Understanding the Postgraduate MBA Program
University is back this week and I’m enrolled in my last core MBA unit – BMA779 Strategic Management – and my second last MBA elective – BMA684 Electronic Marketing. I’m also enrolled in HEJ504 Media Writing as the first half of my Journalism and Media Studies specialisation. Its been an interesting 12 months to this point and there are some things about the MBA that are worth consideration.
One of the stark differences between attaining an undergraduate business degree and a postgraduate coursework business degree such as the MBA (Master of Business Administration) is that the undergraduate degree is more focused on students being able to rote back the seven lists of X and Y. It was explained to me there is the assumption that an undergraduate cannot think for themselves… the assumption of the undergraduate is that they are to be told everything they need to know and that they cannot have unique ideas of themselves even if they have a plethora of real world experience.
That sounded cruel when I was an undergraduate… but its more than clear to me as a postgraduate in the MBA program. That’s actually why the MBA programs exist – greater intensity, more focus on understanding and practical ability, higher stress purposefully placed on the students.
The postgraduate MBA student does many of the same general courses as an undergraduate business student, only with a different course code; unless of course it is one of the few postgraduate-only units on the curriculum (most units are both undergraduate and postgraduate delivery). The textbook is generally the same. What is different as a postgraduate is the coursework and the expectation.
An MBA student has to actually be able to do the walk… very rarely are we asked to rote back a list of anything; quite often there are no formal exams. The MBA student is groomed in a different way than the undergraduate, has to think on their feet and are challenged to articulate and defend their point of view with logical structured argument. The MBA student has to bring in their own ideas and is expected to learn well beyond the taught curriculum because the MBA is the only formal qualification for entry level into corporate middle management.
The course delivery is different from undergraduate business degrees, the assignment work is more demanding and the expectation about understanding concepts and being able to utilise them in the real world is imperative. Its not enough to walk into class knowing the theory as a postgraduate – that part is just expected before you walk in the door!
I guess the reason this post exists on this website is because its not always apparent to people why the MBA exists. There may be a misconception that its a backdoor way to make up for not having an undergraduate business degree. They would be wrong to believe that misconception. Let me put it this way… an undergraduate degree gives you the ability to learn (as my Bachelor of Computing probably attests)… whereas a postgraduate degree teaches you to actually do things. They’re not interchangeable or even mildly comparable. So its worth taking into consideration why MBAs are sought out by large organisations in vast numbers around the world.
After all, this is a Masters degree not an undergraduate degree. The next step would be a PhD or a Doctorate…
