This question has been asked many times in this forum in various guises. I'll repeat what I wrote before to them. If you are in a profession or job which has professional qualifications, it is probably better to go for those professional qualifications as they are more focused for that particular profession or business. They are probably more recognised or accepted than a MBA which is a general qualification. Besides, MBAs are a dime a dozen now, almost every university seems to have them. To stand out from such proliferation of MBAs, they have to be very well recognised and distinctive, and that means expensive MBAs as those universities can and will charge the earth for them.

I've known two colleagues who spent a fortune on their MBAs. One was a Nanyang Technlogical MBA and the other a Singapore Management University MBA. Both are highly ranked and some of the best in Asia. Both costs around the region of SGD70+k in all. Yet, after completing those MBAs and some years later, they haven't been able to leverage on their MBAs. In fact, they are still in the same profession and positions they were in originally. They were disappointed as they had hoped to be promoted or find a better position with the MBAs but unfortunately, they were not able to. In the end, they just accepted it and said, and this is probably more important for them, that they had learned a lot more about various subjects that they had been interested in.

The one person I know who did managed to leverage on her MBA was a friend who quit her job and took a financial loan of USD200k to study for a Wharton MBA, which is a 2 years' master. Wharton MBA is consistently ranked Top 3 in any rankings for best MBA globally. It has often overtaken Harvard's MBA as the best MBA available. After finishing her MBA, she managed to get a well paying consulting job in USA and she hopes to pay off her loan in a few years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wharton_Schoo...of_Pennsylvania

thanks for sharing this.

if it's ok to ask, may i know if your colleagues have only explored in Malaysia or overseas as well ? Also, which industry were they in and when did they complete their MBAs? i'd imagine things have changed post pandemic. These would be a good data.

yeah consulting positions in the US do pay well, so she's done well.

Only in Malaysia and Singapore as they didn't want to be away from their families. Different industries but both were in MNCs and C-Suite levels. Both completed their MBAs about a decade or so ago. Even then there too many around, and both did not receive their ROI that they had expected. Unless you really are willing to pay and go full time for the top 10 global MBAs, they are really not good value for money, and do not hold the cachet that they used to when they were first introduced decades ago.

Hi All,

i'm planning to pursue my part time (E)MBA , however , we have many options such as online, blended and traditional, so it's a little tough to make a decision since it's a huge investment

i was hoping to get some feedback and opinions from anyone who has embarked on this journey recently .

A little bit about myself:

Been in the Telecommunications industry for the past 13 yrs holding Project , Program and Operational management roles. currently holding a mid-senior role and planning to leverage the MBA to accelerate my transition into a senior role.

i've done in depth research on the programmes available locally (Nottingham, Strathclyde, UM) but still cant make my decision. There are also online options for those highly ranked programmes (Warwick, Imperial, Durham), however the huge investment (about Rm200k) for a purely online program seems to be a little overwhelming .

i would like to start this discussion with the hopes that this could open up new perspectives and help to decide better and faster.

Thank you for reading and contributing.

Hi All,

i'm planning to pursue my part time (E)MBA , however , we have many options such as online, blended and traditional, so it's a little tough to make a decision since it's a huge investment

i was hoping to get some feedback and opinions from anyone who has embarked on this journey recently .

A little bit about myself:

Been in the Telecommunications industry for the past 13 yrs holding Project , Program and Operational management roles. currently holding a mid-senior role and planning to leverage the MBA to accelerate my transition into a senior role.

i've done in depth research on the programmes available locally (Nottingham, Strathclyde, UM) but still cant make my decision. There are also online options for those highly ranked programmes (Warwick, Imperial, Durham), however the huge investment (about Rm200k) for a purely online program seems to be a little overwhelming .

i would like to start this discussion with the hopes that this could open up new perspectives and help to decide better and faster.

Thank you for reading and contributing.

My situation is exactly like yours and still attached to one of the telco company. Started off in technical as I have bac. In eng. And after 23 years career and many company (operator/vendor) Im in situation where business acumen is more needed to climb up the ladder (although have to acknowledge my technical skills has what brought me to where I am now). My only motivation to get this piece of paper is Im pursuing C-suite position in the industry (or elsewhere) . And I think its very hard to get notice for this if you only have tech bac. Cert to flex. I also hope with the networking gain thru the mba journey will open up more career opportunity in this position. Most of CxO I found in LinkedIn have mba to their profile although Im not sure if its legit. Im just starting to explore part time mba program and looking to have the cert from oversea’s Uni. In Malaysia, I have to admit, oversea’s MBA are somewhat ‘fancier’  and would appeal more to company/hirer as they also want to flex their C-level qualification especially if you are well known/MNC/GLC company (politician do this too ).

Most that I have surveyed offer 12-months MBA program (bit odd knowing during my degree time I always thought that MbA would take atleast 2 years for full-time course). I want to also learn new thing (but not that extensive due to age-45 Y/O and time I can spend). So you can say my strategy is min. Input, max. Output thru this MBA journey . Let’s share more here as Im also interested in this topic.

Curious what you finally decided to do with your MBA. Looks like someone else is in the same boat.

good to meet a fellow telco mate via LYN.

just to update, i've enrolled into the 2-year Strathclyde Business School EMBA program in Apr 2023. just concluded my Sem 1.

tbh, i never expected it to be demanding...   juggling between demanding work schedule, classes and a newborn is no joke.. hopefully, i'll gain the momentum by Sem 2

feel free to ask if u'd like to know more.

Any particular reason you choose this program over others bro?

Secondly, why not choose shorter program to acieve your goal ( many 1year Mba program nowdays I saw)