2021 Brought The Best Job Outcomes In Nearly A Decade At This Top Business School

The highest starting salaries and bonuses in more than eight years. A record number of international students offered U.S.-based positions. More new employers making offers than ever before. Despite the pandemic and an ever-shifting employment landscape, the Babson MBA Class of 2021 had a banner year.

Babson has campuses in Boston, Miami, and San Francisco. The school’s MBA graduates landed positions across a variety of industry sectors, including technology (20%), financial services (20%), consumer packaged goods/retail (16%), and consulting (11%). Total compensation across all sectors was up almost 19% from 2020, and 33 hiring companies were new to Babson this year. Almost half (47%) of Babson’s international MBA graduates accepted positions in the United States, the highest percentage in the history of Babson’s MBA program.

“Employers saw our students for the entrepreneurial leaders they are, and were keenly aware of the need to bring innovative minds into their organization now more than ever,” says Cheri Paulson, senior director of Babson’s Graduate Center for Career Development. “We congratulate our recent graduates for their well-earned success and for paving the way for future students to confidently move forward in any environment.”

Maryland Smith unveils Tech Management MBA & Graduate Certificate program

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is launching a Tech Management MBA Specialty Elective Track and Graduate Certificate targeting managers in public and private sectors.

The 10-month graduate certificate program begins in August 2022. The program — a collaboration with UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering and School of Public Policy — is tailored to “deliver multi-disciplinary skills modern leaders need to successfully identify and implement technology across their organizations and markets,” according to a news release from the school.

Students also will gain a broader strategic understanding of the new economics of innovation and data, how to quantify the lifespan value and risk of investments in new technology and explore both the legal and ethical implications of technology development or adoption.

Applications are open, with student selection on a rolling basis. Currently enrolled Maryland Smith Flex MBA students may opt to replace their second-year electives with the technology management track courses to graduate with both their MBA and Graduate Certificate in Technology Management.

French profs: What effect does accreditation have on B-school choice?

Two French professors have authored an academic paper that examines the impact of business school accreditation on graduate candidates’ choice of program. “The effect of international accreditations on students’ revealed preferences: Evidence from French business schools,” by Julien Jacqmin of NEOMA Business School and Mathieu Lefebvre of Aix-Marseille School of Economics, has been published in The Economics of Education Review.

According to its abstract, the paper “evaluates how three different international accreditations for business schools (AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA) affect student preferences, expressed via enrollment decisions. Focusing on the French context, we build a relative preference indicator to compare schools using data collected by the central clearinghouse that allocates students to schools.” The authors observed that all three accreditations had a significant influence on students, “but that the impact of the AACSB accreditation is larger than the other two accreditations.

They also found a sizeable ‘‘triple crown’’ effect, “meaning that the three accreditations tend to complement each other,” the authors write.

Moscow B-school partners with new school in Armenia

Moscow’s premier business school, the SKOLKOVO School of Management, and the Matena International School of Leadership and Professional Development in Armenia signed a memorandum of understanding on December 6 in Yerevan, agreeing to exchange educational programs and scientific and pedagogical materials, as well as conduct joint educational courses and research.

Teachers and students alike will be able to participate in exchange programs, according to the agreement, and SKOLKOVO and Matena will conduct joint summer schools, webinars, and seminars.

“The SKOLKOVO School of Management is developing our international cooperation and expanding our regional presence, primarily in CIS countries,” says Yuri Levin, dean of SKOLKOVO. “In this sense, Armenia is uniquely located, being a kind of hub connecting Eurasia with the rest of the world. We are happy to take part in such an ambitious and important project and share the experience of our various educational programs, as well our successful examples of introducing new technologies in education.”

The starting point for cooperation, Levin says, will be three joint open programs: for public sector leaders, for top managers, and on women’s leadership.

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