Chapter 16. BUSINESS SCHOOLS IN ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

Business schools are a relatively new for Russia organizational form of additional education for adults. Its goal is to provide practical knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of business management to persons who already have a higher education.

Business schools began to emerge in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. The first MBA program graduated in 1901 at the Dortmouth College of the State of New Hampshire (USA). In Europe, the first two business schools were opened in the UK - in London and Manchester in 1967. Later they appeared in other countries of Western Europe. Recently, there has been a rapid growth in business education in Asia. According to the rating of Businessweek magazine for 2001, the Business School of the Chinese University of Hong Kong was ranked among the 35 best in the world. However, the leading po; The situation with the number of business schools and MBA programs is still occupied by the United States, followed by Western Europe. In the United States, AACSB (American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business) is accredited by the MBA (Master of Business Administration) program. In Western Europe - EFMD} (European Foundation for Management Development - European Foundation: 'management development), as well as CEEMAN (Central and East European \ Management Development Association) operating in the main * countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eastern European management).

In Russia, the first two business schools emerged during the Soviet era.

! Union, in 1988 under the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and

: at the Academy of National Economy. Currently in Russia there are

There are about 150 business schools. Russian business schools have their own

association - RABE (Russian Association of Business Education).

\ As business school education is focused on practice in the field of business and management, it is very important that I applicants have sufficient practical experience and knowledge in this field. In developed countries, all business schools require a 2- or even 3-year work experience, although not necessarily in managerial positions - for example, you can have work experience in the field of accounting.

Today, the main contingent of Russian business schools is adults with business experience who need to improve their skills. Their age ranges from 25 to 40 years, and most of them are those who are 30 - 35 years old. In foreign business schools, the composition of students is somewhat younger, their average age is 25–30 years.

To enter the American or British business school, you must successfully pass the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test - a general education test for mathematical, verbal and analytical skills that are basic to management skills). Foreign applicants wishing to enroll in American and British business schools must also successfully pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or pass an equivalent test. Business schools in other developed countries of Europe and Asia offer similar tests for applicants. Another important requirement is that applicants should provide letters of recommendation from employers.

Applicants of domestic and foreign business schools can be pleased with the fact that the list of requirements and restrictions does not include the specifics of the education received. You can enter a business school with any kind of education - from music to technical, from natural science to military.

The most common training program in business schools is the MBA program (Master of Business Administration). A certain range of disciplines studied within its framework is obligatory, others are chosen by the students at will. Typical disciplines include economics, corporate finance, financial accounting, managerial accounting, statistics, decision analysis, strategic management, operational management, organizational behavior and design, human resource management, career management and development, international business. Non-compulsory often include courses that affect the in-depth study of individual aspects of the business, its environment, and management. The number of additional courses offered for study to choose from, the so-called elective, significantly exceeds the number of required ones. Thanks to elective courses, business schools more quickly adapt to changes in the field of management and business. For example, recently, courses related to e-business carried out via the Internet have been included in electives.

The MBA programs of foreign business schools include a mandatory 3-month, often overseas, internship at a large company and a 3-month exchange training at a business school in another country. According to the nomenclature of basic courses of the MBA program, Russian business schools are not inferior to foreign business schools. However, the number of offered elective courses in many domestic business schools is significantly less.

The overall duration of the MBA program and the types of courses offered are generally the same in Russian and foreign business schools. Full-time training is usually 2 years, sometimes 1.5. On the evening form (part-time) it lasts from 2.5 to 5 years. There are executive-MBA programs for top-ranks of the NJs also lasting from 2.5 th to 5 years, some of them are built according to the modular principle ie, only in terms of content, but also the duration of the program. Along with MBA programs, business schools in Russia and for asylum offer pre-MBA programs that are subordinate and intended mainly for people who have a significant break in training. In a number of domestic and (foreign schools, distance learning programs have been introduced. I, in Russia and abroad, are launching the first pilot projects that implement business education via the Internet.

Approved by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the MBA program is 1,200 academic hours. However, it should be clarified that in domestic business schools, classroom studies are mainly lectures delivered by teachers. In Western business schools, lectures are given an insignificant part of the time, the focus is on discussions, in the year of which the teacher organizes an exchange of opinions between delegates and only in some cases summarizes. Individual and group work outside the audience is primarily the development of various projects with their subsequent protection. In foreign business schools that prepare students for the intense rhythm of a manager’s life, the workload is very high. In addition, most of the work on finding information is done independently. In round-the-clock open computer classes, full-time students study until 10-11 o'clock in the evening.

The content of training in business schools due to their orientation towards the development of practical management skills involves the study of material based on descriptions of examples taken from real enterprises. Case-study is the content and method of studying it. Case-studies are one-step and multi-step, with clearly defined options for action and with unfinished scenarios. But all of them - the fruit of the often multi-day work of a business school teacher, associated with the analysis of the activities of a particular enterprise.

Foreign schools have gained considerable experience in developing Case-study. Guides are published containing a large number of different examples from practice. A number of foreign business schools have Case-study funds that other schools can apply to. At the initial stage of the development of domestic business schools, it was necessary to directly use foreign Case-study, changing only the names and titles. By now, solid guides have been developed, based on examples from the practice of Russian enterprises.

Both foreign and domestic business schools in most cases were created on the basis of universities and only later separated into independent institutions. Foreign business schools managed to go a long way, and their cadres, unlike Russian business schools, were not university lecturers, but people with experience in business. They not only teach in business schools, but also advise, conduct research on the order. Often their lectures and books are based on the results of such consultations and research. In addition, it should be noted that the financing of Western business schools for the most part consists of orders for research development, while the budget of Russian business schools is formed mainly from tuition fees, which was typical for Western business schools at the initial stage of their development. Apparently, in the future, in Russian business schools, the main source of funding will be their research and consulting work. Another prospect for the growing community of Russian business schools is the emergence of corporate business schools of large Russian enterprises. Such associations have long been successfully operating in the United States.

Russian business schools are still very young, but their development is quite intensive both in qualitative and quantitative terms. Of course, they are part of a market economy and cannot but experience its crises, but experience has shown that many of them have learned how to overcome them successfully.

Tasks and questions for self-control

1. Describe the specifics of the business school as an organizational form of education.

2. What requirements are put forward by Russian and Western business schools when admitting students?

3. What are the curricula of business schools?

4. What is Case-study?

5. What is the difference in the forms of work with students in Russian and Western business schools?