MBAs For All
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The Indian School of Business at
Hyderabad was the first to offer the one-year MBA programme in India in 200I,
followed by XLRI in 2004. IIM Ahmedabad is also on course with its one-year
programme, which begins in April 2006, there are also plans afoot by IIM
Bangalore to launch a one-year Executive Master of Business Administration
programme from the academic year starting July 2006.
Says Prof. A. Krishna Murthy of M. P. Birla Institute of Management Studies,
"Trends in business education abroad generally point in favour of shorter
programmes with the length of executive education courses continually
shrinking." So, it is a global phenomenon that business schools are offering
shorter duration full programmes or even shorter duration courses - from
five-week courses to 10-day ones or even 7-day ones.
The one-year MBA is also an
excellent value proposition for those who have left their jobs or taken a
mid-career sabbatical for higher studies. "It takes into account the substantial
and varied experience the selected executives bring to the classroom," says
Tamonas Gangopadhyay, Professor In-charge of the one-year MBA programme at XLRI.
The upsurge seen recently in
one-year degrees has been driven, for the most part, by corporate demand,
serving mostly experienced professionals and recent undergraduates with some
work experience. Although two-year programs are still the norm in most business
schools, accelerated and specialized one-year programs are seeing slight
increases in enrollment. Business schools have been adversely impacted by this
trend; in fact, they are offering degree options that combine an undergraduate
business degree with an MBA in a five-year program. Albert W. Niemi Jr., Former
Dean of the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, explains that, "I
don't see, in the data that we have collected in terms of starting salaries that
there is any difference in the way one-year people are treated by industry.
One-year grads do as well as two-year grads in terms of earning power in the
marketplace."
Nowadays, there are many
different types of MBA programs. Before making a decision, you should evaluate
each and every one. Even though they are both full-time programs, one-year MBA
programs are quite a bit different than their two-year counterparts. A one-year
MBA program has very strict requirements for admission, both in academic
training and work history.
Program
Duration
One-year MBA programs usually
last between eleven and sixteen months. Because schools will be the priority
during this time, one-year MBA programs are not for students who will be working
full-time.
