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MBA in Australia
A Few Reasons Why
It is becoming increasingly easy to answer
the question: 'Why study an MBA?' The answer to the question
'Why study an MBA in Australia?' has been an easy one to answer
for more than two decades.
 Why
study an MBA?
If you have an undergraduate degree in any field, have at
least two years of managerial, professional or equivalent
experience and wish to make the very best investment you can
make in your future career success, study leading to the award
of a Master of Business Administration (MBA) is for you.
Why?
Look around you!
Globalisation continues apace, national borders are eroding
around the world, international competitive pressures are
increasing, industrial re-structuring continues within the
giant North American trade bloc, the Euro will soon provide
a renewed fillip to industrial reform within Euroland, and
Asia, the wounded tiger, will recover its lost vitality over
time.
These dramatic changes in long-term world economic prospects
are placing an increasing premium upon those who possess a
deep knowledge of, and associated skills pertinent to, what
it takes to achieve organisational success in a highly competitive
world. I use the words 'organisational success' advisedly
- the usefulness of the knowledge and skills conferred by
an MBA are not just confined to business enterprises.
Certainly, the belief is growing in the minds of the Chief
Executives of giant international companies that an MBA is
rapidly becoming a minimum qualification for managers or executives
within their companies. But MBAs can contribute equally well
to the success of small businesses scrambling for niche markets
in an increasingly globalised market place. MBAs are becoming
more and more sought after in public sector organisations
under intense pressure from governments for improved performance
at reduced cost. Thus ongoing public sector reforms that embody
commercialisation, corporatisation, outsourcing and/or privatisation
necessitate the skills possessed by MBA graduates if they
are to be implemented effectively.
Moreover, the professional practices of accountants, lawyers,
doctors and other health care providers (such as physiotherapists)
are facing growing pressures to consolidate, to increase in
size, to utilise more sophisticated marketing, information
technology, customer service and financial strategies as means
to achieve business success. Increasingly, professionals in
these fields are deciding to study an MBA as a means to reinforce
their business skills, and hence the profitability of their
practices.
Finally, whatever the content of one's undergraduate degree,
an MBA increases the range of potential career choices available
to include managerial or executive roles within a diverse
range of industries.
What are the skills and knowledge encapsulated within an
MBA that can contribute to organisational success? In brief,
the secret of the success of a good MBA (and more of this
later) is three-fold:
-
It increases the self-confidence and personal effectiveness
of the person concerned
-
It provides them with a deep understanding of what is
required to make organisations successful
-
It equips them to identify and implement the changes
required to ensure an organisation achieves success (or
remains successful) within a rapidly changing business
environment.
How and why does a good MBA confer these skills and knowledge?
An MBA develops appropriate skills and knowledge in two ways:
by means of what students have the opportunity to learn, and
by how they learn it. Typically, a good MBA will include the
opportunity to study around sixteen subjects, which provide
a broad portfolio of business-related skills and knowledge.
These subjects include fundamentals such as accounting, economics,
the study of organisations, quantitative methods, and the
elements of international management, and then scope for more
intensive study in fields such as finance, people management,
information technology, marketing, international management
and general management. Specific topics within these fields
could range from entrepreneurship to quality management, or
from derivative securities to operations management. But the
way in which students learn within an MBA is even more important
than the topics they study.
Students within an MBA program often have quite extensive
experience of the business world, hence they represent a key
resource in the learning process. The quality and experience
of students themselves, of the faculty members, and of the
learning resources and facilities available to both are crucial
to the quality of the learning environment. In these circumstances,
faculty members in a good MBA program assume more of the role
of facilitators than of 'teachers'. The learning process becomes
one in which students acquire enlightenment knowledge, skills
and growing self-confidence as a result of being exposed to
diverse learning opportunities such as individual research,
group projects, guest lecturers from business and government,
class discussion of real-life cases, and from delivering individual
and group presentations to audiences of their peers.
From this ferment of rich educational development, the better
students emerge with an ambition 'to change the world' and
more importantly, the skills and self-confidence to do so!
Whilst all MBA graduates must gain experience and earn their
advancement 'on the job', the MBA provides a powerful conceptual
framework within which they are able to derive the greatest
advantage from that experience.
Why study an MBA in Australia?
There are two fundamental reasons for studying an MBA in
Australia:
To appreciate the significance of the first point, it is
necessary to explore briefly the meaning of the term 'good
MBA'. At one extreme, it is possible in some countries to
acquire an 'MBA' certificate through the mail by spending
a few hundred dollars. Such 'MBAs' are obviously not worth
the paper they are written on, and any employer duped into
hiring such a person would soon learn their mistake and act
accordingly. At the other end of the spectrum are MBAs acquired
on the basis of diligent study and participation over a period
of at least 16 months, within a rich learning environment
at an internationally-recognised management school within
a prestigious university. The difference between these two
experiences lies in the changes that they effect within the
student.
A good MBA will develop the individual significantly, including
their capacity to work as an effective team member, to lead
others, and to be effective in interpersonal relationships
through enhanced self-confidence, communication, presentation
and negotiation skills. In addition, his or her capacity to
diagnose the changes required to achieve business success
and the power to implement these changes will be increased
dramatically. By contrast, a poor MBA will effect none of
these changes within the individual, and thus individual performance
will be poor.
Australian MBA Programs
Particularly within its capital cities, Australia possesses
a large number of MBA programs which meet the above criteria
for providing a good MBA. Very early in its history, Australia
inherited the British academic tradition of rigorous inquiry
and adherence to high academic standards. Australia's oldest
universities in particular are internationally-renowned for
their very high standards of research and teaching.
Currently, a total of 55 Australian universities offer MBA
programs. The prevailing model at the better institutions
is the 'Harvard style' MBA, which provides around 16 diverse
business related subjects, delivered over a period of 16 months
to 2 years of full-time study. The shorter (16 month) program
is delivered by institutions who have adopted the trimester
system as a means to reduce the opportunity cost of an MBA
to its students. Students may also study part-time, and most
choose to do so.
The better MBA programs are truly international in terms
of curriculum and orientation. This international focus is
enhanced by the large number of international students that
study in Australia. At Graduate Schools of Management, for
example, students from about 30 countries within Europe, North
America, Asia and Africa participate in the MBA program, and
graduates now occupy executive positions in organisations
throughout the world. Superior MBA programs are delivered
by the older universities located in each of the State capital
cities. In general, these are particularly well resourced
in terms of quality of faculty, calibre of students and also
in terms of library, computer and other facilities.
Consortium of Australian Management and Business Schools
Of particular note is the Consortium of Australian Management
and Business Schools (CAMBS), which includes a number of these
institutions. Members of CAMBS include The University of Adelaide,
Deakin University, The University of Queensland, The University
of Tasmania and The University of Western Australia. These
institutions have agreed to cross-credit subjects studied
in the MBA programs of other Consortium members.
This arrangement facilitates ease of movement of students
between the various Australian States. The availability of
distance education from Deakin University further increases
the flexibility that Consortium members can offer.
International students therefore have the opportunity to
study an MBA wholly in Australia, or to study for a semester
or trimester towards their degree at an institution of their
choice. This may be facilitated by exchange arrangements between
their home university and an Australian university, as Student
Study Plans can be tailored to the specific educational needs
of the students concerned. Other award management programs
are also on offer including PhD, Doctor of Business Administration,
Graduate Diploma in Management and Graduate Certificate in
Management.
Other advantages of studying in Australia include:
Australia provides a meeting ground between East and West.
Perth, for example, is in the same time zone as Singapore,
Hong Kong and Taipei. Developments in Asia are subject to
close academic and business scrutiny within Australia, and
specific MBA courses are tailored to elicit deep student understanding
of the Asia/Pacific Region.
Industrial restructuring and public sector reform have been
actively pursued by successive Australian governments since
the mid-1970s. As a consequence, the Australian economy is
currently experiencing both robust economic growth and low
inflation, and is presently one of the strongest performing
economies in the world. Hence the analysis of industrial re-structuring,
public sector reform and the management of change is right
at the 'cutting edge' within Australian management schools.
Notwithstanding Australia's sound economic prospects, because
of low world prices for commodities, Australia's exchange
rate is currently low (the Australian dollar is equivalent
to 62 US cents). The cost of an MBA program is consequently
relatively low in world terms - for example, international
students pay AU$2000 per subject for each of the 16 units
at the University of Western Australia, a total of AU$32 000.
Australia is renowned for its many attractive beaches and
associated tourist outlets, which tend to be popular with
visitors from the Northern Hemisphere. The environment is
clean and the climate is mild and pleasant in both winter
and summer, allowing international students to sample the
ample recreational, cultural and sporting facilities, activities
which allow students to relax in the few precious moments
that they can spare away from their intensive MBA studies!
In summary, if you would like to see more of the world, to
study intensively in a clean, pleasant, novel, interesting
environment, to complete a high-quality, internationally-recognised
business-oriented Masters degree, and to improve significantly
on your career prospects, studying towards an MBA is the thing
to do - and Australia is the place to do it.
Author:
Bruce McCallum
Studies Co-ordinator, The Graduate School of Management
The University of Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
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