A Study on Successful MBA Program: The Case of INSEAD

1. Challenges for Traditional MBA Programs in Korea

The first challenge for the MBA programs in Korea is the declining K-12 student enrollments, which will eventually lead to hollow MBA marketplace for recruiting freshmen (Cho, 2015; Im, 2016; Lee et al. 2017). As shown in <Table 1>, the falling students enrollment looms as a black eye for primary and higher education. Number of K-12 Korean students dipped by 167,000 in 2017 alone. On the other hand, the number of students from multi-cultural families increased by 10,201, reaching 109,387 in 2017. Combining Korean and multi-cultural students, the total number of K-12 enrollment 2017 is 6,579,387, a decrease by 159,799 from 2016 (Park et al. 2016).

<Table 1>

Falling Students Enrollment in Korea between 2012-2017*(Unit: year, persons)

The second challenge is the worsening environment for recruiting freshmen. This has been mainly caused by declining K-12 students enrollment, lowered added-value and popularity of MBA program, and growing substitutes such as the MOOC. Take, for instance, the MBA program of Pukyong National University (PKNU) in Busan, Korea. As shown in <Table 2>, the PKNU Graduate School of Business (GSB) enjoyed 100% of enrollment rate in 2013. However, the enrollment rate plummeted to 70.77% in 2014, hitting the record low of 63.07% in 2017.

<Table 2>

Falling Freshmen Enrollment of PKNU MBA Program between 2013-2017(Unit: person, %)

The retention rate for the PKNU MBA class of 2016 is provided in <Table 3>. Retention rate can be considered as a proxy measure for students’ satisfaction with the program. Of 113 MBA students admitted in February 2016, 99 students remained in the program while 14 students dropped out as of February 2017. Thus, the overall retention rate was 87.6%. Among the six majors, Global Management major showed the lowest retention rate of 80.0%.

<Table 3>

Retention Rate of PKNU MBA Class of 2016(Unit: person, %)

2. Challenges for Traditional MBA Programs across the Globe

The first challenge for the traditional MBA programs is the expensive tuition. As shown in <Table 4>, MIT is the most expensive with USD 122,880, followed by Columbia Business School. On the other hand, IIM Ahmedabad (#20) is the cheapest with USD 21,562. As a one-year MBA program, INSEAD is ranked #16.

<Table 4>

Expensive MBA Tuition(Unit: person, year, USD)

The second challenge for the traditional MBA program is the growing popularity of online MBA program. As an example, the iMBA program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the U.S. is presented in <Table 5>. For delivering a high-quality program to global audiences, they create virtual study teams during each iMBA course considering the diverse academic and professional backgrounds of students. They offer 13 courses for a total of 72 credit hours.

<Table 5>

iMBA Curriculum at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA)

The third challenge for the traditional two-year MBA program is the short and intensive one-year MBA program, the dominant form of MBA programs in prominent European business schools. Among the 31 top European business schools ranked within the top 100 schools in the global MBA (Dartar et al. 2010, p. 20). Unlike the European case, most prestigious business schools in the U.S. confer MBA degrees in two-year format. Against this American tradition, Northwestern, Cornell, Emory, Carnegie Mellon, and Rochester run shorter and accelerated MBA programs (Dartar et al. 2010, p. 35).

1. One-Year MBA Global Ranking

As reported in <Table 6>, INSEAD topped the ranking in the category of 5-year MBA gain and Pre-MBA salary. These criteria represent the net cumulative amount that a typical alumni would have earned after 5 years by getting their MBA versus keeping their pre-MBA career. Alumni of INSEAD class of 2010 capitalized a 5-year MBA gain of USD 171,200, taking 2.4 years to pay off their MBA investment.

<Table 6>

One-Year MBA Global Ranking(Unit: USD)

2. Global MBA Ranking

The Global MBA Ranking 2017 compiled by The Financial Times is presented in <Table 7>. INSEAD successfully defended the top spot in 2017, followed by Stanford (#2), Wharton (#3), and Harvard (#4). Indian School of Business topped the list of salary increase with 160% for 3 years after graduation. Sungkyunkwan University ranked #54, the highest ranking among the MBA programs in Korea with weighted salary of USD 114,479, moving up 15 places from previous year’s rank of #69.

<Table 7>

Global MBA Ranking(Unit: USD, %)

1. Credo of Globalization

Since its establishment in 1957 at Fontainebleau, France, INSEAD has maintained the credo of globalization. With trademark “the business school for the world,” INSEAD has been a pioneer in implementing a multi-campus business to expand the global presence. No other business school deliver such a multi-cultural experience (INSEAD, 2017c).

INSEAD believe in diversity. Diversity helps people improve the way of thinking. By unsettling conformity, racial and ethnic diversity induce people to look at facts, think more deeply and unfold their own opinions. Diversity is actually beneficial to everyone, minorities and majority alike (Levine & Stark, 2015).

2. Intensive Ten-month MBA Curriculum

INSEAD offers intensive ten-month MBA curriculum, consisting of five periods, each lasting eight weeks and concluding with an assessments such as exam, essay or project. Their MBA program starts in September or January depending on the cohort of students. The January cohort ends in December, while the September cohort in early July of the following year.

As shown in <Table 8>, the first half of the program (Period 1 - Period 3) is designed around 14 core courses, providing students a solid foundation of key management disciplines. During the second half of the program (Period 4 - Period 5), over 75 electives are offered ranging from a variety of subjects to prepare students for future careers. INSEAD loads 85% of the class hours of a typical two-year MBA program into each 10-month period (INSEAD, 2017c).

<Table 8>

Intensive Ten-month Curriculum

3. Unique Cross-campus Exchange Program

All INSEAD students are encouraged to take at least one period of cross-campus exchange from Period 3. About 70% of students choose this opportunity between Europe (Fontainebleau, France) and Asia (Singapore) campuses during the year. Depending on their cohort (January or December), they may also spend Period 4 or 5 at one of INSEAD partner schools. Among them, the Wharton School (Philadelphia, USA, rank 3# in Table 4) and the Kellogg School of Management (Chicago, USA, rank #12 in <Table 7>) will be particularly interesting to those aiming to build a career or network in North America. On the other hand, CEIBS (Shanghai, China, rank #11 in <Table 7>) will be extremely useful to those seizing an inside view of the world's most dynamic economy, and holding a head start opportunity to do business in China. The choice of CEIBS campus is available only to the January intakers (INSEAD, 2017b).

4. Effective Networking Infrastructure

INSEAD has successfully built an effective networking infrastructure for the communication with global social communities. In order to check their communication effectiveness over the cyberspace, the author intentionally sent an email to the INSEAD MBA teams to request the INSEAD MBA brochure and the INSEAD MBA Employment Statistics. They immediately sent me the requested information by email. INSEAD MBA teams can also be reached by social networking media such as FacebookⓇ, TwitterⓇ, LinkedInⓇ, Google+Ⓡ SNS, and YoutubeⓇ.

5. Remarkable Employment

Eighty-nine percent, or 854 students, of December 2015 and July 2016 INSEAD MBA graduates had secured employment within 3 months after their graduations, a remarkable achievement considering the intensive nature of INSEAD MBA program and the growing uncertainty in the global economy.

The methods of finding jobs are presented in <Table 9>. Fifty-three percent, or 428 graduates, obtained their jobs by career development center or alumni network. Twenty-one percent, or 169 students, took their jobs by pre-INSEAD employ. Six percent, or 50 students, created their own companies. Eventually, all MBA graduates, 100% or 805 students, found their jobs.

<Table 9>

Methods of Finding Jobs (Unit: person, %)

INSEAD MBA graduates spotted their jobs in 68 countries of employment post-graduation around the world: 8% in north America, 7% in latin America, 36% in western and northern Europe, 10% in Africa and middle east, 7% in southern Europe, and 29% in Asia Pacific. No single country accounted for more than 14% of jobs.

The top employers for the 2016 INSEAD MBA graduates are shown in <Table 10>. The management consulting sector continued to hire large numbers of INSEAD MBA graduates, accounting for 46% of this year's graduates, up from 43% last year. McKinsey & Company took the number one spot, hiring 125 graduates and 50 former employees returning to the organization after graduation. The Boston Consulting Group secured the number two place, employing 67 graduates and 26 former employees.

<Table 10>

Top employers for 2016 INSEAD MBA graduates(Unit: person)

Top 10 weighted salary among the full-time MBA in 2016 are shown in <Table 11>. Overall, INSEAD ranked #6 globally, and #1 outside USA. The worldwide average starting salary is USD 103,700, ranging from USD 131,300 of North America to USD 82,000 of Southern Europe.

<Table 11>

Weighted salary among full-time MBA in 2016(Unit: year, USD)

6. Strong Global Alumni Network

The INSEAD Alumni Association (IAA) maintains a highly diverse and strong network of 47 individual national associations with over 52,000 members worldwide. Of all, around 25,000 are MBA alumni, working in over 170 countries.

Attending one of INSEAD events is a good way to meet and network with MBA alumni. You can get the event information just by tapping into your own networks such as FacebookⓇ, TwitterⓇ, LinkedInⓇ, YoutubeⓇ, or the IAA network. Full list of events is available online at INSEAD MBA Program (INSEAD, 2017b).