Schulich School students, from left: Rishikesh Misra, Abhishek Bhasin, Bharath Narayana Reddy, Gaurang
Deshmane, Mugunathan Ganesan, Vikram Kumar, Sanju Jain and Manas Bhatia
Many have often questioned the value of an MBA edu- cation and the contribu- tions from its students to the society. The high cost
of the education and the perceived high
returns for its students have been key
reasons for this criticism. Critics argue
that business administration — with the
exception of a few quantitative and statistics courses — can be learnt from practice and that such costs and return do
not justify an MBA program. As students
of the program at a prestigious school
like the Schulich School of Business, we
strongly believe that the MBA program
prepares students and equips them with
tools to face the challenges of the business environment. An MBA is a valuable
education with a lot of extrinsic value,
unlike engineering and medical degrees
that impart hard skills and possess
intrinsic value.
South Asian students at the Schulich
School of Business come from a variety
of backgrounds — information technology professionals, electrical engineers,
sales and marketing professionals, and
have work experiences ranging from two
to 20 years. All these different individuals made a decision to leave their progressive careers to pursue an MBA program based on their strong belief in the
value additions that the program will
bring. The value from the program is in
terms of increase in compensation,
opportunity to change careers, and general personality development and growth
required for business management. The
big picture education of various aspects
of business administration broadens the
perception of students and enables them
MUGUNATHAN GANESAN AND ABHISHEK BHASIN
to take informed decisions
making them better man-
agers and future leaders.
While we do agree that
not all successful business
leaders are MBA graduates,
we also believe that most of
us do not have natural, gift-
ed business acumen and we require a
formal business education. However, we
do want students to think of the MBA
program as another full-fledged educa-
tion and look at the long-term benefits
from the program rather than immediate
financial returns. Such a change in per-
ception will enable students to gain more
from the education and reduce disap-
pointments from lack of enough high-
paying employment opportunities.
The current global economic down-
turn, triggered by the subprime crisis in
the United States, is one that is the
gravest seen since the Great Depression
in the 1930s. Jobs are being lost at an
alarming rate and signs of recovery are
mere rumors with the bottom yet to be
seen. MBA students graduating this year
and even students in the first year of
their program are finding it difficult to
find jobs and internships that suit their
interests. Despite this, as students of the
MBA program who understand the
nature of the business cycle, we must
realize that this recession like its prede-
cessors is an opportunity for newer skills
and jobs. It is important for students to
recognize this and look at various skills
to be developed in order to position
themselves well in the post-recession
economy. Some of the areas that we
believe are key to the current economy
and post this period are risk manage-
ment, corporate
social responsibil-
ity, sustainability,
and Marketing
2.0, to name a
few.
Mugunathan Ganesan and Abhishek
Bhasin are students at the Schulich
School of Business, York University.
