In 2010, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is due to come into existence. Its aim is to make higher education degrees much more compatible, comparable and portable among the 46 countries signed up to it. Known colloquially as the Bologna process after the city in which the original declaration of intent was signed in 1999, the creation of the EHEA has harmonized the very many divergent national systems of higher education. In order to do this it has adopted a single three-cycle structure that is based on the Anglo-Saxon model of bachelor, masters and doctoral degrees.For the first time, hundreds of thousands of European students will have the same choice that UK, Commonwealth and North American students have always had - whether to leave higher education after a three- or four-year bachelor degree, or stay on for a masters, and perhaps to return after a few years to do a post-experience qualification such as the MBA.
According to Nunzio Quacquarelli, director of QS World MBA Tour and editor of topmba.com, the effect on the European MBA market could be profound. "In terms of the penetration of the MBA the disparity between Europe and North America is staggering, suggesting there is still significant room for growth in MBA numbers in Europe.?
Quacquarelli explains, "If you look at the QS Top MBA Career Guide statistics, you can see that there are as many as 20,500 full-time MBA places in North America against a combined population of 337 million in the US and Canada - a ratio of 61 places per million people. Whilst there are only 10,700 full-time MBA places in the European Union & Switzerland against a combined population of 468 million* - a ratio of 23 full-time MBA places per million people.?
At a recent leadership conference hosted by IESE business school in Barcelona, the IESE Dean, Jordi Canals agreed with this hypothesis. "The MBA in Europe is still at an early stage of development and Bologna can be the stimulus for a rapid expansion in take up.?.
A key factor explaining the current disparity between the two regions is history. The North American MBA was instituted at the end of the nineteenth century. But it wasn't until the nineteen-fifties and sixties that private European schools such as Insead, IMD, Cranfield, and the London and Manchester Business Schools began to offer their own versions. European universities had to wait until the seventies and eighties (and, in Germany's case, the nineties) before government restrictions were lifted allowing them to offer their own rival MBAs. The MBA in Europe is not therefore embedded to anything like the depth it is in America.
A second key factor in the disparity is the age of undergraduates coming out of universities. Quacquarelli says: "In the US, it is the norm to graduate out of a first degree in order to work for a short while before going on to take a postgraduate qualification such as an MBA.? In continental Europe, undergraduate degrees have traditionally lasted much longer, often six or seven years. A small proportion of graduates go on to do a Masters, but the length of the system discouraged people from going to the workplace and then returning to education to do an MBA. As evidence of this, the difference between the average age of MBA participants. In the US it is 26.5 and in Europe is 29.5.
"Finally there is the attitude of employers,? says Quacquarelli . "In the US, an MBA is almost regarded as a first degree is in Europe: as a prerequisite for employment at a certain level. MBA recruitment schemes in the US are more akin to graduate recruitment schemes in Europe, both in terms of their volume and the qualification-based requirement for entry. In Europe, high-volume MBA recruitment is still in its early stages, and, although the MBA has become a well-established qualification among employers, there are still relatively few recruitment schemes which are dedicated to bringing in large numbers of MBAs.?
Quacquarelli says that the attitude of employers is the final key factor. US employers almost regard an MBA as Europeans do a first degree, as a prerequisite for employment at a certain level. MBA recruitment schemes in the US are more akin to graduate recruitment schemes in Europe, both in terms of their volume and the qualification-based requirement for entry. "In Europe, high-volume MBA recruitment is still in its early stages,? he says. "Although the MBA has become a well-established qualification among employers, there are still relatively few recruitment schemes which are dedicated to bringing in large numbers of MBAs.?
Bologna is going to change all this. QS Top MBA predicts that tens of thousands of graduates across Europe are going to be looking for new options once they complete their three of four-year bachelor degree. This Bologna generation will look for opportunities to improve their language skills, gain some international experience and improve their awareness of the global economy so creating a surge in demand for English-language masters, pre-experience masters in management and in MBAs.
QS Top MBA also predicts that the average age of European MBAs is going to decrease while the number of people taking the qualification is going to rise (with an attendant rise in the number of people holding double masters-level qualifications).
Quacquarelli believes that Europe may not go as far down the MBA path as the US and that it is not guaranteed that European companies are going to embrace it to the same extent. However he believes that a balance will be reached at some point. "Once a certain volume of people is taking an MBA, it feeds into HR processes as an easy way to screen and choose people. As soon as it gets embedded in HR processes you will start to see the large-volume MBA recruitment schemes beginning to appear. When this happens, the momentum for more people to take an MBA becomes very strong. This hasn't happened in Europe yet, but with the Bologna generation about to come through, I believe it will.?
* European population figures from Eurostat, US population figures from US Census, Canadian population figures from StatCan
