Specialised Masters degree in demand
A worldwide survey of prospective graduate-level business students finds that although the MBA is still the most sought-after degree, close to half the candidates are considering non-MBA master’s programmes in business, and one in five isn’t thinking about an MBA at all.
The latest report from the annual Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) mba.com Prospective Students Survey of more than 12,000 global candidates finds that in the past five years, those focusing exclusively on specialised master’s degrees increased from 13 per cent to 20 per cent, as candidates exclusively considering MBAs declined from 55 per cent to 53 per cent. Meanwhile, crossover demand — prospects considering both MBA and non-MBA specialised master’s programmes in business — declined from about a third to a quarter.
The GMAC conducted the survey of prospective business students who registered on mba.com, the web portal for those interested in graduate business education and the official website of the GMAT exam. The report says —
Women are more likely than men to focus on specialised master’s in business programmes. 27 per cent of women and 15 per cent of men considered these specialty degrees.
Primary motivations for pursuing a graduate management degree include increasing job opportunities, developing business knowledge and increasing salary potential.
Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship is on the rise
latest research by Regus, the flexible workspace provider, reports that 48 per cent of business people in India think flexible working is the key to nurturing innovative entrepreneurs among their employees to help drive growth. Given an increasing importance placed on developing entrepreneurship within the business by companies such as Google and Dell, the survey asked respondents to identify which measures they regarded as key to nurturing so-called intrapreneurs and found that more than half of Indian firms selected skills updating programmes (55 per cent), mixing staff from different functions (36 per cent) and access to senior management (32 per cent) followed.
These are the key findings of the latest research by Regus that canvassed the views of more than 19,000 senior business people and owners in 98 countries. 495 Indian respondents participated in the survey. Some additional highlights are—
24 per cent of respondents report that formal innovation programmes are a key innovation driver
92 per cent of respondents think entrepreneurship has increased in the past five years in their sector
6 per cent state that female entrepreneurship and 11 per cent that serial entrepreneurship (people who set up a series of new businesses, one after the other) is on the rise