Need advice from MBA recruiters, hiring managers, HR experts: School Leadership MBA?

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by scotty, Sep 16, 2017.

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  1. scotty

    scotty New Member

    I am an American living in Sweden, where I have been a teacher since 2005. I am considering the following program from UCL, their brand new "Educational Leadership (International) MBA."

    Here is why I am interested in the UCL program:
    • I am a certified teacher with a Masters in Education. I am certified in two subjects, Business Studies and English, both at the high-school level. My focus, since 2005, has been on entrepreneurship education, and many of you know that Stockholm is currently a global hotbed of innovation and startup culture.
    • I have wanted an MBA for a long time, but finding one that is the right fit for my situation and goals, plus one that I can complete as I work, has been challenging. This UCL program works well for me.
    • The "School Leadership" aspect is attractive because I want to become a school director or perhaps even start my own school.
    • I want an MBA because I want the skills it can provide, but I also want it because I sense that it opens many doors both inside and outside the education industry. It might also generate a bit more respect for a lowly teacher. :)

    But I have some concerns:
    • Since it is called an "Educational Leadership" MBA, does that limit its utility? Would it open any doors outside of education? How might a recruiter or hiriing manager interpret such an MBA for a non-school position?
    • What about the "(International)" part of the title? Does that throw up any red flags for employers? Frankly, I am not sure, from UCL's description, why this is included in the name of the degree. Many MBAs have international students, so why call it this?
    • UCL has great name recognition in Europe. What is its name recognition in the US? Also, UCL's business school is brand new and thus is not considered to be an elite program...yet. Does that matter? As far as education programs, though, UCL is ranked #1 in the world.

    So that is, essentially, my issue. Would this MBA hold any weight outside of the education industry? I had never heard of an MBA with a focus on school leadership before this.

    Thanks for any insight you can give!

    Scotty
    M.Ed. Stockholm University
    BSBA Stockholm University
     
  2. AsianStew

    AsianStew Moderator Staff Member

    Hello, it's not as uncommon as you think. Here are three programs from the US.
    https://mbaed.mgt.unm.edu/
    MBA in Educational Leadership | Lehigh University
    MSOE MBA in Education Leadership, Academics

    For the most part, MBA programs have a set "required core" courses and a "set of focus" courses.
    Example, a 36 credit MBA program would have 9 required courses and a set of 3 "focus" courses.
    To illustrate this, see Patten's MBA programs - Online College Degree Programs - Patten University

    Patten has 7 concentrations for the MBA, the 9 required core courses are identical.
    The only difference is that the focus or concentration, has 3 different courses than the other ones.
    For Master programs, I am deciding from Hodges (MIS/MPA), Patten MBA Finance and WGU MSML.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    There are so many online MBA programs that some of them started to specialize in fairly narrow fields in order to distinguish themselves from other programs and attract people who are certain that their career track moves in that direction. Of course it limits the degree's utility outside of it's concentration. Of course it does.
     
  4. scotty

    scotty New Member

    Yes, this is true. And thanks, but perhaps I did not form my question well, since its limited career-track emphasis is clear. I would like to hear from recruiters or hiring managers on how they view an MBA geared toward an education field when the position is not in education. How limited is it? Any little insight helps.
     
  5. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I'm not a recruiter or hiring manager, but concentrations usually just take up the minority of the credits that would have often been electives. An MBA is still an MBA. I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a specialization in Computer Information Systems. If I'm not applying for an IT-related job, then I can simply drop the CIS after the BSBA.
     

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