Business schools from countries like Australia, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, The Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and the US joined together to introduce themselves to Indian students. The tour was targeted at Indian aspirants seeking for an international MBA program. Notably, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad was also seen promoting its PGPX programme for working executives.
The tour was organized to discuss the way of going abroad and information about GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test). Students got an opportunity to meet admission officers, faculties and alumni of many MBA programs. The B-schools at the tour included University of Virginia’s Darden School (the US), Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (Canada), Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (Singapore), Durham Business School (UK), Tanaka School of Business (UK) etc.
Apart from the information booths of various B-Schools in the main exhibition area of Hotel Hyatt, the Delhi stopover of The World MBA Tour was structured into three sessions. The first session was a panel discussion on ‘The MBA experience and getting into Business School’. This was conducted by admission officers and alumni from Darden Business School, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management and Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Belgium. During this session, questions like: Why should students go to B-schools, How an MBA adds value to a person from a different field, How to finance the MBA program in abroad etc were discussed.
Admission officers suggested, “Before getting into B-school, it is essential to do your own research as you can, educate yourself by reading more and more newspapers and magazines. It is important to know broader things about the B-school in which you are going to take admissions. For this, you can also consult with the alumni of the particular school.”
Describing the relevance of an MBA program, admission officers of a B-school said, “MBA helps you to start your own business, and you can change your current area of work after getting an MBA.”
On the subject of financing an international MBA program, it was suggested to the students that there are different options to finance an MBA program. The officers said, “You can take loans as there are many corporate banks willing to give loans and you can return the money when you get a job. Some institutes also provide scholarships.”
The second session featured GMAT and an MBA Workshop held by Ms Naini Singh of Manya Education, the Indian partner of The Princeton Review. During the workshop, Ms Naini told prospective students, “In GMAT, the format never changes. It always remains the same. The best way to prepare is to prepare well.” Completing the application is a very important feature of an international MBA. She said, “Foreign B-schools count your GMAT scores, work experience, extracurricular activities, your academic performance and then your performance in essay writing. Essay writing is very important.”
The third session was a ‘MasterClass’ on the topic – ‘The War on Ethics: A case analysis’. This well-attended class was conducted by Prof Richard Powers of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management where he took students through a ‘typical’ MBA class. Prof Powers introduced a few cases on Ethics highlighting the dilemmas in cases like Bhopal Gas Tragedy, Ford Pinto car debacle, Enron and WorldCom.
While participating institutes in the Tour were happy with the turn out, Indian students were not very satisfied. When MBAUniverse.com asked Somya, an aspirant at MBA Tour, she said, “I think the foreign schools at this time are not very good.” Suniti Bhatia, another MBA hopeful, added, “Institutes are not up to the mark. I think more US-based schools should come here.”
Prof. Powers shared his experience of the tour with MBAUniverse.com and said, “This is a fabulous program. It is a great opportunity for the students to interact with faculty and admission officers.”
Mr Simon Stockley, Director of the MBA Program at Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, praised the tour and said, “I found lot of interest and excitement in Indian students.”
The MBA Tour is organized by QS. The company was founded by Wharton MBA, Nunzio Quacquarelli, in 1990. Now, in its thirteenth year, the QS World MBA Tour will visit over 50 cities across all continents during 2007.
