The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging as the country industrialized and companies sought out scientific approaches to management. The first American business school, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, was established in 1881. The Tuck School of Business, part of Dartmouth College, was the first graduate school of management in the United States. Founded in 1900, it was the first institution conferring advanced degrees (masters) in the commercial sciences, the forebearer of the modern MBA. Founded in 1898, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, the second oldest U.S. business school, was the first graduate school in 1940 to offer working professionals the Executive MBA (EMBA) program, a mainstay at most business schools today.
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As the U.S. MBA model emerged at the turn of the 20th century, Europeans developed such business schools as Webster Graduate School at Regent’s College, London; elsewhere colleges such as Cranfield School of Management, Cass Business School, London, IMD, SIBM, and MBA-HSG were established for management training. In 1950 the first MBA degrees were awarded outside the United States by the University of Western Ontario in Canada, followed in 1951 with the degree awarded across the Atlantic by the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Moreover, the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi in Pakistan was established in 1955 as the first Asian business school by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1957, INSEAD became the first European university offering the MBA degree, followed in 1964 by IESE (first two-year program in Europe), in 1967 by the Cranfield School of Management and in 1969 by the HEC School of Management (in French, the École des Hautes Études Commerciales) and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. In 1968, the Asian Institute of Management was founded.
The MBA degree has been adopted by universities worldwide, and all six habitable continents have universities offering MBA programs.
In Europe, the recent Bologna Accord established uniformity in three levels of higher education: Bachelor (three years), Masters (five years), and Doctorate (eight years). Students can acquire professional experience after their initial bachelor degree at any European institution and later complete their masters in any other European institution via the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. A European masters degree in Management is therefore equivalent to the American MBA having additional scientific content; for example, a European master of science in management requires writing and defending a master’s thesis.
Basic types of MBA programs
Full-time MBA programs are the most common, normally lasting two years. Students enter with a reasonable amount of prior real-world work experience and take classes during weekdays like other university students.
Accelerated MBA programs are a variation of full time programs, lasting 18 months or less, involving a higher course load.
Part-time MBA programs normally hold classes on weekday evenings, after normal working hours. Part-time programs normally last three years or more. The students in these programs typically consist of working professionals, who take a light course load for a longer period of time until the graduation requirements are met.
Executive MBA (EMBA) programs developed to meet the educational needs of managers and executives, allowing students to earn an MBA or another business-related graduate degree in two years or less while working full time. Participants come from every type and size of organization – profit, nonprofit, government — representing a variety of industries. EMBA students typically have a higher level of work experience, often 10 years or more, compared to other MBA students. In response to the increasing number of EMBA programs offered, The Executive MBA Council was formed in 1981 to advance executive education.
Distance learning MBA programs hold classes off-campus. These programs can be offered in a number of different formats: correspondence courses by postal mail or email, non-interactive broadcast video, pre-recorded video, live teleconference or videoconference, offline or online computer courses. Many respectable schools offer these programs; however, so do many diploma mills. Potential students should check the school’s accreditation before undertaking distance learning coursework.
Dual MBA programs combine MBA degree with others (such as ACCA, CIMA, MS, J.D. etc) to let students cut costs (dual programs usually cost less than pursuing 2 degrees separately), save time on education and to tailor the business education course to their needs.
Admissions criteria
Most programs base admission on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), significant work experience, academic transcripts, essays, references or letters of recommendation, and personal interviews. Schools are also interested in extracurricular activities, community service activities and how the student can improve the diversity and contribute to the student body as a whole. All of these qualifications are important for admission; however, some schools such as Harvard University do not weigh GMAT scores as heavily as other criteria.
Most schools are first concerned with whether or not the applicant can handle the quantity of course work. The GMAT (the quantitative score) and academic transcripts help determine this. Once the school determines that the student can succeed academically, they examine the remainder of the application to evaluate the applicant’s experience and leadership abilities.
Program content
Most top MBA programs cover similar subjects within their core required courses. For information about the typical content of an MBA program’s core curriculum, see the overview at the Wikiversity MBA topic page.
Breadth
MBA programs expose students to a variety of subjects, including economics, organizational behavior, marketing, accounting, finance, strategy, operations management, international business, information technology management, supply chain management, project management and government policy. Students traditionally study a wide breadth of courses in the program’s first year, then pursue a specialized curriculum in the second year. Full-time students typically seek an internship during the interim.
Specialization
Many programs allow students to specialize or concentrate in a particular area. Standard concentrations include accounting, corporate strategy, decision sciences, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, general management, human resources, international business, marketing, organizational behavior, project management, and operations management. Unspecialized MBA programs often focus second-year studies on strategic management or finance.
In addition, a program may offer more specialized concentrations such as Asian business, consulting, sports management, or degrees emphasizing real estate or insurance. Many schools offer unique concentrations available nowhere else.
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