Business School Briefing: FT Online MBA ranking; job titles

Welcome to Business School Briefing. We offer you insights from Andrew Hill and Jonathan Moules, and the pick of top stories being read in business schools. Edited by Wai Kwen Chan and Andrew Jack.

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The wait is over. Find out which schools are in our ranking of Online MBA degrees. Learn how the table was compiled and view a list of Online MBA programmes in our directory. Also, read the rest of our coverage at ft.com/online-learning.

What is the secret of a successful MBA application? We asked a panel of admissions experts for their best advice and insights for business school candidates

Andrew Hill’s management challenge

Elon Musk’s self-coronation as Tesla’s “technoking” had me thinking this week about the hidden benefits of fun titles. 

Research suggests that picking a light-hearted title that expresses your identity in the organisation can reduce stress, improve psychological safety, and encourage rapport with outsiders. The management challenge this week is simple. Recast yourself with the title that you’d like to have — or alternatively, grant an appropriate title to some prominent executive (keep it civil) — and send the details of your new business card to [email protected].

Last week, I asked for your tips about how to use the limited time in the day better. Sharath pointed out that you need to pick your multitasking choices carefully: “Muscle memory tasks are easy to do in parallel — however multi tasking with intellectual tasks proves more difficult as it leads to context-switching costs.”

Further reading this week is actually further listening. Those who are able to tune in to BBC Radio should make a point of listening to Margaret Heffernan’s short Analysis programme on “the fine art of decision-making”. It contains much wisdom from politicians, businesspeople and the occasional spy about how to set a course in times of uncertainty (plot spoiler: algorithms are not the solution).

Jonathan Moules’ business school news

Prior to Covid-19, offering an online MBA was a choice. Post pandemic, no business school can afford not to have a credible online teaching platform. The FT’s 2021 online MBA ranking, published this week, illustrates the expanding choices including programmes offered by leading brands like Imperial College Business School.

Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business is the latest institution to freeze tuition costs for the next academic year, following notably Harvard and Chicago Booth. At $77,500 a year, Tuck charges more than any other MBA provider.

The UK might have split from the EU, but its business schools remain keen to increase cross-border ties. The latest example is Lancaster University Management School, which has announced an intensified partnership with Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management, encouraging academics from the two institutions to share ideas through a staff exchange programme.

For further reading, I recommend the following blog post from Y Combinator’s Jared Friedman to anyone in academia with a good idea for a new business: it offers a list of useful pointers on successful university spin outs. 

Data line

As technologies for virtual learning rapidly evolve and improve, it is expected that online MBA teaching materials will follow this trend, says Leo Cremonezi. The overall quality of teaching materials used in online MBA degrees is highly rated by alumni of business schools ranked by the FT in 2021. Also, view more alumni feedback on Online MBAs — in charts.

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Top business school reads

Junior Goldman Sachs bankers complain of 95-hour week Group of first-year analysts send slide deck to management calling for reforms to reduce workload

UK draws up ‘traffic light’ plan for summer holiday travel Whitehall departments remain at odds over how rapidly to lift ban on most overseas trips

Fed signals no rate rise until at least 2024 despite growth upgrade Central bank expects US economy to expand 6.5{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} this year because of stimulus and vaccine rollout

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