LEADING international expert on MBA admissions, and the co-founder of QS World MBA Tour Matt Symonds, shares his advice on how to select the right schools to apply to, whether to employ consultants for essays, and more.

How do you see the popularity, utility and relevance of the MBA degree panning out in the next decade?

With the continued growth of the global economy, the MBA degree has firmly established itself as the qualification of reference for young professionals and the companies that need to manage growth.

Many of the lessons of the dot.com crash five years ago revolved around a lack of strong managerial experience and weak business plan analysis. By providing the fundamentals of management and analytical skills to complement an MBA graduate's initial professional experience, the business school is able to develop the future business leaders that India will need to maintain its internal development and international expansion.

Tata, Infosys and Mittal will be joined by other cutting-edge companies who are transforming the way that India does business, and the MBA is sure to have helped many of their managers to their current positions of seniority.

In November 2005 the McKinsey Global Institute identified what it calls China's "looming talent shortage". We might expect to see demand for business schools rise both for international graduates from Chinese MBA programmes and for Chinese graduates from international programmes.

The report estimates that over the next 10 years the country will need 75,000 leaders who can work effectively in global environments, to match the global aspirations of many Chinese companies. I foresee the same talent shortage in India, and MBA graduates will be best placed to take advantage of this demand.

Read: This IIM topper peddles vegetables

Photograph: Vipurva Parikh

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |  

e-mail: PaGaLGuY.com

Suggest a story idea! Write to us!