Education is the best investment in hard times
Today when all the employer expects from the worker is to be just graduate, know one or two foreign languages and have a work experience of one to three years, the value of education is increasing dramatically, skills improvement programs being in a particularly strong demand. There could be different points of view as to what to do in conditions of financial crisis and which way to move in career but many of us agree that one of the best investments to do now is the investment in ourselves.
Olga Gozman, Director General of Begin Group company providing consulting services to educational institutions, said that the demand of international educational programs among Russian visitors of the Fair has raised considerably: "This fair attracted the largest amount of visitors than any other EMBA fair conducted by Begin Group since 2002. To my mind, it was not only caused by the attraction to EMBA and executive education, but also by a certain intention to make good investments during the financial crisis".
That ' s why the key questions I asked the business schools were: how does the financial crisis affect the education market and what are the new trends in the market?
Daniel R. Nagy, the associate Dean of the Fuqua School of Business (Duke University), for which Russia is one of the target markets now, explains the attraction to the education as a way to have time and see what will happen and improve professional skills at the same time: "I think we ' ll see more interest in the full-time MBA because people are unsure about their jobs right now and if they were thinking of obtaining an MBA anyways now might be a good time. It is the right time to go for a two-year MBA program. I think it will become a primary aim for some students especially in the US".
Miguel Folque, the Global Executive MBA Associate Director at IESE, which has 88% of the class made of overseas students, sees the two possible trends on the educational market: "Full-time education is in a good situation. Usually in times of crises this format sees an increase in the number of applications. Candidates take this opportunity to develop their personal and management skills while avoiding the troubled times. In our particular situation, having half of our students of the Global Executive sponsored it might turn negative reflected in the sense of companies cutting the expenses on training and education. The remaining half could go on by themselves because they look for personal improvement or for the same reasons as full-time candidates."
At the same time, quick changes in the financial markets can stimulate managers to attend executive programs not only to keep their places but also to understand which way to proceed in career. Michelle Dean, admissions manager of the international programs for executives, HEC Paris: "I think it is even more important for people to go through executive education programs when financial markets are facing problems. People can then learn about what caused this kind of situation and understand how to get the most from working in this environment. People who choose to study either an executive MBA or a short program can stay ahead of the game".
One more interesting trend in the education market today is the participants? desire to pay for their MBA as soon as possible to invest their savings. This can stimulate business schools to be more aggressive but also to adapt their educational programs to the new conditions. One of the examples of this could be online education, which is considered as one of the main possibilities for schools to extend their audience because of fewer expenses, especially in conditions of financial crisis. Luis Umana-Timms, academic director of OneMBA, director of MBA Programs at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University, says that business schools would especially need to use online resources: "The task number one is to keep students connected to the world more closely than they are at the moment. And the task number two is focusing on people?s needs and understanding them across companies, cultures and countries. That?s what is turning into skills for many global companies at the moment. I think that MBA education is really moving towards that direction".
Another trend is making educational programs shorter, as now managers urgently need quick courses to lead their business out of the crisis.
Anyway, business schools cannot count on such approaches as they financially depend on their customers. There is no doubt that business education requires sufficient savings to spend but if the diploma is not the target number one it is easy to start your personal educational process right now. There are plenty of online courses available on university websites. All what is needed is self-discipline, patience and real desire for self-development. And maybe after improving professional skills you will be able to make a well-reasoned decision as to how to keep your savings better.
