With the recession and the dropping economy, most of the students and the parents developed apprehensions about joining a management program. Also, with the boom in the education sector, we saw emergence of several institutes, coaching, and universities developing everyday with new range of courses.

Thanks to the Reality TV, even the professional courses got a jump and the Indian population suddenly started looking at the professional courses which were about hobbies and passion. People could relate to them as careers as they too started offering good money and constant workflow.

We see a lot of students and the parents – who have this dilemma of why an MBA holds better prospects than the professional courses when they are offering quicker placements, are charging lesser fee and are comparatively short-term. The comparisons are fine but they are not futuristic. Most of the times – the packaging of these courses is so fine & perfect that they the students give-in to the outwardly glamour of the offering.

We do not say that the professional courses are not good. They are good, they add value to one’s career, they help in earning a living and they shall be pursued. But this comparison is not fair as MBA is something which empowers one to excel further in their careers. It is not just about education and knowledge; it is about attitude and practice. It is about experiential learning through real time examples, trainings and assignments.

MBA is a level up to these courses. It broadens the horizon of a human brain and helps them think different and teaches us how to chase the different dream and go ahead to follow it.

So what is it that makes an MBA a better deal? Or why it is important to have a business education in any career? To list a few reasons –

Holistic Outlook towards Business

MBA education covers a holistic perspective of business & economy. The course is designed in such a way that it provides you with an overall view of things, businesses and people. The limitations of knowing just thing vanishes in an MBA program as it makes the person learn with a wider perspective, it enables a group dynamics and hence helps the students get a broader insight about people and practices.

Provides Better Networking Ability & Opportunities

In management education, like we mentioned lot of learning happens through practice, through working together and thorough exposure of the outside world is a need for successfully completing the management education.

For me, B-School is where you meet people — your classmates, faculty, speakers, recruiters. MBA fosters the need to be well networked in the students who pursue this course. It enables a person to learn in team and enhances the group productivity. Unlike short term courses it enables – better sharing of knowledge and tactics among the student groups.

If I give a thought to the networking opportunities an average student at IBS gets in an MBA Program. Initiating right from the day one of joining, a student not only meets the batch mates and the teachers but also gets to connect to various other B-school students & corporate in the management festivals, the corporate exposure during the Summer Internship and the Management Research Project further facilitate the students in networking. Then there is the largest Alumni base – which is an existing network for all those who join the bandwagon.

Allows you to work in more than One Sector

The Corporate sector now demands people who believe in becoming the ‘Jack of all trades and master of few’, gone are the times when just one qualification/ specialization was enough to work, excel and grow. Times have changed and so are the recruiters and employers.

An MBA Program allows you to work in more than one sector. Some B-schools including IBS offers dual specialization to help the students excel in two different profiles. Even the job roles these days demand a variety on skills & knowledge. A multi-talented person is always preferred in a group, among friends and even for a job.

Offers Practical Guidance & Mentoring

Mentoring is a unique concept of b-schools. No other courses, degrees offer you a faculty guide and project mentors and that restricts the personal growth and change in attitude which is required at the onset of corporate lives or jobs.

An MBA programs offers you faculty guides, corporate mentors who provide the required hand-holding at various junctures of learning & training and we believe these are one of the most significant shaping stones for any student or trainee. Whereas, most of the professional courses, students are left on their own – with the lecture-listener-examiner relationship.

New Skills, Better Growth and Packages

A management program helps students attain & develop many new skills during the program. Let us take an example of a management festival or an art conclave; the students who participate learn new skills while managing the show. The team who works on sponsorship – learns to manage finance & relationships, some learn hospitality, others learn team management and some learn leadership.

These skill-sets help the students in growing early as they are exposed to certain situations, they have worked before in teams and hence they know about it.

A good b-school ensures they work on this overall learning pedagogy and hence the students get better packages as they truly deserve it.

Helps in Entrepreneurship

In the above points, we have talked about – how an MBA changes the perspective, the personality and the skill-set of a person. It broadens the horizon and hence makes then think about the business perspective. It develops a thought process which is led by logic and the students are empowered enough to get into the technical know-how of things to understand them.

IBS has got an exciting base of alumni who are now entrepreneurs and to continue the trend, there is an Exclusive Entrepreneurship Cell which allows the students to dream big and help them in turning their dreams into reality.

The reasons slated above are few of many but are all time-tested. Any knowledge or skill attained helps the growth of an individual but when you have to choose something better; MBA certainly offers the brownie points.