In a few weeks, cleaners at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) should be applying a final coat of polish to the international "MBA Olympics" trophy, ready for its return to the Canadian city of Montreal.
Should be, but won’t. Thanks to Covid-19, GSB is about to become the first business school in more than a quarter of a century to be reigning champion for two years in a row.
The competition requires teams of four students to analyse unpublished business case studies, then devise practical solutions to problems. Their detailed plans are presented to a jury of business executives.
Scores of business schools and universities apply each year, but only 36 are accepted for the competition — the John Molson MBA International Case Competition — which takes place at Concordia University in Montreal.
Having won in January — the first African team to do so — GSB should have returned to defend its victory next January. But, because of Covid-19, the 2021 version of the competition, which has been held annually since 1982, has been cancelled.
Johannes Schueler, the senior lecturer who coaches GSB teams, says the imposing trophy, now in his office, will remain at the school until 2022.
The last team to keep it for two years was Canada’s University of Calgary, which won the competition in 1994 and 1995.
The competition epitomises what an MBA degree is supposed to provide: the ability to turn academic theory into practical application.
The abiding question is: does it? The MBA has been around for more than a century and there are many who argue it is still stuck in its illustrious past.
The MBA’s relevance is questioned regularly. After the 2008/2009 global financial crash, when MBA graduates were deemed to be responsible for much of the financial skulduggery that ruined millions of lives, the degree was demonised for encouraging greed and dishonesty.
Business schools responded by making ethics and governance core parts of their programmes (it doesn’t seem to have made much difference to business morals) and trumpeted their commitment to social responsibility and sustainability.
More recently, the MBA, which teaches general management and leadership skills, has come under threat from specialist master’s degrees in business-related skills such as finance, marketing and strategy. Once again, though, it appears to be holding its own.
That’s because it covers all business bases, says Owen Skae, director of Rhodes Business School.
The criticism that an MBA graduate is "a jack of all trades but master of none" is not true.
"An MBA is about integrated thinking," he says. "Of course we need specialists, people who are experts in different disciplines. But most of all we need leaders who understand how they all go together."
This is particularly so not only in SA’s confused economic and political environment, but also in a Covid world, where time-honoured business assumptions no longer apply.
As Milpark Business School dean Cobus Oosthuizen says: "The way our world is unfolding, I’m likely to give employment preference to a generalist rather than someone with a sliver of the skills."
Segran Nair, head of the GSB’s MBA programme, also notes the importance of the degree in the present moment, saying: "An MBA teaches critical thinking under pressure in an unforeseen crisis. The pandemic is a classic example of such a crisis."
Renee Horne, MBA programme head at Wits Business School, believes Africa desperately needs to develop political and business leaders — something her MBA is designed to do. "Will people be as prepared for this with a finance master’s?" she asks.
Kobus Jonker, director of the Tshwane School for Business & Society, says: "The MBA develops problem-solvers and decision-makers. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the lack of both in our society. The need for the MBA is greater than ever."
Many in SA appear to share that view. The MBA may be losing ground in some countries, but in SA demand remains strong.
Market research for this 21st annual FM review of SA MBAs shows that a record 7,555 people applied to participating schools last year, to start MBAs in 2020.
Most were disappointed. Apart from a small number of places reserved for (mostly black) candidates with the right business experience but inadequate academic qualifications, students are required to have at least an honours degree or equivalent. As a result, only 42% of the 7,555 applicants were accepted. When the academic year started, a mere 29% had actually registered. The rest were deterred by lack of finance and realisation of the personal sacrifice required to complete an MBA.
As the accompanying tables show, programme fees range from under R100,000 to well over R300,000 (nearly R500,000 if you are a foreign student). You don’t commit to that if you’re not 100% confident of your ability to see it through.
That commitment is being tested at the moment. Covid-19 could destroy the aspirations of many students hoping to study MBAs from 2021 — either because their personal financial circumstances are stretched or because their employers are cutting back on sponsorships. Applications to most schools seem to be holding up, but no-one knows yet how many will actually study.
The good news for would-be students is that there are more options than before. Johannesburg Business School launched its MBA this year. Director Lyal White says he hoped to start with 50 students and ended up with 80.
According to White, 98% of the students are black. "We set out to appeal to black businesspeople. We’re a bit like a start-up ourselves so we want to work with people who have established small and medium businesses. We’re not set up for corporates," he says.
Durban University of Technology’s faculty of management sciences plans to launch an MBA in 2021.
Executive dean Fulu Netswera says the programme is likely to start midyear. "We had hoped to be ready for January, but because of complications caused by Covid, we are now planning to welcome our first students in June," he says.
The Covid-induced wholesale switch to online teaching has also opened new opportunities. The Council on Higher Education (CHE), which accredits MBA programmes in SA, gave schools temporary permission early this year to suspend face-to-face classroom teaching and move programmes wholly online.
Not all students like the move — many miss the personal interaction and networking that is part of the traditional MBA — but others are attracted by the convenience.
The downside is that online programmes aren’t necessarily any cheaper. The view of most schools is that an MBA is an MBA, whatever the study mode. Schools traditionally charge the same for full-and part-time degrees.
Andile Nobatyi, acting academic director at the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership, says some students have demanded tuition fee reductions because of the switch to virtual teaching. But, he says, "we believe that the need to reskill and improve employability chances will offset such calls".
Though fees have remained the same, schools have, where appropriate, tried to help students struggling to pay because of job loss or salary reductions caused by the pandemic. Regenesys Business School cut online MBA fees by 60% between May and August. Elsewhere, most assistance is on a case-by-case basis.
The only general saving this year is on overseas study trips, an integral part of several MBA programmes, but cancelled in 2020 because of travel restrictions.
At Pretoria University’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs), the trip is priced in US dollars and costs between $4,620 and $7,230.
At the University of Stellenbosch Business School, MBA head Jako Volschenk says: "We have repaid students over R70,000 each because they can no longer travel."
Not all have accepted the refund. Some consider the trip such an important part of the MBA experience that they have opted to delay graduation by a year to travel in 2021.
There is no guarantee they will be able to. It’s anyone’s guess when the virus will be controlled, when a vaccine will be available or when unrestricted travel will be permissible.
This abundance of unknowns is a headache for schools. This is the time of year when their MBA marketing reaches its peak, but few are sure what they can promise students in 2021.
They hope the CHE will extend the MBA online teaching exemption into next year at least.
Randall Jonas, director of the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) Business School and chair of the SA Business Schools Association, says: "We have made it clear we want it to continue."
Some schools are already allowing MBA students back on campus, under strict social distancing rules, while others have declared themselves off-limits for the rest of the year.
What they all have in common is not knowing what teaching format they will be able to offer in 2021. While most hope to offer at least weekend or evening block-release classroom sessions, there is no guarantee.
Full-time students, particularly foreign ones relocating to SA for the duration of their programme, face a doubly difficult decision.
Despite all these challenges, schools appear not to be unduly worried about demand for 2021 programmes. Ana Martins, interim dean of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Graduate School of Business & Leadership, says applications so far are "better than anticipated".
At the Management College of Southern Africa, director Zaheer Hamid says student admission goals are "largely on track".
And Gibs academic programmes director Louise Whittaker says classes are likely to be full, despite a drop in applications. Financial reality appears to have deterred most of those who usually drop out during the selection process from even considering an application this year.
Rhodes’s Skae thinks a lot of students are waiting to see what will happen: "They are hedging their bets."
NMU has extended its application deadline by one month for this reason.
Despite challenges, nearly all SA business schools are on schedule with their 2020 MBA programmes. Jan van Romburgh, acting director of North-West University Business School, speaks for several when he says: "We have eased some assessment deadlines to take pressure off students, but we are generally on target to meet deadlines."
Some situations have required special management. Stellenbosch’s MBA offers health-care-specific electives.
"A lot of our students have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid," says Volschenk. "They took huge strain and this persuaded us to give them a month’s break from the programme."
Some schools have asked students to switch on computer cameras and microphones so moderators can check on them while they are writing exams at home.
Regenesys CEO Leoni Grobler says that instead of formal exams, some students have been allowed to submit "exam-equivalent" assignments.
For the most part, though, schools say the switch from classroom teaching to the virtual kind has gone smoothly — with some obstacles.
Some students have no access to technology, including Wi-Fi. In many cases, schools have provided them with free data and other forms of support.
Martins says: "The main challenge [for UKZN] is reaching students in remote villages where internet access is volatile and minimal. When national lockdown levels eased, the university ensured data distribution and connectivity to all students."
This lack of universal digital coverage is one of the reasons education authorities have been slow to approve wholesale online education. But Henley Africa Business School dean Jon Foster-Pedley says: "They are very conscious of the digital divide but you can’t stop 80% because 20% don’t have access. The government must be proactive."
Wits academic quality assurance head Sue Benvenuti says in deciding which students may return to campus, "we are prioritising people who need special access and technology".
Covid-19 has had a huge impact on MBA programmes, including a hefty nudge toward online learning
— What it means:
Some lecturers have required special training to adjust to the virtual classroom. Many students have had to relearn how to learn. It’s not been revolutionary, however. Covid-19 has merely accelerated a previous evolution towards online education.
Regent Business School director Ahmed Shaikh says: "The situation has forced us all to innovate. What we had planned to do at Regent by 2025 we have been forced to do now."
Students themselves appear to be divided on the shift to online. Van Romburgh says: "They tell us they want to be in class and to interact. They are fed up with the virtual environment."
But Oosthuizen counters: "Many of our [students] say they didn’t know online could be engaging. They thought it would be impersonal and dull and they would miss classroom interaction. Now they have experienced it, they say it fits in with their lives."
For some institutions, the future is unequivocally online. Unisa’s Nobatyi says: "We wil not be returning to the old classroom. All our future planning centres on online delivery and an e-working environment.
"Unisa has resolved to operate in an e-working environment in the future."
The research sample
Fourteen business schools took part in market research for this annual report. They were the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business; the University of the Free State Business School; the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science; Henley Business School — Africa; Johannesburg Business School, at the University of Johannesburg; the Management College of Southern Africa (Mancosa); Regent Business School; Milpark Business School; Nelson Mandela University Business School; Regenesys Business School; Rhodes Business School, at Rhodes University; the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership; the University of Stellenbosch Business School; and Wits Business School, part of Wits University.
Unisa offers both an MBA and a master of business leadership (MBL) degree. Unless stated, figures in these tables reflect both degrees.
Four more schools contributed to the editorial:
Durban University of Technology’s faculty of management sciences; the University of KwaZulu-Natal Graduate School of Business & Leaders hip; North-West University Business School; and the Tshwane School for Business & Society, at the Tshwane University of Technology.
For the graduate research, 934 graduates from these schools answered questions on their MBA experience.
We then asked 300 companies, state enterprises and government departments for their experience of MBA graduates and perceptions of schools.
Respondents came from all nine provinces, weighted according to each province’s contribution to GDP.
Research was carried out by Lodestar Marketing Research.
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