eFinancialCareers

Western schools are increasingly offering MBAs in finance within the Gulf in an attempt to bolster indigenous talent. Is this your golden ticket to a top job?

The MBA has long been the favoured qualification in the Gulf states and Western schools have been setting up on the ground in response to this demand. The likes of INSEAD, London Business School, Cass University and Manchester Business School have rolled out MBAs in the Gulf region.

But, apparently, they’re not there for the money. Rather it’s a chance to position themselves at the heart of the Gulf boom early on. “There are lots of places you can go and make money,” says Dina Dormett, managing director of LBS’s Dubai-London programme. “This is a bit bolder.”

Top schools focus

A quick glance at the global MBA league tables will tell you why there’s such a demand for Western schools. LBS, INSEAD and top US universities take up the lion’s share of the top ten positions, and there isn’t a single GCC qualification in the top 50.

Stefan Szymanski, professor of economics and associate dean of the MBA programme at Cass Business School, says an increasing focus on quality in the region is playing into the hands of the top schools.

“There’s a huge demand for technical skills in the banking and finance sector in the GCC,” he says. “But they’ll also need managers to focus on retention and development of these employees. The requirement will shift from simply having an MBA to having one from a top college.”

But you’d better be prepared to pay. London Business School charges $69,950 for its programme – double that of the typical local rate – while Cass charges $48k. The top US MBAs come in at around $100k.

Relevant skills?

One obvious advantage of an MBA is that a lot of the top i-banking jobs go to MBAs from the upper-tier schools, so there’s ample opportunity for networking – unlike with the home study CFA qualification.

However, a criticism of the MBA has been its focus on general business acumen rather than the technical skills needed to work in finance. Now, however, a lot of the MBAs in finance offer modules on financial analysis tools and techniques, investment management and complex financial instruments as well as the softer skills.

Cass has even set up an Islamic MBA, which covers Sharia law and Islamic products. The vast majority of students on the course are from the GCC and numbers have increased to 40-45 for 2008.

But, even if an MBA is specific to the financial industry, don’t expect a guaranteed job at the end of it. Szymanski says: “An MBA isn’t magic. It takes a credible CV and helps achieve particular career goals. We often turn away people who have the money to do an MBA because we know it won’t get them where they want to be.”