'The Death of the MBA' (axios.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: U.S. graduate business schools -- once magnets for American and international students seeking a certain route to a high income -- are in an existential crisis. They are losing droves of students who are balking at sky-high tuition and, in the case of international applicants, turned off by President Trump's politics. The once-venerated MBA is going the way of the diminished law degree, pushed aside by tech education. Graduates of the top 25 or so MBA schools still command the elite Wall Street and corporate jobs they always did, but the hundreds of others are scrambling, and some schools are shutting down their programs. Survivors are often offering new touchy-feely degrees like "master of social innovation." [...] In the more than 350 programs that didn't make the top ranks, rising tuition costs and smaller returns in the form of employment and income have forced a rethink of the traditional MBA degree.

Comments

Re:Fuck the universities

[HornWumpus]

Don't assume 18 year olds make rational decisions.

There are many popular degrees that have never had a positive ROI.

Many kids aren't planning at all, they are just there for the party.

Further degrading education and employability.

[Chas]

We have to charge an arm a leg and a testicle for a degree!
Why?
Because the market will bear it!

The market's not bearing it. Revenues are falling off!
Okay, scrap the degree program and come up with easier degrees.
But those degrees don't actually deliver any value.
Shut up! GIMME TOUCHY-FEELY!

People are pissed.
Why?
The touchy-feely degrees aren't in demand because they have no actual utility in the real world.
Tough shit! We got our money!

Not that surprising.

[fazig]

We've been having a very similar situation here in Germany for quite some time with the fields of business administration - where a higher education is basically free (the tuitions people have to pay are usually negligible like
It's been the go-to for school graduates who didn't know what to do with their lives but wanted to have a higher degree in something that can possibly make a lot of money. However Universities adapted for the influx not by implementing failure rates that force 70% of the students out of class, so that only the best remain, but by increasing the number of possible seats. Which resulted in thousands of BA bachelor degrees and masters (to some extend). All that in an economy that cries for qualified (blue collar) workers and engineers and already had plenty of managers. Well wasted tax money if you ask me, which makes me think that subsidizing all education is not a good idea in the end.

Re:Fuck the universities

[Penguinisto]

I agree with you, actually.

However, I believe it does depend on *why* you get the MBA.

If, for instance, you get an MBA to boost an already progressing career, wherein you're moving from the masses to management, then it makes perfect sense to get one - doubly so if, say, you just became a junior manager and you want to push your career as far as you can take it. It actually helps you navigate the corporate world fairly well (as long as you have a solid intellect and a good eye on culture.)

On the other hand, if you're getting one just because your brain translates it to "$$$$$!!!!!!!one!!", then you'll get approximately nowhere with it - at least not without a lot of hard knocks at first.

All that said, I once worked under someone in a highly technical position (and in a very tech-intensive department), but her only claim to any sort of professional competence was her MBA... and nothing else. She was a nice enough person, but have you ever had to explain/justify any technical decisions to someone like that? It's a royal pain in the ass. Her lack of knowledge, experience, or even competency in the field(s) of the employees she oversaw also made for one very weird culture and work environment... somewhat dysfunctional in quite a few aspects. Little wonder that a once-tight team had pretty much disintegrated within the space of 18 months (I believe I was the last to leave), and that the replacements were not quite up to the tasks before them.

Long story short, because of this, I've come to the conclusion that an MBA is a great addition, but it makes for a really lousy foundation.