Professionals head back to school as downturn deepens

According to a recent survey of full-time MBA programmes across the globe by the Graduate Management Admission Council, 77% - the highest level in five years - said they have seen a rise in applications.

The trend is similar in the UAE, where a number of new schools and courses are now being offered to meet the rising demand.

At Abu Dhabi University, enrollment in its graduate programs will jump to 800 for the spring semester in 2009, up from 650 in the autumn term of 2008 and 152 in the autumn of 2007.

Other universities are also reporting a sharp rise in interest from professionals looking to boost their qualifications either because they have been made redundant or fear that their job might be in jeopardy.

Historical trend

'Throughout the history of financial downturns, there has always been a concurrent rise in professionals returning to school,' says Raymi van der Spek, Vice-President University of Wollongong in Dubai.

'The opportunity cost for going back to school at this point is much lower for everyone in the sense that there are few promotions and no bonuses to be made, so if there is a time to opt back in and skill up it is when the economy is in recession.'

So far it is a 'little early in the cycle' for the university to accurately measure the extent of the boost that it is getting from this trend, as the school is in-between enrollment periods, but van der Spek says he has heard 'a lot' of anecdotal evidence suggesting a rise in professionals going back to school.

In addition to getting retraining and upgrading their skills, some people are looking at school as a way to stay in the UAE.

'As a student you get issued a student visa through the university, therefore one option for people who have lost their jobs is to enrol, get some new skills, and by the time you have completed that exercise hopefully you have come out on the other side of the recession and are better skilled to participate in a revived economy,' he said.

Wollongong has the highest number of post-graduate students in the UAE, and its graduate programmes account for about half of all students at the university. Applicants choose from eleven different post-graduate degree offerings, the most popular of which is a Master of International Business.

'The MIB is sort of three quarters of an MBA. For a lot of students who don't meet the full entry requirements for an MBA, they end up doing this program. It's also a shorter program,' van der Spek said. The cost of the full MBA program is Dhs82,000, while tuition fees for the MIB are Dhs54,800. However, the university recently announced a price cut for all of its programmes of up to 10% for new students and 5% for existing students for the summer semester.

With rising demand from professionals returning to the classroom, Wollongong is considering new offerings that are shorter in duration and more focused on the needs of this target market. 'We are looking to create new programmes, or pieces of programmes, for people who just want to get a taste of something or get a piece of paper that they can give to future employers which shows that they just didn't sit around to wait for the dust to settle but actually did something for themselves,' he said.

One of the programmes it is developing is a Certificate in Business Management, which covers a 'smorgasbord' of business topics rather than a specific subject that would normally be dealt with in an MBA. The 10-week programme, which will be offered on Saturdays from 9:00-6:00, is tailored to professionals who are looking to make a shorter commitment while still giving them the opportunity to use the coursework toward completion of a full MBA.

Middlesex sees rise

Middlesex University in Dubai is also seeing 'far more' inquiries from professionals looking to return to the classroom compared to previous years, says Dr Cedwyn Fernandes, Associate Professor in Business Studies and Campus Coordinator of the Master Business Administration Programme.

In particular, the school has witnessed a spike in international inquiries in the past few months, especially from the Indian subcontinent and some of the GCC countries.

Fernandes takes a less optimistic view of the likelihood that someone who has been laid off will enroll in school just to stay in Dubai, arguing that people accumulate too many expenses to be able to afford to continue to live in the emirate if they have lost their jobs. However, he points out that no one has dropped out from any of its three masters programmes.

In light of the rise in professionals returning to school, Middlesex is considering three new masters programmes in the areas of Finance, International Human Resources Management, and Educational Leadership and Management Change.

The school is also revamping its MBA programme, which now has five integrated learning experiences, four of which are two or three day events where the students take part in a hands-on work shop before they start a module. The fifth one is an international trip to Milan or Paris to apply some of the concepts they have learned.