Business master's courses in the UK: not only MVA

According to statistics, the programs of business schools attract the largest number of Russians traveling to study in the UK. And many of them go for MBA. However, British universities offer hundreds of prestigious and high-quality programs in business education with a specialization that differs from MBA and our fellow citizens, often, are not sufficiently informed about it.

No doubt, MBA is one of the most successful brands in business education. Advantages – management training of the highest level, focus on practice, group work, development of communication and leadership skills. However, the MBA offers a fairly limited set of majors, and many students interested in business education, one way or another, adjust themselves to the requirements of the market, making a choice in favor of prestige and refusing to fuller realization of their interests.

In the UK a very flexible, well integrated in the realities of life, aimed at support and development of personality education system. Her "Golden rule" reads as follows: the program should fit the student, and the student program. Of course, first and foremost, education is a financial investment that should pay off as quickly as possible. But, in addition to knowledge and prestigious positions, and not less important condition of success is the satisfaction of human education. In this case, to impressive financial results will be added, and the pleasure of the work.

So, we agree: we will call an ideal program is one that gives in-depth knowledge and experience of their practical application, improved career prospects and fun things. Assistance in choosing the perfect program is the purpose for which the article was written.

Now let us formulate the important question: whether in all cases, ideally an MBA, are there alternatives and what are they?

All programs of British universities can be divided into three main types:

• training (degree, MA, MSc)
• professionally oriented (MBA and others):
• research (MRes degree, MPhill).

Program first two types are close in the way of learning, which is based on lectures, seminars and other group work.

Training programs allow you to broaden and deepen the knowledge acquired in the bachelor and working experience.

Professionally oriented to increase the capacity of the specialist, giving a very detailed knowledge in a selected narrow region and allowing them to hone their knowledge in practice. The undoubted advantage of such programs is the ability to select topics for a dissertation at the intersection of various disciplines, as well as primary research skills that allows the student to fully realize their academic interests.

From the point of view of increasing specialization in the field of business education the MBA alternative will be to programmes leading to the degrees MA (Master of Arts) or MSc (Master of Science) – for example, MSc in International Finance.

Research programs graduate programs assign training modules about one third of the total time, and most of them dedicated to research.

The main objective of the training modules - familiarity with the methodology and skills of research and the development of appropriate transferable skills. The latter include all creatively transferred from one activity to another skills. They help to find and use hidden internal resources to resolve complex and unusual problems. Almost any research programme contains modules for planning and managing projects time management and self-presentation.

Research programs leading to the degrees of MRes (Master of Research) and MPhill (Master of Philosophy) will be a good alternative to MBA if the student is interested in future postgraduate studies, research work in commercial organizations or in the development of an academic career.

All programs in the field of business

All MBA programmes

There is another important factor influencing the choice of the student. This is the cost of training. In many cases, program, alternative MBA, will save the student a significant amount, and the probability to get a scholarship for the research program are higher than in other cases.

We summarize the main differences between master's programs with in-depth research or specialization of MBA:

• a wider variety of subjects, working at the intersection of disciplines;
• the choice of programs most attractive to student ratio educational, research and practical components;
• lower cost that does not affect the quality of the program.

According to official statistics, every fourth Russian student studying in the UK in the field of Business and Management studies, selects MBA, which is a very high figure, given the total number of offer alternative master's programs.

Whatever the motives for this decision, it is important to remember: the availability of reliable information and flexibility in decision making will allow you to maximize the potential of British education for a career and life. It makes no sense to choose between market requirements and the realization of personal interests, if you can get both.

Business education abroad

The contents and accreditation MBA