Hi there...

I am someone who have gone thru all the chaos to get a fulltime MBA. GMAT, IELTS, a number of admission essays, troubled my referees, sent to top 4 uk b-schools. Dinged from Oxford interview and got an offer from fulltime Manchester B-school (ranked 22nd in FT 2007, 4th in UK)

After struggling to get financial aid via scholarships/loans, decided to let go the fulltime one coz my available funds still insufficient.

Now, am looking to either take up part-time Nottingham or MBS. But, i'm not sure of the ROI for MBA in Malaysia (unlike the fulltime in UK whereby we can get some info from the rankings).

Been to the MBS workshop tester in Sunway last month though. It's a 2.5 - 3 years course (a bit long). Talked to the Director of this programme from UK. Same recognition and accredition with the fulltime one. No worries. Can pay up to 6 installments. GMAT is NOT compulsory though. It's on case to case basis. 100% UK professors.

As for the Nottingham, it's a 2 year programme. Guess it's more hectic as compared wif MBS as we need to attend classes 2/3 days a week. But cheaper by 20+k. Ranked 93rd in FT 2007.

this is my 2 cents

FT REPORT - BUSINESS EDUCATION: EDUCATION WITH WORLDWIDE APPEAL
By Andrew Baxter, Financial Times
Published: Mar 19, 2007


*The distance-learning arm of Manchester Business School (MBS) was established in 1992 and, during Richard Bruens' time on the MBA programme, was known as the Institute of Financial Management. This was a partnership between MBS and the University of Wales, Bangor. Now the school, which was renamed MBS Worldwide in 2002, is fully part of MBS.

*In the mid-1990s, workshops were held in Bangor or in Manchester but today they are held at Manchester or at MBS Worldwide's other permanently staffed overseas centres in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jamaica and Dublin.

*The school offers a suite of distance learning programmes including a DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) and three profession-based MBA programmes:

MBA for Financial Managers and Finance Professionals, MBA for Engineering Business Managers, and an MBA for Construction Executives. MBS Worldwide is to launch a distance learning general MBA - the Manchester Global MBA - next month.

*The term "distance learning", however, is something of a misnomer when applied to MBS Worldwide because of the amount of face-to-face interaction that students experiencevia weekend and other workshops.MBS Worldwide students get 50 hours of face-to-face contact with thefaculty staff per semester (250 hours over the whole MBA), which is approximately two-thirds of the time that a full-time, campus-based student would get.

yeah, i notice the word 'Malaysia' is missing.....

but if you visit its website, u'll find the word dere.....www.mbs-worldwide.ac.uk

if anyone has any queries on MBS MBA, you can liaise with Dr Marie directly. She's fast in responding; marie@sunway.edu.my

this programme is more like a distance learning but with contact hours with UK professors. I find it interesting as we can opt to attend its workshops (3 consecutive full days for each module) anywhere globally (of course we gotto budget for it)

well, MBA might not be the ultimate path towards a better job prospect but it will become useful one day when the time comes (especially those thinking of working out of M'sia)

cheers

hi. 1st sem here wif MBS MBA.....

My intake was a little lucky as we got 25% bursary, so total course is RM70k. I'm not sure wif the next intake though.

My brother was from UM MBA. The difference for both is MBS MBA is totally on real life case study (definitely no spoon feed, need a lot of research), whereas UM MBA is more to books basis.

As MBS MBA is a distant learning wif 3/4 contact hours wif UK prof (grouped into 3 full days per module, therefore dun need to attend weekly classes), u can be well assured dat the quality is similar of doing fulltime in UK.

cheers

This post has been edited by Melon: Sep 17 2007, 12:56 PM

The engineering one is catered for general MBA with 1 or 2 modules related to engineering.

Cheers

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Added on October 6, 2007, 11:22 pmone mth is considered short edi lor.....gmat.com and businessweek advice to prepare 3 months ahead leh...

how do u fair?? i did twice coz the 1st one sucks.....

This post has been edited by Melon: Oct 6 2007, 11:22 PM

u mean MBS MBA??

hi...depends wat u wan from ur MBA. Like me, I plan to go UK. Dat's why i took a UK MBA. I hv frens taking Aust MBA coz they plan to go der.

If u jz need it for extra knowledge, then local MBA is good enough.

Cheers

like dat ah?? MBS is the best edi lor.....

coz mostly (me not included) higher mgmt ppl only can afford.....kakakkakak

The age and working experience requirements actually are good things. Coz MBA is about sharing and applying real life business into the theory.

I can share some of the case studies we've done so far. This sem I took Marketing Strategy, International Business and Business Info System (1/2 module; meaning this sem do half only lor, heheh).

MS - We studied Virgin (Richard Branson one), Marks & Spencer, McD during workshops by fly in lecturer. Done 2 assignments edi. All are based on application of mktg thingy in business world (yup, need to apply to an organisation u r familiar with)

International Business - workshop early Nov. So far, 1st assignment is based on case studies for Timken (US company). We need to recommend whether Timken shud entry into European mkt.

BIS - 1 assignment this sem. Based on Carr's critism and write about Web 2.0 technology in an organisation. (Frankly, none of my IT frens heard this before. Luckily I found a web programmer from my company dat is able to shed some light. 2500 - 3000 words)

Cheers

p/s: u need to read businessweek, financial times, economics

This post has been edited by Melon: Oct 10 2007, 09:08 AM

wow...urs is on Web 2.0 as well?? same critism....sigh, dunno y this fella create such a controversial issue.....

u hv very good marks der......for MS, the highest marks for M'sia team is only 64 (not me) and IB, globally top is only 76 (m'sia top is 70)

on average, globally only scored ard 60 marks

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Added on October 10, 2007, 10:43 ami'm a degree holder in biz....taking engineering for biz managers (naming convention only, actually the core modules are less finance only....hehehehe). So, u can see dat many of my team mates r engineering background.....and so far they r coping well

IMO, i dun think der's any difference with the degree background as we r all infants in MBA (maybe i was from local degree punya pasal kua)

This post has been edited by Melon: Oct 10 2007, 10:43 AM

refer to my post 365 above....

local Uni's MBA only costs about RM20k.

My bro was from UM. Same thing as he did his degree. Nothing interesting

i'm taking MBS (Manchester Business School) MBA at Sunway U.

u mean MBS, rite?? coz Sunway U is jz a place for us to attend our workshops/tutorials/exams. Everything else are from UK. I have written a fair bit of wat we've done so far in this semester in previous posts.

Shud you need more info, u can PM me.

if u hv the budget, u can attend the workshops at other countries ard the world.

I plan to attend one in UK when i hv the budget....

Workshops are done 100% via UK lecturers. This MBS MBA has 3/4 contact hours as compared to its fulltime version.

However, due to its pricey fees, not many ppl can afford.

yeah, if only i hv RM300k...i'll be in Manchester rite now (i got the fulltime one actually, sighhhhhhhh)

Most of UK MBA are 1 year coz it's an intensive one. More classes per week whereas US (as usual) take things slowly and they actually have summer break, so 1 year is actually 9 mths of studies.....

err....r u really 1984?? coz the min age requirement is 26/27 years old.......

we call it module....every module will has a workshop which consists of 3 full days.

of coz fulltime is only in UK. MBS fulltime will be 18mths; 12mths in classes; 3 mths internship, and 3 mths student exchange wif other B-School.

well, u can consider MBS if u hv the budget as its schedule is quite flexible.

well, dat's as per my own finding la when i apply to the fulltime mba last year end....my samples are LBS (most expensive in UK and not any cheaper than US), Oxford, Cambridge, MBS, Ross B-School, Uni of Chicago, Berkeley.