Manchester Business School Worldwide Middle East welcomes latest cohort of MBA students now close to 300

As more quality MBA programmes become more accessible in the region, with blended learning programmes allowing professionals to study whilst working, managers are taking responsibility for their own career development; students funding their own MBAs are seeing immediate impact in the workplace, as they mark themselves out for senior roles.

"Our MBA students - all experienced middle and senior managers from around the region - are looking for career development and very often have to use their own initiative to acquire it," says Randa Bessiso, Regional Director - Middle East, at MBS Worldwide, which operates from Dubai Knowledge Village." The vast majority of our students are self funded but once they have made this personal commitment, their employers recognize their ambition and commitment and can be quick to reward this with a promotion, pay rise and support for the their MBA studies, through time off for MBA workshops or a contribution to course fees to help reward the student. The employer is keen to retain the manager, who is looking for a return on investment."

In a survey of new MBS Worldwide students in the Middle East, the most important factors in selecting an MBA programme were the quality of the school and MBA programme, and the specialist content of the programme; the main indicators are the school's reputation and ranking, and programme accreditation.

"MBA students are serious business people making a significant investment of time and money in their futures, whilst continuing to work, and expect to earn a good return on this effort. There are many MBA programmes available but quality varies; by studying with a top school, students ensure the best and quickest returns in terms of increased salaries, and the worldwide recognition of the qualification, if they choose to work internationally. In fact, the process of pay-back often starts as soon as a student enrolls; once an employer sees the commitment of a self funded student, the potential of the student is recognized and rewarded, which is an immediate additional incentive for the student."

MBS Worldwide in the Middle East recently recruited its latest cohort (January 2008 intake) of over 70 new MBA students bringing to almost 300 the total number of MBA students in the region.

"We are seeing increasingly strong interest and demand for our MBA programmes and have a waiting list of candidates for the next student intake, in July 2008," adds Randa Bessiso.

MBS Worldwide's blended learning MBA programme was recently (2008) ranked 8th in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit; the school is ranked 22nd in the world, 4th in the UK and top 10 in Europe by the Financial Times (January 2008); and a Forbes magazine survey (2007) placed the school 4th in the world outside the U.S. for return on investment.

MBS is one of very few business schools worldwide to achieve triple MBA accreditation. All successful MBA students are awarded a degree by the University of Manchester and no distinction is made between the different learning formats - all have reached the same high standard expected of a Manchester MBA. MBS is also ranked the number one university in the world (survey published by Accounting & Finance magazine, January 2008) for accounting research.