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Evaluating the quality of an MBA through published rankings
Artículo de opinión
Artículo en inglés.
The popularity of MBA programmes has resulted in different systems aimed at guiding prospective students in their choice. International accreditation provides the only independent way to judge the quality of degrees, and is awarded by three global bodies: AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business); AMBA (The Association of MBAs) or EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System).
Rankings can also help when choosing a university, but it is very different from accreditation and worth noting that it is largely media driven. Every year, well known business publications like Business Week and the Financial Times publish rankings which can add to the prestige of high-scoring institutions. But the rankings methodology can be controversial, and a high ranking does not guarantee the quality of the MBA programme.
Different publications use different criteria when ranking institutions and it can also vary from one year to the next. Another concern is that ranking focuses on full-time programmes, which is of little relevance to the growing number of students who prefer to study more flexibly. Britain's Open University for example, is rated the top institution in the UK for student satisfaction and among the top UK universities for the quality of its teaching. Yet it is often omitted from rankings as it doesn't offer a full-time MBA programme.
Andy Moore, Head of Corporate & Employer Services at The Open University, offered some advice: "Students should look beyond the headlines and understand the criteria used, rather than focus too much on the position of an institution.”
Institutions can be ranked on a variety of criteria, including recommendations from Alumni on whether they would recruit MBA graduates from that institution and value for money, which includes course length, fees and other costs, like the loss of earnings while not working for the duration of the course. There may also be a weighted average for international exposure during the programme.
"The Financial Times in the UK uses the criteria of the cost of not working during studies. This will exclude distance learning providers, as their strength lies in the fact that students continue their jobs while studying,” Mr. Moore explained.
Rankings should be viewed with an open mind. It can limit the population size to a small number of MBA programmes and ignore the majority of schools, many with excellent offerings. The ranking methodology can also be flawed by bias and inconsistent statistical procedures. This is illustrated by the fact that some well-known shools consistently appear at the top of tables, but their actual position varies from table to table.
These rankings can be helpful, but the only way it can be truly objective is if it is tailored to individual students' needs.
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