Dublin Business School MBA - recommended?

I have a niece who has a degree in Property Management followed by a Masters in Quantity Surveying. Problem is that given the current and at least medium term outlook her employment prospects are bleak in Ireland.

Even getting work experience is proving very difficult so in her / her parents exasperation she is thinking of broadening her academic qualifications by doing an MBA to allow her to get into a business related discipline.

They are considering apply for an MBA in Business Management or Postgraduate Higher Diploma in Business in the Dublin Business School and the question is really are either or both of these well recognised. Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated.

Roy

I don't really know about that course in particular. I am not a huge fan of MBA's anyway. There is a certain snobbish element to them (has to be from a certain school or it tends not to be rated). They cost a fortune and am not convinced they recoup value through career prospects.

Having said that, someone I know did one through the Open University and found it to be excellent.

Thanks Sunny, actually I did that one myself and found it very good but that was 10 years ago ;-) however a huge emphasis on that was networking and bringing the experience you had gained to the course / teams you worked with.

My niece's situation is somewhat different in that her work experience would be very limited and she's looking to do a 1 year full time MBA / Post Grad - when I did the OU MBA is was part time and think it took me 2.5 years to complete all the necessary modules.

Any other comments / advice?

Roy

Hi Roy
the value of an MBA, in terms of career, is directly related to the reputation of the business school. This is why Harvard charge $100K, UCD charge €30K and DBS charge €7K. These fees aren't related to the cost of providing the mba - they are what students are willing to pay. You very much get what you pay for. The usual model for mba's in Europe is the executive model where you work for a couple of years, get some experience, and then do an mba. Given the field your niece is in this probably isn't feasible. I would advise doing the best ranked mba she can - the reward will be proportionate to the reputation of the business school.

tvman

I agree with tvman. As an employer find myself dismissing degrees and postgraduate qualifications from private colleges. they do not have the same reputation as the mainstream universities. If she is simply looking for a course to avoid being unemployed for the next year one of the Postgraduate Diplomas from the Universities (DCU, UCD) might be worth considering

OneKeano, you hit the nail on the head withe the difference in MBAs in Ireland between 10-20 years ago and now. Back then the people doing MBAs had many years of management and executive experience, the concept of a new graduate doing an MBA was unheard of. A lot of what was learned was from the collective experience of classmates rather than course material or lecturers.

IMHO postgraduate education should either be focused on career advancement or personal interest. What work does your niece want to do as a career? Would skills in urban planning, teaching or languages be more useful to attaining employment in her chosen profession?

MBAs are very valuable where you are aware that they will deliver measurable results. This occurs where you work in an organisation or an industry that specifically rewards them. There are more and more people doing MBAs and attaining little or no career or financial benefit, the MBA schools are happy to increase student numbers. I don't agree that 'you get what you pay for', there is no doubt that Harvard is far better than UCD but that can not be extrapolated in to believing that UCD is worth 30k.

Your niece should examine what additional skills would help in her career choice. She may not need any further education and it may be work experience that she needs. In that case the best education may be working for free for a year to gain the relevant experience.

Dublin Business School is a private school

Without being snobby about it, a lot of people will look down on these and they probably have a point.
And certainly there are concerns about the quality of the courses

Thank you.........

Folks, thanks very much for all the feedback, much appreciated!

Plenty of food for thought

Roy

Dublin Business School (DBS), also known as "Daddy's Business School". A place for dunces who can't get into UCD, Trinity or DCU and whose parents want them to attend "college" to avoid the embarrassment factor.