Why The Manchester Met MBA Is The MBA For The World

No matter what you study, the Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University has a key mission: to develop socially and environmentally responsible, highly employable, future leaders.

“The Manchester Met MBA is the MBA for responsible and conscientious leaders,” says Dr. Anastasia Kynighou, associate professor (reader) in HRM, as well as MBA director and academic coordinator for global online programs at Manchester Metropolitan. “We want our graduates to, upon completing their studies, go out in the real world and make an immediate positive impact on their careers, their organizations, and their wider societies.” 

Not surprisingly, the school focuses on the triple bottom line — profit, people, and planet — and embeds sustainability into every module within the MBA program. The programme has also been mapped across the UN SDGs. It’s so ingrained in their programs that Kynighou says they ask applicants about their understanding of what responsible leadership means to them during the interview process for the MBA program. And that, in turn, attracts students already interested in those values. “We get a lot of people that say, I want to come and do your MBA because your core values match my core values as an individual,” Kynighou says. 

A NEW HYBRID APPROACH TO STUDYING

The Manchester Met MBA is a two-year part-time program. The business school itself is triple-accredited, holding accreditations from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Association of MBAs (AMBA), and the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), placing it in the top 1% of accredited business schools worldwide. The program’s structure consists of eight 15-credit modules and two 30-credit projects. Each year, students complete four modules and one project. One of our principles on our MBA to link theory to practice is that we invite guest speakers from industry for each one of our modules, Kynighou says.

The two projects are something Kynighou says are especially attractive about the program. The first-year project is called Transformational Applied Entrepreneurship. “Students are asked to respond to a grant societal challenge and offer a solution using the entrepreneurial cycle,” Kynighou says. In year two, MBAs do a Consultancy in Action project. Students work with real companies and get hands-on experience with what it would be like to be a professional consultant. 

The program is using the brand new HyFlex MBA suite, meaning students can attend modules either virtually or in person. The hybrid structure and program — and the space in which classes are conducted — launched just last year, and it’s supported by a bespoke teaching approach which allows students, remote and in-class, to interact in real-time with their peers and their tutors.  

“We developed this HyFlex space with our MBA students’ needs in mind, considering they are leading very busy professional and personal lives, and used cutting-edge technology and innovative pedagogical approaches,” Kynighou says. “It’s important to note that this is a reflection of the real world, and this is also how people work in business nowadays, in hybrid groups and using hybrid technologies.”

Kynighou says the school has been able to take advantage of technological advancements for hybrid work and learning from the pandemic.

ADVANTAGES OF STUDYING AS AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT

Studying as an international student at Manchester Metropolitan University is a valuable experience in and of itself, Kynighou says. And she would know. Kynighou also studied in Manchester as an international student. “Manchester is the host to some of the best universities in the country,” Kynighou says. “What I loved about being an international student in Manchester is that I was in the heart of the city. Some of my friends who studied at other universities in the U.K. had campuses away from the city center and were isolated. And I had the opportunity to have this vivid social life and attend concerts, theater, and exhibitions.”

Kynighou says the other massive advantage of going to an international business school is meeting people from all over the world — and not just within the walls of the actual business school. Kynighou says. “As a student, you get the opportunity to be part of sports clubs and societies to meet people. And I met people from all over the world, of all races and religions, and learned about their culture.” Kynighou says she still keeps in touch with many friends she made from her university years, even though they’ve scattered throughout the world. “I think Manchester is the place to be”, she says. “It’s not London soo it’s not massive. You can actually walk down Oxford Road and still run into people that you haven’t seen in ages.” 

Another plus, Kynighou says, are the opportunities to stay in Manchester and work, like she did. Numerous thriving industries and companies are looking to hire from local universities.

Career development — both for students and alumni — also continues to be embedded in the program. And that comes from the recent re-development of the MBA program into a hybrid style. “We’ve developed this MBA from scratch,” Kynighou says. “We future-proofed the program, if you like. We wanted to see what the business world needs now and what values we want to embed.” 

That approach manifested in MBA career programming, where students work with an expert career coach to improve their ‘story’ and enhance their employability.  Students also have the opportunity to learn from alumni as part of the MBA alumni mentoring scheme, and they have dedicated academic tutors. “A lot of the time, students can get a bit stuck, or overwhelmed with managing work, personal life, and studies,” Kynighou says. “So we had that idea of linking our students to alumni, but also to allow our alumni to become mentors and pay it forward and be involved again in our program.”

Kynighou says the program is also in the process of developing a Continuous Professional Development opportunities for alumni. “We’re looking at opportunities to upskill them, to bring them back for events, and to bring them back as guest speakers,” Kynighou says. “We are looking at more ways to create this cohesiveness between the past and the future of our MBA.” And I think the alumni are very interested in this opportunity to be mentors.”

However, guiding all of that, and at the heart of the program, Kynighou says, the mission of the Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University dates back to graduating students who aim to change the world for the better. “We want to transform lives, businesses, and communities through education and research, focusing on developing critical and socially conscious leaders and entrepreneurs,” Kynighou says. “And we do exactly that.”