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The goal of Master Business Administration (MBA) programmes is to add value to its graduates and make them better managers. Reports on a study which provides a comprehensive evaluation for the impact of an MBA programme of a leading UK business school on the competencies, skills, self‐perception and careers of its graduates. The results demonstrate the value that these MBA studies generate for individuals and their employers. Based on responses of 344 graduates, now working managers, the output of the study clearly indicates the value they have gained from their MBA. This is seen in increased managerial skills, self‐confidence and several aspects of career development.

Further investigation of the thoughts and attitudes contributing to the voluntary pursuit of an MBA degree and career change is necessary to better understand career motivations and to satisfy career goals. The purpose of this two-part paper is to achieve this objective.

Factors contributing to the cognitive decision to enroll in an MBA program and the subsequent impact of self-discovery gained upon program entry on career strategy were explored using a 32-question survey based on empirical research findings.

Part-time and full-time MBA students exhibited differences in decision criteria applied for MBA program entry. Following program enrollment, opportunities for career growth led to upward goal revision and increasingly focussed goals.

Participation was potentially limited by survey distribution during a demanding academic period where many project reports and group presentations were due. A single MBA program in the downtown Montreal area may not be representative all programs in the population.

Anchoring individual career identity and social identity has become increasingly complex as employers in many industries undergo continuous transformational change.

Integration within the work environment of identified career roles requires additional attention to validate an individual's strategic career efforts.

Surveying MBA candidates about career decisions and goal-revision allows for a valuable “snapshot” of career evolution over time. By promoting increased self-awareness, applied knowledge gained through MBA program activities acts as a catalyst for self-efficacy beliefs which results in upward distal goal-revision or increased goal focus.

The purpose of this study is to examine factors that predict industry‐level career change among MBA graduates.

The study analyzed longitudinal data from the Management Education Research Institute (MERI)'s Global MBA Graduate Survey Dataset and MBA Alumni Perspectives Survey Datasets, using principal component analyses and a three‐stage structural equations model.

Perceptions about career growth and opportunity for advancement were the strongest predictors of industry shifts. The type of program was also found to have an influence, with part‐time MBA programs positively predicting industry shift, and full‐time programs having an indirect effect through significant associations with each of the intermediate predictors of industry shifts. Women were found to be more likely to change industries. Satisfaction with the MBA degree was not a predictor of industry change behavior: they were found to be related only to the extent that graduates valued the importance of certain career factors, such as the objective career factor of career growth.

This is a first large scale study of industry‐level career change among MBA graduates.

This paper aims to explore whether the rite of passage is still a useful model with which to conceptualise the MBA in the era of the boundaryless career.

The paper examines the formative experiences of full‐time MBA students at an elite business school, using in‐depth qualitative interviews. Through a discourse analysis, the paper shows how MBA students draw on concepts resembling the anthropological model of the rite of passage when making sense of their experience.

The resources MBA students have available to talk about their MBA experience mirror the three‐step rite of passage model. The first step involves separation from a previous career, either because of limited opportunities for advancement or in order to explore alternative career paths. In the transition or liminoid stage, identities are in flux and a strong sense of community is developed among the students and they play with different identities. In the third stage, the incorporation, students reflect on the value of the MBA for their future career.

The paper shows how the MBA is still seen as a rite of passage at a time when careers are becoming boundaryless. Within this more fluid context, the rite in itself is seen as enhancing the individual's brand value and confidence, enabling them to negotiate the challenges of managing a boundaryless career.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree of satisfaction and perceived relevance of the Graduate Business Education (GBE) programme at the University of Botswana.

A self‐administered questionnaire and face to face interviews were used to collect data from Master of Business Administration (MBA) participants on their reason for studying MBA, level of satisfaction, and the extent to which the skills and experiences obtained correlate with those required by the corporate world. The data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics.

The majority of the respondents are male adults attending part time MBA classes and working full time in administrative positions in the public and private sectors. The study found that improved managerial skills, career development and broader business insights are major reasons for joining the MBA programme, while employability and economic gains were ranked low as driving forces. Even though the overall satisfaction with the programme is mixed and inconclusive, the MBA programme has assisted participants to develop basic management and administration skills. However, the programme puts greater emphasis on conceptual, technical and analytical skills than on problem solving, innovation, communication and entrepreneurial skills which are perceived to be most needed by employers, implying a relevance gap. What the MBA participants learnt does not correlate with what they perceived to be most needed by employers.

Since the findings are based on perceptions of MBA participants, the conclusions drawn from these findings must be considered tentative and interpreted with care. Future research must include representative sample of all MBA stakeholders such as faculty, students, graduates, employers and administrators to get rich information about quality of inputs, processes and products of MBA programme.

There is strong need for the MBA programme to integrate traditional management and administrative skills with experiences and skills relevant for today's world of work. Bridging the growing theory‐practice gap requires attracting professors with practical business experience, revising staff recruitment policies and procedures, establishing formal partnership with external organization, and develop long‐term strategies to reduce teaching load and staff turnover.

Most of the studies on the relevance and quality of GBE programmes are conducted in western higher education institutions, very little has been done in African universities. This is the first of its kind in the context of Botswana, an important contribution to existing literature and foundation for further advanced studies in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect on the value of the MBA – a Master in Business Administration, considered the flagship of business and management education. The author aims to bridge the gap in the understanding of the possible added value of the MBA.

This conceptual paper is enriched by findings from secondary data, surveys with managers in the UK, and interviews with human resource managers of leading US firms.

The MBA can generate significant tangible and intangible inputs to graduates' careers and their employing organizations. Having an MBA contributes considerably to graduates' human capital. Employers may profit from such contributions, while an indirect positive effect is implied at the national level.

The knowledge of MBA impact should be based on rigor studies rather than unsupported assertions.

The MBA is the closest thing to a qualification to manage. It generates positive outcomes and lead to good management. For individuals, embarking on MBA is a major career decision, carrying certain risks, but offer high potential for return on investment.

This contribution is of special importance amid the recent criticism of the MBA by prominent management scholars.

Identifies problems facing MBA programmes, the type of executives sought by businesses, and the roles academic and business institutions need to play in developing the next generation of managers. Views MBA programmes through an input‐output model with the quality of the output (MBAs) a function of the quality of the input and the efficiency of the process and reveals the problems in business education. To raise the quality of MBAs, schools need to cover material relevant to client firms, to incorporate new materials into existing courses that stress written and oral communication. States that faculty and executives should forge links to evaluate graduates and update classroom material and states faculty should be encouraged to undertake business internships. Corporations have an additional role, they must identify MBAs with potential for senior level management and train them, focusing on leadership negotiating skills, and long‐term planning.

The purpose of MBA education is to provide training in the theory and practice of business management. In Malaysia, several public and private institutions of higher learning offer such programmes. A survey of 112 organizations revealed that 67 per cent had executives with MBA degrees in their employment while the rest cited demand for high salaries and company policy to promote internal staff as two main reasons for not doing so. About 73 per cent said that they had no special preference for graduates from specific business schools. MBAs with good work ethics, sound management and leadership skills as well as critical thinking and analytical abilities, are more likely to be hired. In future, employers expect more MBAs with the ability to understand local, Asian and global business practices.

The paper aims to investigate an aspect of undertaking a part‐time Masters of Business Administration (MBA) that has been discussed informally but has not been researched – that a proportion of MBA students who start their studies within a marriage are likely to end up with the qualification, but without the spouse.

The site of the research was a part‐time MBA programme delivered by a university in the south‐east of England. It was a degree lasting two calendar years, designed for practising middle and senior managers, and was run for five years before being disbanded in the late 1990s. The population was made up of three cohorts of students – there were ten graduates from the first intake, 11 from second; and nine from the third and last group. The research approach was qualitative, relying on conversations, interviews, and documents.

The study finds that in each cohort, marriages came under severe strain and a number of these ended very painfully. The paper is anecdotal and puts forward no solutions. Instead, it attempts to shed some light on a phenomenon that proved, for the MBA students involved, to be destructive in the short term, but constructive in the long term.

The paper examines the marriage breaking aspect of the MBA, and attempts to find some explanation for what happened, by examining the inter‐relationship between home, work and study, and between husbands and wives. Their experiences may be of use to designers of MBA programmes and those who lecture on them.

The paper deals with an aspect of the MBA which is generally absent from the literature and which reveals an unexpected downside to what is supposed to be a productive and rewarding educational experience.

The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically whether teaching methodologies that emphasize international experiential learning have a significant role in fostering or encouraging greater international mobility. To that end, it assesses whether MBA programs that emphasize experience‐based learning in the form of international travel, exchanges and internships have more internationally mobile graduates than programs that do not. It also discusses the broader role of experiential learning in teaching students skills relevant to international business.

This study uses data from the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings and the A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Globalization Index to assess whether international experiential learning is conducive to the future international mobility of graduates. It employs a multivariate data analysis methodology to examine whether the international experience and exposure received during an MBA is a predictor of subsequent international mobility.

This study finds that MBA programs that use experiential teaching methods that emphasize international travel, exchanges and internships tend to have more internationally mobile graduates than those that do not, even after the influence of foreign students and location have been controlled for.

Relatively few studies have examined the question of whether the international experiential teaching methods that many MBA programs use, such as exchanges, internships and travel, have an impact on the subsequent international mobility of graduates. This is an important research area as many MBA programs have embraced experiential learning techniques as the centerpiece of their efforts to train more culturally sensitive, adaptable and internationally‐minded graduates to work both domestically and overseas.