Competitive advantages, or why you should enroll in the MBA program of the MIRBIS Institute?

• The first ones. The MBA school at MIRBIS is one of the first on the Russian business education market (founded in 1988 by the Italian economic society"Nomisma" led by Romano Prodi).
• Key Difference MIRBIS- emphasis on.
• MIRBIS is an independent private business school. Our goal is to train leaders real business .
• Co-working. The task at MIRBIS is to create conditions for communication between listeners, to generate new knowledge and ideas in the audience.
• Training program MBA with all its components has an international accreditationAssociation of MBAs (AMBA) ; the first in Russia to be accredited by NASDOBR (National Council for Business Education).
• Leading positions in ratings Russian business schools (RBC+ and the MBA in Moscow and Russia portal).
• The opportunity to choose a suitable MBA specialization, as well as convenient.
• MBA education at MIRBIS includes individual route career development (coaching support, formation of a development plan, consultations during training)
• The teaching staff is a team of specialists with experience in business and academic practice. Among them - leaders in teacher ratings MBA, consultants for Russian and international companies. Mentors undergo competitive selection and advanced training within the School of Teachers.
• MIRBIS recommended by graduates (82%) ! They return as teachers or corporate customers of educational products for the personnel of their companies.
• « Plus 2 years free " MIRBIS graduates can attend almost any discipline from two years after receiving an MBA for free, and two courses from two specializations to choose from.
• Community: the largest Alumni Association.
• Support: a virtual classroom that allows you to increase the intensity and quality of training and implements an individual approach to students.
• High level information and library support. Subscribe to electronic versions largest Russian and Western business publications. The accreditation commission of the Association of MBAs (Great Britain) noted the MIRBIS library resource as one of its undoubted advantages.
• We are in the center! Convenient location of the Institute (Marksistskaya street, near the Garden Ring and Taganskaya Square, within walking distance from the Taganskaya, Marxistskaya, Proletarskaya and Krestyanskaya Zastava metro stations).

Contact Information

There is a lot of controversy surrounding these issues. There are many opinions about who needs an MBA degree and why, both from authoritative experts in business education and from people far from it. Let's try to put everything in its place, focusing on the statistics of the website mba.su.

Who needs to study for an MBA?

There are areas of activity in which an MBA degree can definitely help you build a more successful career. These are the financial and banking sectors, consulting, HR, retail, FMCG, telecommunications, manufacturing, construction, public and municipal administration. In addition, graduates of MBA programs are in great demand in strategic management.

What does studying for an MBA provide?

For a person who looks to the future and wants to make a career or build a successful own business, it's worth studying for an MBA. As students and graduates of business schools note, even those who believed that they knew absolutely everything, after entering the program, very quickly realized that this belief was far from the truth.

Gaining new knowledge

Within the walls of leading business schools, knowledgeable, experienced, ambitious, and thoughtful students accumulate. Their teamwork and “collective intelligence” provide significant knowledge to each participant. That’s why over 70% of business school graduates say that the main result of their MBA studies is the knowledge they gain and the systematization of existing knowledge.

Conducive learning environment

Active, business-oriented people who want to build a successful career come to study in MBA programs. For them, interest in life, desire for new things, and creativity are quite natural. This creates an excellent environment for both professional and personal growth.

Changes in life

It is noteworthy that studying for an MBA contributes to the beginning of changes in life. Educational process, communication in a circle successful people can lead to global changes in worldview, social status, your own self-esteem, and therefore in your approach to life, business, and work. Thus, business school students discover new talents in themselves and become more confident. During the training process, they practice speaking the same language as professionals various fields business. Therefore, the price of such a specialist on the labor market will certainly increase.

Business connections

Acquaintances and business connections acquired at a business school often help recoup the cost of training many times over. Communication among successful people significantly expands the base of personal contacts. And the graduate himself ends up in the bases of the business school and the Alumni Association, which also helps him.

Why get an MBA?

Business school graduates say they were motivated to get an MBA by:

• do career– 50% of respondents;
• perform professional duties in their position more successfully – 45%;
• open your own business – 5%.

Statistics show that 71% of line managers and 52% of middle managers come to study for an MBA for career growth. But for managers and top managers, such training is necessary in order to successfully cope with their work in their current position.

Theme of the second higher education causes a lot of controversy. A particularly frequently cited argument is: if the first higher education did not give the desired financial result, why waste money and time on getting another unnecessary crust? In the last 10 years, it has become especially fashionable to study under the MBA program.

About what kind of program this is, why it is needed, how much it costs, and whether this is money thrown away in Russian conditions, the magazine Reconomica I spoke with an MBA graduate.

The abbreviation MBA stands for Master of business administration– Master of Business Administration. In Russian this means “professional manager”.

This education is aimed at department heads in large companies that already have a tower. Its goal is to teach a specialist to interact with other departments of the company and solve business problems, which are presented in the form of “cases” - real situations from any business.

Business management training – is it a worthwhile investment in yourself?

There is no need to be afraid to invest in your education. You need to choose what kind of education is really in demand for you and will give the best result.
I’ll tell you about finding yourself, training costs, and my savings. I will describe the result obtained: money and career growth, changing jobs.

Money – where would we be without it? I am firmly convinced that if you go in the right direction, everything will work out. My example confirms this axiom.

There is an opinion that MBA is expensive and ineffective. It’s not a cheap price to pay, but it’s not at all expensive for the final result. In addition, you can save, negotiate - and the costs will be completely different than the initially announced cost of MBA education.

Nowadays MBA is a hackneyed topic, people have talked and written about it, it’s just additional education, the cost of which is slightly higher than the usual one given by classical universities.
There are many MBA programs, distance, full-time, full-time and distance. The price of studying for an MBA program in Russia starts from 90,000 rubles per course to infinity. The duration of training, on average, is one year, depending on the content (blocks) of the course.

Reviews and opinions on the usefulness of MBA education

There are many debates and myths surrounding the usefulness of an MBA education. Here are the opinions of billionaires, for example.

For example, Oleg Tinkov (founder of Tinkoff Bank) believes that there is no business education in Russia at all, and he sent his daughter to study at a business school abroad.

Sergei Galitsky (founder of the Magnit chain of stores) generally said that he does not perceive the MBA as an education, saying that it is a shame for a manager to learn from someone else’s cases, and not from his own workplace.

But billionaires have their own criteria. For an employee, it is much more important whether studying at a business school provides real career and salary growth in Russian conditions. This is what we will try to figure out now.

Is it worth studying to become a manager? Personal experience

I will tell you about my own experience of obtaining an MBA degree. The picture is simple. I am 35 years old. I have been working in my specialty for a long time, I have a higher university legal education.

Before that, from time to time I did a lawyer. For a long time, seven years of my life was spent jumping. I was looking for self-realization and enough income to live on:

1. I taught - it’s interesting, it works, but I don’t have enough money to live on.
2. I worked in the civil service - there were too many conventions, and the money was not enough for a not very satisfying life.
3. I received a second higher education: marketing and advertising, to make it more interesting to work and gain knowledge in another field. But the quality of education is poor, and I don’t need the certificates... and the cost has also increased. This experience cost me 12 thousand rubles in fees, and instead of paying for the second year of study, I bought a sofa, which has served faithfully for many years (a profitable investment, I tell you!)

By the time I received my business education, I was already working as the head of the legal support practice (loudly said, for a company of 8 people) in a law firm. Simply put, I do subscriber services for several companies, conduct legal cases, set tasks and supervise an assistant.

I am interested in being a lawyer-manager, knowing business more deeply and widely. At the university they didn’t teach us this at all... but now we need to learn either on our own or through special programs. Studying business and management is, of course, a direct path to an MBA!

My director - a business owner after studying for an MBA with a degree in management - suggests that I go study in the same program - full-time and distance learning, going to a neighboring regional center once a month.

I guess, that An MBA at the “effective manager” level (entry level) may be useful for you if:

• You are working and you lack management competencies;
• You have a “manager” education and even work as a real manager (not to be confused with sellers, what you received at our Russian university under our same program - “sales managers”), but you see that real business situations are not resolved based on previously acquired knowledge;
• You cannot find a common language with other services in your enterprise. It’s as if everyone has their own planet, their own language... and it’s necessary to communicate and develop common positions in order to achieve work tasks;
• You are simply a manager at any level in business, not a government agency or corporation, without management or economic education;
• Your money is enough for bread and butter and you want, even, if necessary, sacrificing red caviar, to increase your value in the labor market;
• Being an MBA specialist is fashionable in your circle and you need your certificates to show off to others.

I went to study because it was not interesting to work only as a lawyer, I always ventured into related fields, tried to interact, communicate, get more information and prepare a solution that is convenient for all stakeholders.

Unobvious advantages of the program

Additional, intangible result: improved understanding of business processes, began to speak the same language with economic managers, understand marketing processes, easily selected personnel for the department, adapted, finished with smart, modern and interesting people. It is difficult to put a monetary value on this.

My result is a typical result for an MBA graduate by European standards. My classmates have comparable performance. Some continued their studies.

As a result, my social circle changed. Friends are jealous of status and wealth, but they have moved away because their main task - getting food - is no longer so relevant to me. Our social circle has changed; now we are no longer friends with the performers, but with the managers. But the former willingness to help, warmth and common interests are no longer and will not be.

Photo: teslaeducation.com

Galina Logvinova, General Director of MBA Consult Company, Moscow

In this article you will read

• How to Choose a Business School for Your MBA
• Behind full-time education MBA
• What questions should the General Director answer before admission?

For getting degreesMBA (English Master of Business Administration – Master of Business Administration) you need to spend time, money and show willpower. Is the game worth the candle? Why does an accomplished General Director need another document on education? What benefits does MBA training provide to a professional top manager? Or maybe it's just fashion? From this article you will understand what efforts you will have to make to obtain an MBA degree, and you will find out what the differences are between the American and European approaches to learning.

The MBA degree is the most well-known and popular academic master's degree in business management. Such qualifications are usually obtained in addition to existing higher education in order to acquire specialized knowledge and skills in the field of management. According to our data, the main reasons for hiring managers senior management in business schools for MBA programs are as follows:

• the desire and need to structure previously acquired skills;
• the desire to gain additional knowledge on topics relevant for further work;
• the need to expand the circle of professional communication (Network).

Today, the MBA degree is generally recognized throughout the world. Only accredited business schools - Western or Russian - have the right to award it.

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In world practice, there are several forms of training in MBA programs:

• Full-time MBA (full-time full-time study, usually for two years; a significant drawback is that you will have to leave your job);
• Part-time MBA (the content corresponds to a Full-time MBA, lasts longer - from one and a half to three years, allows you to study without interrupting work; the minus is limited communication with fellow students);
• Distance Learning, or e-learning(training via the Internet; ideal for those General Directors who, for whatever reason, cannot travel outside the country);
• Executive MBA – EMBA (this form can be called part-time – it allows you to combine study with work).

Another form of MBA training is popular among managers – Executive Education. These are short-term courses for middle and senior managers without awarding a degree.

The most popular, perhaps, are Full-time MBA and Executive MBA. Based on the experience of our work, we can confidently say that the second of them – the Executive MBA – maximally satisfies the requirements of the General Director. Let's talk a little more about these forms.

Compulsory and specialized MBA training

Regardless of the form of study, the curriculum of all business schools includes compulsory and optional disciplines. It all depends on the school's policy. For example, the Full-time MBA program at Chicago GSB includes one mandatory course - Leadership Effectiveness and Development (LEAD), and the student has the right to choose all the rest independently. The approach of other schools is less flexible.

It is important to understand that the MBA specializations that many people mistakenly talk about in Lately, does not exist. There is no official division between General MBA and specialized programs. We can talk about some “biases” of business schools, but this applies exclusively to general subjects such as finance. “Bias” only means that the school is strong in training specialists in a particular field. The term “specialized programs” is appropriate to use only in relation to very narrow, exclusive areas: sports, design, fashion, oil production.

Traditional Full-time MBA Study

Traditional Full-time MBA programs in almost all American business schools are designed for two years of study, while in European ones they last a year, sometimes even ten months. Academic year divided into two (rarely three) semesters. In the first year of study, students are required to take several compulsory courses (they make up about 40% of the entire program), and in the second year - 12 or more elective subjects.

The advantages of a Full-time MBA are active interaction with other students. This program also allows you to choose large quantity elective courses. However, if you choose this form, you will have to leave your job. In addition, the cost of studying for the Full-time MBA course is quite high.

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Part-time MBA

The Executive MBA (EMBA) form allows General Directors who cannot leave their job and company unattended for a long time (a year or two) to obtain a master's degree. EMBA students, unlike full-time students, meet less frequently, say once every two months, and combine work with study. At the same time, during the training, they can work out practical tasks (cases) based on real situations of their enterprises, and apply the results obtained. Our experience shows that quite often companies pay for the training of such students.

Some EMBA programs may allow students to move between schools, taking courses from multiple faculty members. Executive MBA programs (often described as global, although there is no program that would unite all continents yet) will, of course, involve frequent travel, but will provide the opportunity to appreciate different teaching styles and subsequently not only note on your resume, but also use the international experience gained .

If you plan to change jobs after graduation, a disadvantage may be that these programs most often do not offer employment services (most students are sponsored by their employers). However, the situation is gradually changing.

Who pays for an MBA degree?

According to High school International Business of the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation, the statistics on tuition fees for the MBA program not only at this school, but also at others, practically does not change: 70–75% of students pay for their tuition on their own, 25–30% study at the expense of companies. Most of those studying at the company's expense belong to top management.

4 Questions You Should Answer Before Starting Your MBA

Before you start collecting documents and taking tests for admission to a business school, it is important to ask yourself a few questions and go through a number of procedures.

1. Decide if you need an MBA. It is not a panacea and cannot change better side everyone's fate. Rather, it is a tool that is good for achieving the goals you have defined.

2. Determine whether you are ready to spend time preparing for admission and studying itself. It is very important to understand this right away: obtaining an MBA degree will take up most of your free (and not only) time. From work experience I can say: many of the current students complained about a catastrophic lack of time during preparation. Their main advice to future applicants: do everything in advance!

Choosing a school and training format usually takes from one to two years. Preparing to enter a Western school will take 10–12 months (probably a little less for a Russian school). During this time, the applicant should prepare for the GMAT and TOEFL tests, pass them (sometimes more than once), prepare a package of documents (an official copy of the diploma with a list of disciplines, recommendations, essays). This may be followed by an interview, which is conducted either at the school itself, or by telephone, or in Moscow. If everything goes well, you enter. The duration of training depends on the program you choose. In total, you will have to devote about four to five years to obtaining an MBA degree.

3. Analyze whether you are ready to enter a business school:

Firstly, you must have a higher education.

Secondly, business ability and at least two to three years of experience in it.

Thirdly, excellent knowledge of English.

Fourthly, the opportunity to leave your job, leave the country for a year or two, or periodically travel abroad for short-term modules.

4. Calculate how much you are willing to spend on training and whether you can pay your additional expenses. Tuition fees at business schools are quite high. Training in one of 25 best schools(Top 25) will cost on average from 50 to 80 thousand US dollars. In Russia, the cost of an MBA is much lower - ranging from $4,500 to $20,000.

If you choose a full-time course, then in addition to paying for tuition, accommodation, health insurance, textbooks, you must take into account the so-called hidden costs - loss of income from your main job. Part-time students can afford to work part-time, but combining work and study is very difficult, and in the first year of study it is almost impossible.

As for the costs of preparing for admission, they are individual and depend on whether you use the services of consultants (and to what extent), and other conditions.

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Express MBA training

There is also such a form of training as a mini-MBA. These are shortened programs in the form of seminars on specific topics. Western institutions with a good reputation prefer to call these courses training. Russian business schools position the mini-MBA as something between training and a classic MBA - for those who want a little more than a training and a little less than an MBA. The organizers claim that they have reduced the training time by eliminating “general” subjects (the duration of the mini-MBA course does not exceed six months). So, the English language was left behind, information Technology and other non-core items. The motto of such programs is “only the most valuable.” However, the mini-MBA program is not an alternative to the MBA, although some market operators educational services claim the opposite. It does not qualify for the Master of Business Administration degree.

Based on materials from the article by T. Matveeva “MBA in a hurry”

How to choose a business school for your MBA

Europe, America or Russia? This is one of the key questions. You must answer it yourself based on your own interests, needs, wishes and passions. The approach to MBA education in American and European schools is largely similar. The Master of Business Administration degree is awarded on both continents. Training mainly takes place in English. However, the educational models of the Old and New Worlds still differ: although the goals are similar, the policies for achieving them differ.

For example, the composition of students and teachers in European schools is more international. Exchange programs between schools (both European, American and Asian) and corporate partnerships are better developed here. A larger number of short-term programs are offered (designed for a year and a half). American business schools, unlike European ones, have less stringent requirements for an applicant's work experience, and their students are younger.

Concerning Russian schools, That government requirements for MBA programs were developed on the basis of international standards. The Master of Business Administration diploma in Russia was approved only in 2000. Since then, graduates of accredited Russian business schools began to receive an additional diploma to their higher education document, indicating the assignment of the Master of Business Administration qualification. Due to the fact that the Russian MBA system is much younger than the Western (especially American) one, applicants who are thinking about obtaining a business education more often choose famous Western business schools.

Which business school exactly? It is better to choose a specific business school based on reviews, recommendations and ratings. The most famous of them are the annual ratings of BusinessWeek, U.S. publications. News & World Report, Financial Times 2. When reviewing research results, pay attention Special attention on such points as teaching methods, location, syllabus, quality of life, faculty, academic workload, composition of future classmates, opportunities for contacts with past graduates, and also - if this is important to you - job prospects.

In general, I recommend sending your data to eight to ten schools at a time. Typically, documents are sent to two to four prestigious schools, the probability of admission to which is low, to two or three less prestigious ones, which are easier to enter, and to another two or three schools “in reserve” (you will definitely get into the last ones).

MBA trainingon credit

Today, many leading Western business schools offer special loan programs for those wishing to take an MBA course. Some schools have entered into agreements with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Dutch ABN Amro Bank, Harvard Business School has signed an agreement with Citybank, and Wharton has signed an agreement with PNC Bank. The essence of these financial arrangements is that banks provide students pursuing an MBA program with long-term student loans, the amount of which almost completely covers the costs. The repayment period of the loans ranges from thirteen and a half to twenty years. It should be noted that loans are provided at a fairly high interest rate for the Western lending system: depending on the terms of the agreement, the rate can range from 7.75 to 11 percent per annum.

There are few loan offers for education on the Russian market (BSGV, Sberbank), and so far no more than five to seven percent of students use them.

The Russian MBA education system solves other problems

Georgy Ananchik, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Victoria group of companies, Kaliningrad - Moscow

This year I graduated from a two-year Russian MBA program. I started studying in Kaliningrad while I was working there, and when I was transferred to work in Moscow, I completed my studies by correspondence. I know that the Western MBA system is slightly different from the Russian one. But I can’t say which one is more useful. The Western system is aimed at solving large number cases from existing practice. And in our program, there are probably fewer of them, since the organizers understand that managers often really lack even basic knowledge. Russian system, thus, solves two problems at once: “saturating” students with basic management information and analyzing examples – both from Russian and Western practice. But there are not so many cases from Russian practice, and they may not be so indicative, since they are often exaggerated and radical in nature. Perhaps in our situation this is more appropriate, but I believe that the period of the most radical changes has passed and in an established - mostly already - business it would be better to provide more knowledge related to regular management and daily increase in efficiency.

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The knowledge acquired in Russian business schools is still below the level required for an MBA. As long as there is a need for basic knowledge, as long as there is an opportunity to make money from it and there is no particular need to run around and look for a listener for this program, it will exist in this form. As soon as the next stage comes - dissatisfaction with the program appears, the number of people who come for a new quality of knowledge, but receive what they have already heard at some previous stages of their education, increases - Russian programs will be forced to change. During the training, we gave an assessment to the teacher of each discipline and material. I wrote quite honestly that I had already heard this and that I was not interested. I don’t know how much influence my opinion will have, but if there are many such assessments, something must change.

1 Fundraising is a special event or program aimed at attracting resources, most often financial, for specific purposes. – Note. editors.

Reference

Galina Logvinova– General Director of MBA Consult since 2000. Graduated from Kuban politechnical University. He has two higher educations: in the specialties “engineer, mechanic, designer” and “economist-financier”.

CompanyMBA Consult founded in 1998. It specializes in preparing those wishing to enter the best Western business schools: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Cornell, Yale, Darden, Rochester, INSEAD, IMD, London Business School, etc. The company’s task is to prepare applicants who want to receive a quality business education to take the GMAT and TOEFL tests and provide practical assistance at every stage of admission.

Vadim Mamontov– graduate of the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University; In 2004–2006, he studied under the Executive MBA program at the Institute of Business and Business Administration of the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation.

Company"Park.Ru" founded in 1995, specializes in managing information flows, analyzing information from open printed and online sources and legal databases.

Publishing groupComNews founded in 1998, the company's offices are located in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Specializes in publishing, research and consulting activities. It publishes five specialized business media: the online newspaper of telecommunications business news www.ComNews.ru, the monthly business magazine "Standard", the yearbooks "Encyclopedia of Communications" and "Who's Who in Telecommunications".

Olga Mikheeva graduated from Russian State Pedagogical University them. A.I. Herzen; in 2003–2004 she studied at Birkbeck College, University of London, receiving a Master of Science in International Businesses degree.

Agency for Socio-Economic Partnership founded in 2006. The main activity is the organization and holding of business events: congresses, forums, conferences, round tables, seminars, exhibitions.

Georgy Ananchik graduated from the Kaliningrad Higher Marine Engineering School; In 2004–2006, he completed an MBA program at the Kaliningrad Institute of International Business ( State Institute management).

Company group"Victoria" is a trading company established in 1993 in Kaliningrad. Manages chains of different formats: about 120 convenience stores Kvartal, 37 discounters Deshevo, the Victoria supermarket chain (six stores) and the small wholesale store Cash in Kaliningrad.

• Which MBA School to Choose

Today it is difficult to be considered an educated person with only one higher education. Majority modern universities Today it also provides training in related specialties, giving the opportunity to receive two higher educations at once. However, education received abroad and in Moscow remains the most in demand due to its “prestige”.

But even having such an education does not guarantee that you will receive highly paid profession, as competition becomes more and more fierce every year. Possession English language Lately it has not even been discussed, being a matter of course, but the presence of a candidate employee is becoming increasingly important. scientific degree and their achievements in a certain area.

But if you do not have such opportunities, but work in the field of economics, and your finances allow you to do so, there is another way to obtain an education that is extremely in demand today. We're talking about an MBA.

Allow me, but what is an MBA?

Some facts from the history of MBA education

MBA is a special program of professional higher education. It must be said that initially such educational programs appeared in the USA already in the middle of the last century. The fact is that a rapidly developing economy required a lot of not just educated specialists, but specialists who would have scientific knowledge in the economic sphere, which they could use in any specific situation.

At University of Pennsylvania The first MBA program was launched. By the way, today this particular MBA school is the largest in the world. In our country, the MBA school gained its well-deserved popularity after the organization of a branch on the basis of economic institute named after Plekhanov.

Pros and cons of MBA education

Before continuing the story about the MBA, you need to make a short digression and understand what the pros and cons of this form of education are. Let's start with the pros:

• An MBA is an excellent opportunity to acquire deep knowledge in business, which will help you in practice in the future;
• This is an excellent opportunity to stay after the course in a permanent job abroad;
• You will be able to gain valuable contacts among world-class businessmen;
• With desire and persistence, you can eventually become the head of a large international company;
• Your teachers may even be Nobel Prize winners;
• After all, this is a great way to develop yourself. Such a specialist will not be missed anywhere.

As you can see, there are many reasons to trust an MBA. But this method of learning also has its disadvantages. Which?

Firstly, in this environment there are too many young professionals who decided to get an MBA immediately after graduating from their main educational institution. In principle, this is not so bad, because then there may not be time for training. But they completely forget that you need to learn how to run a successful business only when you already have experience in your own work. In this case, you will have something to compare with and draw your own conclusions.

Secondly, you don’t need to think that an MBA is “the key to all doors.” A considerable number of modern analysts and executives of large companies today believe that it was the principles of the MBA that led the whole world to the financial crisis. No, there are no “sabotage” principles in the training program itself, but critics are confident that the above-mentioned young people, who received this education at one time, did not know how to use the basic postulates of business in practice... Yes, they were simply unable to think and solve complex tasks in dramatically changed conditions.

Who should get an MBA education?

So what is an MBA - is it really necessary? To answer this question, you should clearly understand who needs to receive knowledge from this program. So. First of all, those people who already run their own business and want to develop further need to gain the valuable knowledge that an MBA education offers. There are many examples of how entrepreneurs spent tens of thousands of dollars to obtain this knowledge, but ended up winning because they subsequently did not make many stupid mistakes.

In addition, an MBA education will be an invaluable help for those who want to climb the career ladder. Even if your boss is reluctant to move you further, you can always get a position in a large company that needs employees with a similar education.

And, as mentioned above, an MBA can help those who are no longer interested in their current specialty find themselves. Nowadays, there are many cases where even seasoned techies made careers in business after taking MBA courses.

Thus, one should receive appropriate education in the case when there is already a certain practical experience. Otherwise, you may receive a great education but have absolutely no idea how to use it in a practical setting.

MBA education programs, their features

If you decide to study at an MBA school, then you can choose one of four main programs in which training is conducted. Let's look at them.

As already mentioned, there are four programs in total:

• Full-time MBA
• Part-time MBA
• Distance MBA
• Executive MBA

The most popular abroad is Full-time. This is actually an analogue of full-time education. There are two options: American and European, and they differ in duration. The American course lasts two years, while the European one is half as long and takes only a year. During training, practice and theoretical parts are wisely combined. As a rule, full-time is preferred by young people under 26 years of age who already have basic business skills. This is the most preferred form of study abroad, as students are provided with insurance, housing and real-world work experience through a summer internship. The downside is that you will have to leave your job for a year, or even two. And it can be hard for family people too.

An alternative is the Part-time MBA. In fact, it is an analogue of evening education. Training takes place in the evenings, which allows you not to break away from your main job. As a rule, this form of education is chosen by people with families. A disadvantage may be the fact that not all business schools provide full support to evening department graduates. However, recently the situation has begun to change.

Distance MBA. We think that there is no need to particularly explain the word “remote”. All education is conducted via the Internet, you communicate with professors through video chats. It must be remembered that distance learning MBA requires a highly motivated student, since in the absence of real contact with the teacher, one can begin to take learning more frivolously. In addition, distance learning can last up to 60 months. And not everywhere there is high-speed Internet, which is required for such studies.

Executive MBA. A special form of MBA designed for executives and top managers of enterprises. It is clear that they do not have the opportunity to leave their job, but there may be a need to improve their professional level. Periods distance learning here they alternate with the week of taking tests.

Which MBA School to Choose

But to receive quality education you should know where to get it. This is where the problem of choosing an MBA school arises. How to do it? Everything is quite complicated here. The fact is that in our country no more than six schools can boast of accreditation from the international MBA commission. However, many schools in Russia are still accredited by well-known European accrediting bodies.

When choosing an MBA school, you need to remember that normal educational institution of this kind will necessarily have extensive international contacts. Of course, reviews of such a school from its real graduates can be a valuable recommendation when choosing it.

Here we come to the question of where is it better to study, in Russia or abroad? This is also a very controversial issue. Let's try to figure it out.

When choosing a place of study in this case, you should focus on your future place of work. Some employers disapprove of those who received their education in our country, and some favor them. However, practice shows that most managers of pro-Western companies prefer foreign diplomas. However, some domestic enterprises also prefer graduates of Western business schools, since, for the most part, they are very responsible in recruiting students.

If you have your own business, then everything is decided strictly individually. Are you planning to work only within the country? It is possible that looking for MBA courses and get education abroad not worth it. Do you have many foreign partners? And here business education abroad can be a good help in understanding their psychology.

It should be noted that our schools offer education in accordance with local realities, and this is valued by potential employers. The fact is that Western schools offer classical education, which follows official canons that do not always work in our country.

By the way, if you need specific knowledge in a certain area, you can use the mini MBA program. This is an accelerated distance learning program that includes exactly 650 hours of intensive classes and at least 100 hours of remote lectures. There are a total of 8 blocks in the program, each of which includes all the required amount of material. In total, classes are designed for six months or a year. Knowledge testing is carried out using electronic testing.

But it should be remembered that this is not a replacement for a full-time program (full-time education). Despite high-quality educational programs, you cannot gain serious knowledge on your own in such a time. Therefore, the mini MBA program in our country should be considered only from the point of view of advanced training or retraining of a specialist.

By the way, in Western business schools such programs are called advanced training courses, and are in no way connected with the MBA.

However, this method of learning also has undoubted advantages, one of which is an individual approach. A number of large Russian schools offer individual training programs, during which the student will be able to obtain much better knowledge.

However, most students do not hide the fact that in this way they are simply preparing to receive a full-fledged MBA education.

This form of training is ideal as a starting “step” and because upon admission you will be required to have much less knowledge. This option is perfect if you have not had time to properly prepare for admission to a full-fledged MBA school. As you know, they have very tough entrance tests.

Duration and cost of MBA education

Classic MBA training involves studying for a period of one year in the basic program, two years in the evening course, and up to 60 months in the distance learning program.

The cost varies greatly. In our country you can find courses for 5 thousand dollars, but the average level is about 20 thousand. Abroad, the cost of an MBA is not less than 40-60 thousand US dollars.

It's hard to argue that there are many benefits to having an MBA. But you shouldn’t get this education just for the sake of prestige; it’s not the grades that are important here. In the same case, if you approached getting an MBA consciously, with a wealth of practical skills, an MBA can be an excellent way to dramatically improve your professional level.

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