The Business of MBAs

By Thomas Sim, 8 May 2004

Building from my earlier article on 'Prof Exam or MBA?' I recollected all my thoughts and decided to give it a fresh start by attending a Preview Session on MBA programme offered by a local tertiary institution recently. My initial intention was to challenge myself to the other side of the leverage - the prestigious MBA qualification very much reputed in the business world.

The aim of this article is to present my feelings on the MBA qualification afresh and share my criticism on the ways the preview was conducted.

The commercialisation of the ivory tower is a fact known to our Malaysian public, especially after the liberisation of the private educational institutions with the latest classification of University Colleges. The numbers of MBA schools are numerous, including locals like UUM, UPM, UM, UKM, IIUM, UNIMAS and UMS. This list is by no means exhaustive, as foreign universities are equally competitive; e.g. the Australian USQ and the American MBAs are as popular, if not more. Besides, the UK MBAs are best known for its fast tract 12 months full time studies and 18 months part time mode for working executives.

It has become tedious and even confusing to choose which MBA course to undertake if you view all MBA programmes offered in Malaysia. The local universities are offering for a price competitiveness of RM11,000 to RM20,000 depending on whether the student is attending on campus or off campus sites. The overseas MBAs are rated around RM25,000 to RM50,000 for a variety of reasons, among others include exchange rate, reputation and specialisation.

The most striking thing you would notice when you attend a Preview of MBA programme is that the speaker is trying to impress upon the flexibility of the programme. You can choose this and choose that and all others are negotiable. What is important is that final piece of paper! All others are not important as long as the final outcome is an MBA degree from that University. The presenter reassured many times that no other names would appear in the final scroll but the University's. My immediate response is that the issue of knowledge and quality of graduate is never their top priority.

What was even more disheartening was that many subjects needed only 50% examination and in 99.999% instances it would be a Pass for all students. The project tutorials would be short and sweet and most people took them at 'no sweat'. A laughing point was that it was stressed that the MBA degree is recognised by Ministry of Education because the university is a state run institution. Please! The long years of state run tertiary education had never been highly recognised at even the first-degree level, what more to smear its 'good names' on the postgrad! It is money that is behind the MBA enterprise and not whether it's state run or not.

After the session and with some beautiful campus aerial photographs, there came the Q&As which was pure business marketing with no academics. For instance, when asked about MBA specialisation, it was perceived as a disadvantage with employers and hence a general MBA is easier to secure a job interview - a viewpoint of 'Jack of all trade and master of none'. Ironically, when every one is talking about focus and specialisation, this is stressing the opposite. So, is it business or what?

From the running of the programme courses, it is no doubt easier to have a standard set of subjects where the teachers and the students are easily fit into. The best tactic is to accommodate every limited gray matter by taking some entry-level subjects and at the end of the course every one is happy. Thanks to the Ringgits, the lecturer and students are beyond satisfied at a false fascination of a prestigious "General MBA".

My initial expectation of a Preview of MBA Programme is a set of names of the lecturers and their research interests, experiences or publications. Next, it comes to the competitive advantage of the programme compared to what is available on the market. Third in my priority is the targeted segment of MBA students and how MBA exposure could help them later in the career path. All these were never mentioned! And the presenter is supposed to teach Marketing in the MBA programme! I wonder if he really understand what is Marketing!

The entire preview was done without a benefit statement or positioning! What do you expect? It is no doubt the cheapest state-run MBA programme in town.

Thanks to 'Malaysia Boleh!'