Abu Dhabi FAQs | MBA

What is a Master of Business Administration (MBA)?

If entering your workplace every day feels a bit like walking the plank or if your new role as a trailing spouse or “Jumeirah Jane” has already outlived its shelf life, upgrading and training for a new career by getting an MBA might be just what the career doctor ordered.

Three letters that mean a lot

MBA stands for Master of Business Administration, a post-graduate degree (which means you must first have an undergraduate university degree) that takes one to two years.

It is a programme that covers basic general courses in the major functional management roles in a corporation, ranging from accounting, finance, and statistics to strategy, marketing, and organisational behaviour.

While an MBA can greatly accelerate your career path and add to your bank account with the higher salary commanded by its graduates, it is a gruelling programme that requires a lot of consideration before taking the plunge.

To MBA or not to MBA?

1. Time of your life: The best time to attain another degree is when having extra letters after your name could launch your career to the next level or to a management role. After all, with more than 150,000 MBA degrees conferred globally each year, an MBA degree is rapidly becoming a must-have accessory and your company may just expect you to get one in order to move up the corporate ladder.

Similarly, if you’ve been laid off due to economic conditions, can’t find a suitable job based on your qualifications or interests, or quit your job to move with your spouse to the UAE, now might just be the ideal time to go back to school.

2. Application requirements: Many MBA programmes require a minimum of two years full-time work experience to qualify so make sure you have that before you even consider applying.

Most schools also require a good score on the General Management Admissions Test (GMAT), a computer-adaptive standardised test measuring verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills which is used to gauge your ability to succeed in the MBA programme. Each section of the test is timed and scored against other test-writing candidates so if writing tests under tight time constraints is not your cup of tea, then perhaps the MBA won’t be either.

3. Ready to roll up your sleeves and just work it?: MBA programmes are notoriously difficult with gruelling long hours of class time and group work. You need to be in the right frame of mind to be able to immerse yourself completely into the routine and homework so do some soul searching to see if you are mentally ready for this challenge.

4. Money, money, money: It has always been a rich man’s world and it is no different when it comes to post-graduate education. While the cost of an MBA degree varies according to the school and location, a 2011 survey by Financial Times of 2007 MBA graduates from around the world found that the average cost of an MBA was approximately USD 132,600 (AED 487,053), including living costs, interest on loans and loss of earnings from their previous job during the programme. An American-based MBA guide estimates average MBA fees to range from USD 80,000 to USD 130,000 (AED 293,852 to AED 477,503). One Dubai business school has posted fees for its one year programme for 2011 at AED 203,700. However, despite the hefty price tag, most MBA alumni believe that it was all worth it.

5. Post-MBA salary: Although it would be surprising for an MBA graduate to be paid anything less than USD 60,000 (AED 220,386) per annum, salaries will differ according to industry, city, amount of work experience, reputation of the business school, type of job, and whether you return to your existing employer or move to a new company. 

One salary guide estimates that an MBA graduate would get paid about USD 10,000 to USD 30,000 (AED 36,731 to AED 110,193) a year more than someone with a bachelor's degree for a similar role. If the main reason for doing your MBA is a higher pay package, you might want to investigate whether your salary expectations for that particular function are realistic especially since the large number of MBA graduates may have diluted their value.

6. Support: Because of the extremely high financial and time costs of an MBA programme, it is critical to be honest with yourself as to whether you can afford the tuition fees, foregone lost salary of your existing job, and whether you have family support. If you have children, do you have a full-time caregiver not just for the daytime but also for evenings when you will need quiet time for study or study group meetings? Is your spouse supportive of your intentions to go back to school? A lot of schools also offer MBAs part-time which could be a better option if you have other commitments.

Doing your MBA in the UAE

With so many international business schools opening campuses in the UAE, you will be spoiled for choice. The 2011 Financial Times (FT) Global MBA programme rankings placed Indian university SP Jain’s Dubai/Singapore Global MBA programme in the 68^th spot out of 100 top global business schools.

Below are a few of the other international schools in the FT Top 100 list with campuses in the UAE:

• Cass Business School, Dubai

• London Business School, Dubai

• INSEAD, Dubai

• New York University, Abu Dhabi

• Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, Dubai

• Manchester Business School, Dubai

• Hult International Business School, Dubai

• University of Strathclyde, Dubai

MBA Fairs

Still have more questions than answers?  There are usually MBA fairs in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai each year around April. Look up when the next one is coming to town and you will get to meet with MBA admissions officers and alumni of some of the world’s top business schools, and attend workshops on admission strategies and writing the GMAT.