Why choose Cranfield

Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship Foundation Why choose Cranfield

There are two separate but interlinked decisions that you must make – firstly is the MBA programme something that would benefit you at this point in your life, career and personal development and secondly is Cranfield the right business school for you.

In deciding the answer to the first question – would the MBA programme be of benefit — you will need to weigh up the costs, both time and money, of taking a year off from work, dislocating yourself to the other side of the world (where – the average Aussie would say – the weather is not that good) to undertake a year long intensive learning experience at the professional and personal level. At the end of that year – there must be a payoff for the investment.

It is interesting to note that before people make the decision, they worry about things such as: “Will I be able to afford it or will I get a job that pays well enough to justify the investment or will it increase my long term career prospects?” That is, the focus is on the professional financial payoff.

But post Cranfield, what alumni talk about is the difference in perspective that they have gained, the increased personal confidence, lifelong friendships that they made and the job opportunities that simply would never have been within reach before they undertook their studies, that is, the personal payoff. All those worries that loomed so large about learning something useful or the financial aspects simply become irrelevant after you have actually completed your year of study.

The second question to consider is that, having decided to do the MBA, you must choose the right business school as not all business schools are the same. This excellent article, written by Sean Rickard, MBA Programme Director, outlines some of these key differences.

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What Sean R’s article does not highlight however, is that the one big differentiators in business schools is between the one year MBA programmes and the two year ones. The one year MBA programmes cover more content in a collapsed form than do the two year programmes simply because students are older and have more work experience and secondly because the teaching year for the one year programme is one long calendar year rather than two short academic years. The teaching pace is thus faster and longer, which allows these programmes to cover more material even though the elapsed time period is less.

The uniqueness of the Cranfield experience

You will hear alumni talk about the Cranfield experience and it is mentioned extensively in the material on the Cranfield website.

But what does that really mean? The unofficial version is this. Whilst Cranfield is set in beautiful countryside just 10 minutes from the major town of Milton Keynes, for all intents and purposes it is remote “on another planet” and there are no distractions. As most students live on campus, pretty much all your time revolves around the course work and your fellow students. As an intensive saturation into the world of business it creates a hugely accelerated learning experience which simply cannot be matched by doing an MBA in a “normal” university environment. You talk, eat, sleep the course for 7 days a week, 15 to 18 hours a day. There is simply no escape!

Other factors which will influence your choice of business school will include

course fees – When you do your price comparisons you’ll find out that MBA prices vary widely. At AUD $68,750 for the full time MBA, the Cranfield MBA is priced competitively against the other MBA institutions. MBA fees vary and are currently around AUD $50,000 for local Australian schools. So even without the Cranfield Australian Alumni Scholarship, studying at Cranfield is very cost comparative considering the much shorter time out of the workforce for Cranfield compared to the longer Australian programmes. The Cranfield Salary Survey data shows that increases of 36%-372% in salary for MBA are achievable.

ranking – If you are going to spend at least 12 months of your life getting an MBA then you may as well get a good one. Having to travel that extra mile (or 11,000 miles from Australia in this case) to get it should not be an issue – assuming you have the right reasons for wanting to study.

reputation with employees/headhunters – Employers recognise that a Cranfield MBA is a quality program.

course content and emphasis – Cranfield has a very practical focus with an emphasis on personal development and leadership. If you want to become a reocket scientis in financial engineering tools, you may be better off at MIT or Wharton.

Link to www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/mbaprogramme/coremodules.asp for the base subjects, and to www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/mbaprogramme/electives.asp for the electives. The teaching programme is designed to bring all students with up to speed on core topics in the first half of the course and then allow personal areas of interest to come into play for the choice of second half electives. The Cranfield course content handles the usual basics to be expected from a masters course and adds a fine blend of “eye opening”, “influential” and “at times life changing” personal development. Many Cranfield Alumni will tell you that their time at Cranfield was very influential on their personal development, so that when they left Cranfield they were able to successfully take on new challenges.

salary upon graduation – Taking on an MBA is a big financial decision. This survey www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/careers/mbacareerpathsreport2006.pdf shows what is possible. Cranfield MBA graduates typically earn high salaries upon graduation – reflecting both increased skills plus their age and work experience prior to study.0

location of the campus - Cranfield University is situated just 75km northwest of London in the British countryside. It has easy access by road M1, rail from nearby Milton Keynes and has a local airstrip for those who want to fly in! So when you do get a spare time at the end of term, you can then do some traveling to the rest of the UK and Europe.” Go to Cranfield School of Management to read more.

skills in Demand – MBA graduates have greater access to more of the type of jobs that they want and in many cases can command significant salary increases.

senior Roles – The additional skills will lead you, if you are so inclined, to some very senior job roles – CEOs and very senior managers of multi-million dollar international companies. Past Cranfield MBA Alumni have held senior positions at: ANZ Banking Group, PBL and others.

rarity Value – In the whole of Australia you will be one of a limited and small number of people qualified with an international, high quality, MBA. You will be one of an elite few.

friendships and Network – The value of gaining like-minded friends and associates is immense. You will develop some very close friendships which last many years – some MBAs have actually married each other. The Cranfield name will allow you to join the world-wide network which will give you access to a wide range of like minded individuals. The Australian Alumni comprises a mix of Australians who have returned home, as well as individuals from Overseas who have “seen the light” and made Australia their home.

Further reading

You will need to read a lot about the MBA itself, the selection process, and what happens after. We suggest you do the usual Google trawl for appropriate sites. We have listed some of them below. They are a valuable source of information that will guide you.