[photopress:mba_job_searching.jpg,full,alignright]The effect of an economic downturn on business schools may not be quite what you imagine. Across Europe, B-schools that have seen applications jump in recent years and expect the numbers to surge even further if there’s a repeat of the usual pattern of would-be analysts and managers riding out hard times by improving their résumés with an advanced degree.
Still there will be problems and students are trading information about job prospects as they and their professors look for business and economics lessons in the U.S. subprime-mortgage crisis, the credit crunch, the sliding housing and stock markets and the looming prospect of recession in the United States which is bound to have an effect, no matter how slight, on China.
Jeanette Purcell, chief executive of London-based Association of MBAs said, ‘It’s very much the hot topic at the moment in business schools.’
Many say recruitment of newly minted M.B.A.s looking for jobs in finance already has slowed, and both students and administrators fear hiring in other areas may be affected.
Administrators report that more and more students graduating from European programs are looking for jobs in Asia, where economies are still strong.
Cathy Butler, career director at the Judge School, recently returned from a visit to meet potential employers in Asia, the first time Cambridge has sent a person in her position on such a trip to Asia. She said companies in Asia were clearly hiring in larger numbers than those in Europe.
Some schools already are taking steps to guard against potential downturns in enrollment in executive-education courses paid for by employers.
Michael Luger dean of Manchester Business School is thinking about offering new courses focused on managing risk and uncertainty and dealing with regulations.
Will this affect business schools in China?
First there will be an increase in competition for MBA posts from Europeans. And possibly some of the companies of China will adopt a wait-and-see attitude regarding how far the effects of the recession will spread outisde the United States.
Source: Wall Street Journal