Executive Education

Tired of listening to gloomy economic reports about negative growth, shrinking GDP, decreasing consumer confidence and news that Britain has endured an even bigger slump than that experienced during the Great Depression? While there was initially great optimism for 2016, this buoyancy lasted just about as long as my New Year’s resolutions, and by mid February the economy was, at best, tepid. Capital Economics, an independent macro-economic research company, even went as far as declaring that “the crisis is not yet over” in Europe.

Associated with the United Methodist Church and located on 100 beautiful acres in the heart of Mississippi’s capital Jackson, Millsaps College is home to just over 900 students from 26 US states and 23 countries. Millsaps College’s Else School of Management MBA program has been named a Global Super MBA program by CEO Magazine and has been listed as one of only 20 top-tier MBA programs in North America, the only program in Mississippi to be listed. The Else School offers two graduate degrees – Master of Business Administration and Master of Accountancy. It also offers an Executive MBA program for mid- to high-level managers or executives who are typically on track to advance into senior leadership. Millsaps College has long sought to create programs that set it apart from ordinary institutions. It aims to do this by constantly making and reinforcing the connection between academic pursuits and the real world. In the following interview, Kim Burke, Dean of Else School of Management, outlines the secrets of the school’s success:

Deciding to attend graduate business school to get an MBA is simultaneously thrilling and scary, as there are so many options to choose from and so many decisions to make. Various diverse business school programs offer a plethora of opportunities and options. However, no matter what an MBA potential applicant’s career goal is – from advancing or changing career to starting a business – a graduate business degree can help him or her get there faster.

A graduate business degree can and probably will boost your career. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), 75% of MBA alumni from the class of 2012 said they could not have obtained their job without the skills, knowledge, and abilities attained through their graduate management education. The top outcomes that they cited as contributing to the value of their degree were opportunities for progressively challenging and interesting work, developing managerial skills and starting their own business.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles…

These lines from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet make up perhaps the most famous of all literary quotations. Now, if you’ll allow me indulge in an analogy. These are difficult and uncertain times in the corporate world. Do you sit back and suffer the slings and arrow of fortune? Or do you take remedial action, perhaps by undertaking an MBA?

There are many reasons to go to business school. In a tough job market, many entry-level jobs require specific skills that only a good master’s degree can provide. While for experienced professionals from any discipline looking to fulfil ambitious career plans and maximise potential in the workplace, a business masters has the potential to speed up career progress and update the managerial toolkit.

Aston Business School is recognised worldwide as a leading centre of business education. Our MBA programme has prestigious triple accreditation from AMBA (UK), EQUIS (Europe) and AACSB (USA) which puts us in an elite group of the top 1% of global business schools.

We care deeply about encouraging a collaborative learning community in which aspiring leaders develop the tools and confidence to solve tomorrow’s business challenges

An MBA can boost your career and professional networks. It gives you the management toolkit and confidence to climb the ladder to leadership in your own profession, switch careers, or be entrepreneurial and start up a new business. To make a success of this professional, financial and personal investment, you need to be sure you are enrolling in a quality MBA.

The Association of MBAs Student of the Year sums up what impact the degree had him. “The MBA has equipped me with comprehensive knowledge, tools, experiences, networks and lifelong friendships,” says Husameldin Elnasri from Lancaster University Management School.