Had my first MBA induction today and boy am I impressed by all the technology! I feel like I’ve witnessed the future of education where lectures are conducted online and students work in virtual study groups in virtual meeting rooms from all over the world!
Having got access to the study notes yesterday for the first couple of lessons in each of the subjects, I am also impressed by the quality of the notes and the amount of thought and organisation that have gone into this!
I’m now looking forward to the second induction next week, the coming online classes study group meetings, and digging into the notes and readings!
Thumbs up totally to WBS!
Showing posts with label The Warwick MBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Warwick MBA. Show all posts
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
The MBA experience is about to begin...
Just before going to Cologne last week, I got access to my.wbs, WBS' online learning portal, and my WBS email address. Furthermore, I also got the textbooks for my first three subjects delivered to me at work.
So far, I am quite impressed with my experience with WBS. The online resources that they have for their MBA students are quite extensive. Going through the Student Handbook on my.wbs, I was quite impressed by the wealth of information that they have available. They cover pretty much everything from what an MBA degree covers, to how to study and resources available. And to my surprise, WBS and Warwick University together offers many of the most popular software for its students to download and use at home, including SAS and Mathematica, which I have already downloaded.
I am also impressed by the range of students enrolled in my cohort. WBS encourages students to post Introductions on my.wbs, and from people's postings, I found that my cohort is made up of people with a really diverse range of background and from a diverse range of places. There are scientists, HR managers, investment consultants, entrepreneurs, etc etc, from UK, Nigeria, Europe, US, Canada, Australia, etc etc. Furthermore, the people seemed quite accomplished, with most being managers of teams of people and in positions with some level of decision making authority.
Apart from the uni provided resources, I am also impressed by WBS' embracing of the most popular online resources to assist its students, staff and alumni to network. People say networking is one of the most valuable part of doing an MBA and WBS sure maximises the opportunities for its students and alumni to do that. Being a LinkedIn user, I was able to join the WBS Group, which is only open to students, staff and alumni of the business school. Through this, I was then given the opportunity to help review a book on strategy (The Strategy Book) written by an alumnus and which will be published early next year. Of course, I put my hand up to this and am currently in the process of learning about strategy, an area that I am particularly interested in learning about through my MBA studies.
Although the course has not officially began, I feel I have already benefited a lot from being enrolled as an MBA student with WBS. The wide range of resources offered by WBS will definitely be something that I will be making the most of. One particular resource that I'm already thinking about is their contact list of alumni in different industries who have agreed to let associates of WBS contact them about their industry. One such contact is a head of a retail banking area at NAB in Australia. When I have time, I plan to make the most of this contact to see how I can best use my MBA to land myself a job in banking when I eventually return to Australia.
With my textbooks in hand, laptop at the ready, and my.wbs at my disposal, I am all set to make the most of my MBA experience, and am looking forward to broadening my knowledge of the business world.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
MBA Enrolment and Registration
I have just registered and enrolled for my MBA studies. It was interesting seeing how different working in the UK is compared to Australia and now I get to see the difference on the study front as well.
The enrolment and registration process was relatively straightforward. Most of the fields were pre-populated and so it was more a process of reviewing the details than actually having to fill things out. As part of the enrolment process, we have to upload a photo for our student card. Not having a decent photo on hand, I went into a meeting room and took a mug shot with my mobile. That appears to have worked so hopefully I won't get a message later saying that my photo is too crappy to be acceptable.
One part of the enrolment and registration process required us to provide details on how we'll be paying our fees. This is where my head was pulled out of the clouds and I was brought back to the harsh reality of our quid pro quo society! Studying my undergrad and my first postgrad in Aust, I never really had to worry about the fees as they were deferred and automatically taken out of our pay when we started working. As such, the vast sums of money that we have to fork out for our self embetterment never really bit me - the only times that I was even aware/reminded of their existence were when I received the annual statements around tax time with the current outstandings of my educational debt.
This time, however, things are slightly different. Although nothing's confirmed yet as discussions are still taking place regarding my study support (my boss is speaking to his boss, and his boss is speaking to his boss), I am prepared for the worse and am ready to pay the fees out of my own pocket. As such, I opted to pay by quarterly instalments, hoping that will ease the burden a bit.
Now that all is done on my end, I guess I can only sit back and twiddle my thumb while I wait for the Uni to process my details and send me my bill and study pack!
The enrolment and registration process was relatively straightforward. Most of the fields were pre-populated and so it was more a process of reviewing the details than actually having to fill things out. As part of the enrolment process, we have to upload a photo for our student card. Not having a decent photo on hand, I went into a meeting room and took a mug shot with my mobile. That appears to have worked so hopefully I won't get a message later saying that my photo is too crappy to be acceptable.
One part of the enrolment and registration process required us to provide details on how we'll be paying our fees. This is where my head was pulled out of the clouds and I was brought back to the harsh reality of our quid pro quo society! Studying my undergrad and my first postgrad in Aust, I never really had to worry about the fees as they were deferred and automatically taken out of our pay when we started working. As such, the vast sums of money that we have to fork out for our self embetterment never really bit me - the only times that I was even aware/reminded of their existence were when I received the annual statements around tax time with the current outstandings of my educational debt.
This time, however, things are slightly different. Although nothing's confirmed yet as discussions are still taking place regarding my study support (my boss is speaking to his boss, and his boss is speaking to his boss), I am prepared for the worse and am ready to pay the fees out of my own pocket. As such, I opted to pay by quarterly instalments, hoping that will ease the burden a bit.
Now that all is done on my end, I guess I can only sit back and twiddle my thumb while I wait for the Uni to process my details and send me my bill and study pack!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The elusive MBA is finally within reach
Yes. I have committed myself to further study yet again. Some might question my sanity while others might feel sympathy for me but to me, it is the realisation of a long held desire to add three special letters to the end of my name and I am looking forward to it!
The journey thus far has been far from smooth. I have long had the desire to do an MBA but for one reason or another, I never got around to it. Then when arguably the best time for me to do it came, I decided to move to London and hence had to defer it yet again. But trying to be optimistic, I consoled myself by thinking that given the large number of top business schools in the UK, perhaps I can do my MBA there. But when I started looking into it, I was disappointed that both the timing and the cost of most programs doesn't suit me! The time they require to complete the program, taking into account the start date, does not work well with the timing of my two year visa, and the cost is usually exorbitantly high!
Gutted by this, I was more or less resolved to forgetting about doing an MBA in the UK and just enjoying my two years there. However, my desire to obtain a UK qualification to spice up my CV never went away and I found myself researching UK qualifications one day. That was when I stumbled across an article by the Economist/Economic Intelligence Unit that discussed distance learning MBAs. The article opened my eyes to the possibilities of doing an MBA through distance learning and I was sufficiently impressed to further research this possibility.
From my further research, I obtained a new found understanding and appreciation of distance learning MBAs and eventually even applied for one. The key findings that influenced my decision to apply are as follows:
1. Accreditation: There are several associations out there that accredit MBA programs and for the programs to be accredited, certain criterias has to be met. Once these criterias are met and the program has been accredited, the programs can then be seen to be equal. In other words, if a business school is accredited, then it is safe to say that their standard of MBA programs, whether they are delivered full time face to face, or through distance learning, are of the same quality and standard.
2. Top business schools: Many of the world's top business schools are providing distance learning delivery options and if they believe enough in this delivery method to offer it while knowing the risk that poor delivery will tarnish their reputation, then that's enough of an assurance for me to believe in it too.
3. Cost: While the distance learning option is cheaper than the full time option, it is still quite significant. In fact, it can be more than many well known full time programs! So if people are willing to fork out such large sums of money to do these programs, then that again adds credibility to these programs.
4. Reception: It seems from my research that many employers view these program positively, especially since they know it takes a lot of admirable qualities from people, like time management, self motivation and dedication to complete these programs.
5. Difficulty: Almost everyone who has gone through these programs talk about the difficulty of completing it. And the statistics from the Economic Intelligence Unit report shows this given the relatively low completion rates. In other words, the business schools do take these programs seriously, enough to actually make students work to earn their degrees.
Deciding on such a route to complete an MBA, the next step was to choose the business schools to apply for. After extensive research, I narrowed it down to two top business schools - the first was Warwick Business School and the second was Manchester Business School, and so I submitted an application to WBS and if that failed, I was going to apply to MBS. Fortunately, WBS made me an offer.
In choosing a business school, several considerations influenced my decision greatly. These were timinig, cost and quality of the program. Warwick Business School came out on top on all of these.
1. Timing - The Warwick MBA can be completed in two and half years. As with all accredited programs, there is a significant element of face to face teaching involved. These take the form of Warwick Weeks in the WBS program. In total there are a minimum of three Warwick Weeks in the WBS program and they all take place while I'm still in London under my Tier 5 visa so timing wise, this works out perfectly for me. Given I will only have about 17 months left on my visa by the time I start the Warwick MBA, the last couple of months of my program can be completed while I'm back in Australia, which again works out well for me.
2. Cost - Although the cost is quite hefty at about AUD$30K+, it is still cheaper than many other porgrams while at the same time, not too cheap to make it look cheap!
3. Quality - This is arguably one of the most important aspects influencing my decision. From my research, Warwick's program, especially their distance learning delivery mode, is class! The Warwick Week provides a crucial face to face element that bridges a bit of the gap between the distance learning mode and the face to face mode. The flexibility of opting into the modular classes that is taught entirely face to face is also appealing and I intend to take several of these if time and cost permits. And the fact that we graduate with simply the Warwick MBA with no mention of mode of delivery means that WBS considers all their modes of delivery are of equal quality. Furthermore, some argue that the DL mode provides an extra level of interaction that is not available in the full time option - asynchronous discussions where participants discusses issues not in real time and hence can apply more thought to their responses.
Having said all this, I must admit that I'm still stressing over whether I'm making the right decision in choosing this over a full time program. In the blogs to follow, I would outline more of my thoughts on this - stay tuned!
The journey thus far has been far from smooth. I have long had the desire to do an MBA but for one reason or another, I never got around to it. Then when arguably the best time for me to do it came, I decided to move to London and hence had to defer it yet again. But trying to be optimistic, I consoled myself by thinking that given the large number of top business schools in the UK, perhaps I can do my MBA there. But when I started looking into it, I was disappointed that both the timing and the cost of most programs doesn't suit me! The time they require to complete the program, taking into account the start date, does not work well with the timing of my two year visa, and the cost is usually exorbitantly high!
Gutted by this, I was more or less resolved to forgetting about doing an MBA in the UK and just enjoying my two years there. However, my desire to obtain a UK qualification to spice up my CV never went away and I found myself researching UK qualifications one day. That was when I stumbled across an article by the Economist/Economic Intelligence Unit that discussed distance learning MBAs. The article opened my eyes to the possibilities of doing an MBA through distance learning and I was sufficiently impressed to further research this possibility.
From my further research, I obtained a new found understanding and appreciation of distance learning MBAs and eventually even applied for one. The key findings that influenced my decision to apply are as follows:
1. Accreditation: There are several associations out there that accredit MBA programs and for the programs to be accredited, certain criterias has to be met. Once these criterias are met and the program has been accredited, the programs can then be seen to be equal. In other words, if a business school is accredited, then it is safe to say that their standard of MBA programs, whether they are delivered full time face to face, or through distance learning, are of the same quality and standard.
2. Top business schools: Many of the world's top business schools are providing distance learning delivery options and if they believe enough in this delivery method to offer it while knowing the risk that poor delivery will tarnish their reputation, then that's enough of an assurance for me to believe in it too.
3. Cost: While the distance learning option is cheaper than the full time option, it is still quite significant. In fact, it can be more than many well known full time programs! So if people are willing to fork out such large sums of money to do these programs, then that again adds credibility to these programs.
4. Reception: It seems from my research that many employers view these program positively, especially since they know it takes a lot of admirable qualities from people, like time management, self motivation and dedication to complete these programs.
5. Difficulty: Almost everyone who has gone through these programs talk about the difficulty of completing it. And the statistics from the Economic Intelligence Unit report shows this given the relatively low completion rates. In other words, the business schools do take these programs seriously, enough to actually make students work to earn their degrees.
Deciding on such a route to complete an MBA, the next step was to choose the business schools to apply for. After extensive research, I narrowed it down to two top business schools - the first was Warwick Business School and the second was Manchester Business School, and so I submitted an application to WBS and if that failed, I was going to apply to MBS. Fortunately, WBS made me an offer.
In choosing a business school, several considerations influenced my decision greatly. These were timinig, cost and quality of the program. Warwick Business School came out on top on all of these.
1. Timing - The Warwick MBA can be completed in two and half years. As with all accredited programs, there is a significant element of face to face teaching involved. These take the form of Warwick Weeks in the WBS program. In total there are a minimum of three Warwick Weeks in the WBS program and they all take place while I'm still in London under my Tier 5 visa so timing wise, this works out perfectly for me. Given I will only have about 17 months left on my visa by the time I start the Warwick MBA, the last couple of months of my program can be completed while I'm back in Australia, which again works out well for me.
2. Cost - Although the cost is quite hefty at about AUD$30K+, it is still cheaper than many other porgrams while at the same time, not too cheap to make it look cheap!
3. Quality - This is arguably one of the most important aspects influencing my decision. From my research, Warwick's program, especially their distance learning delivery mode, is class! The Warwick Week provides a crucial face to face element that bridges a bit of the gap between the distance learning mode and the face to face mode. The flexibility of opting into the modular classes that is taught entirely face to face is also appealing and I intend to take several of these if time and cost permits. And the fact that we graduate with simply the Warwick MBA with no mention of mode of delivery means that WBS considers all their modes of delivery are of equal quality. Furthermore, some argue that the DL mode provides an extra level of interaction that is not available in the full time option - asynchronous discussions where participants discusses issues not in real time and hence can apply more thought to their responses.
Having said all this, I must admit that I'm still stressing over whether I'm making the right decision in choosing this over a full time program. In the blogs to follow, I would outline more of my thoughts on this - stay tuned!
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