School for scandal

When a product gets a bad press, sales usually suffer – but this hasn’t happened to the MBA. Despite being widely blamed for fostering the risk-taking attitudes that helped to bring the global economy to its knees, the master’s degree in business administration has never been more popular. The Association of Business Schools (ABS) reported earlier this year that applications for MBAs and other master’s programmes offered by UK business schools had gone up, typically by 25 per cent over the previous 12 months. That’s partly because, as in previous recessions, many people who would otherwise be looking for work have decided to take another qualification before chancing their luck on the jobs market. Jeanette Purcell, chief executive of the Association of MBAs (Amba), believes the rising number of applications also suggests that potential students are better informed about the content of MBAs than the people criticising these programmes.