application

The consulting industry is at the fore among MBA graduates. Also, marketing , product management , project management and business planning are at a premium.

Proportion of women

The annual Global MBA Rankings of the Financial Times also show the proportion of women at the universities listed. Separated according to the proportion of women in teaching, studies and advisory board, the figures flow into the evaluation to a certain extent, so that the universities benefit from a higher proportion of women in the ranking. The universities react very sensitively to the worldwide announcement of their share of women, especially since many of them, as private institutions , are dependent on sponsors . According to the Financial Times , many universities and business schools are currently making efforts to increase the proportion of women among students in their MBA programs.

Criticism of the MBA degree

While the MBA degree used to be highly regarded because of its career support, criticism has increased in recent years. For example, Thomas Sattelberger , former HR director at Deutsche Telekom , considers MBA programs to be “vehicles for financial capitalism ”. Above all, the US business schools, which have also shaped the European business schools, are the ideological transport vehicle of financial capitalism. They are one-sidedly aligned to the economic theory of efficient, self-regulating markets. This misconception, mixed with greed , led to excesses with junk bonds , to the modeling of toxic products, but also to excess in the remuneration policy.

Trivia

In 2005, the Deutsche Welle reported under the title " Doktorhütchen" in rapid proceedings that an MBA title was awarded to a cat in Texas, which, however, belonged to Jerry Pappert, the then Attorney General of Pennsylvania and at the same time an "ambitious fighter" of the so-called degree mills .

See also

literature

  • Detlev Kran: The MBA Guide 2010: Part-time, distance learning and full-time programs for the Master of Business Administration . 9th edition. Luchterhand, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-472-07605-6 .
  • Bernhard Kuderer: Inside Knowledge MBA. The truth about everyday student life at a top business school . Redline Wirtschaft bei Ueberreuter, Frankfurt am Main / Vienna: 2003, ISBN 3-86414-405-1 .
  • Steven Silbiger: The Ten-Day MBA: A Step-By-Step Guide to Mastering the Skills Taught in America's Top Business Schools . Quill Books, New York 1999, ISBN 0-688-13788-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MBA history
  2. ↑ MBA.de information page and study program search
  3. ↑ a b Detlev Kran: Success has a story . In: Personalwirtschaft , special issue 4, 2009, pp. 4–8.
  4. ↑ http://www.mba-guide.de/dossier/mba-deutschland.html
  5. ↑ KMK decision ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akkreditierungsrat.de
  6. ↑ MBA Guidelines ( Memento of the original dated July 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.efmd.org
  7. ↑ a b Master’s degrees in further education (PDF; 21 kB), Federal Ministry for Science and Research
  8. ↑ MBA Channel: "Wharton is following" ( Memento of the original from August 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / de.mba-channel.com
  9. ↑ MBA guideline number 4 ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.efmd.org
  10. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / de.mba-channel.com
  11. ↑ E.g. the part-time MBA courses in Entrepreneurship & Business Development at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and business management in medium-sized businesses at the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences as well as the part-time master’s course in medium-sized business management at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences
  12. ↑ Annual Cost of Attendance - MBA - Harvard Business School. Retrieved October 5, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Austrian Accreditation Council: Definition of accreditation ( memento of the original of July 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akkreditierungsrat.at
  14. ↑ Article on Triple Crown in the Financial Times Deutschland ( Memento from May 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ http://mba.sueddeutsche.de/pag/akkreditierung
  16. ↑ Foundation for the Accreditation of Study Programs in Germany: Agencies accredited in Germany .
  17. ↑ Bärbel Schwertfeger : German MBA programs are often misleading. www.welt.de, May 31, 2014, accessed on July 19, 2014 .
  18. ↑ Accreditation of private universities ( Memento of the original dated December 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Austrian Accreditation Council @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akkreditierungsrat.at
  19. ↑ List of accredited private universities in Austria ( Memento of the original dated February 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akkreditierungsrat.at
  20. ↑ Financial Times Business School Ranking 2007
  21. ↑ The Wall Street Journal Business School Ranking 2007 (PDF; 88 kB)
  22. ^ The Economist Business School Ranking 2007
  23. ↑ What a ranking says  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Careers, October 17, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.karriere.de  
  24. ↑ MBATrends study 2011/2012 ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mba-master.de
  25. ↑ FT.com: Global MBA Rankings 2010. Accessed December 17, 2010 (PDF; 199 kB)
  26. ↑ FT.com: Financial Times Global MBA 2010: Table Key. Retrieved on November 14, 2011 (PDF; 20 kB) ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rankings.ft.com
  27. ↑ Silvana Koch-Mehrin : Sisters. Polemic for a new feminism. With the collaboration of Susanne Schumacher, Econ , Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-430-30028-5 , p. 194.
  28. ↑ FTD.de: More women in business schools. August 27, 2010 (accessed on November 14, 2010.) ( Memento of August 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  29. ↑ "The big business schools are living corpses". In: Spiegel Online. February 9, 2012, accessed November 22, 2014 .
  30. ↑ Ina Rottscheidt: Doctor cap in the rapid process. In: Deutsche Welle. February 23, 2005, accessed August 2, 2020 .