Increasing the number of black MBA students has been a long-term goal of South African business schools. Now, with black students in an overwhelming majority, many say affirmative selection is no longer necessary. There is also debate over the need to continue with a programme that reserves up to 10% of places for people without the requisite academic qualifications.
As recently as 20 years ago, many MBA classrooms were strikingly white. That has changed. Of the 6,050 South African students now studying for an MBA at the 17 schools taking part in our research, 4,510 — almost 75% — are black.
Da Vinci Business School CEO HB Klopper believes schools should continue to increase their black ratios “because black students are still underrepresented in the corporate world and an MBA degree can help them to close this gap”.
Klopper appears to be in a minority. Rhodes Business School director Owen Skae acknowledges the need for the student body to be “diverse, equitable and inclusive”, but he doesn’t believe schools “need to be specific in proactive recruitment of black students, as the numbers show that the MBA is a degree of choice for black professionals”.
Wits Business School (WBS) acting MBA director Mills Soko says: “We have no quota for blacks or whites. The demographics take care of themselves.”
Henley Africa dean Jon Foster-Pedley tells the FM that MBA enrolments and graduations at the school have been at record levels in recent years. Of students enrolled now, about 68% are black — “a level that was reached several years ago and has been organically maintained ever since”. He adds that women account for about half of MBA students — in line with the average at other schools.
Kobus Jonker, director of the Tshwane School for Business & Society, says the challenge lies not in attracting black students but in finding the black academics to teach them. Though numbers are increasing, they are well below where schools would like them to be.
He says: “I don’t think positive transformation is necessary in MBAs any more. It happens naturally. But we still need to transform the business school staff component. I don’t think we have enough black people coming through, particularly with a business background. When they do emerge, they tend to be snapped up by business and industry, which can pay them more. But there are some dynamic young black professors coming through.”
We have no quota for blacks or whites. The demographics take care of themselves
— Mills Soko
Other schools share that view. Where there is less unanimity is on the issue of reserving MBA places for people without the academic qualifications to study for a master’s degree but with the business experience and acumen to do so. This “recognition of prior learning” (RPL) is theoretically colour blind, but was introduced with black students in mind — notably those whose education was limited by the system’s failings or through their personal circumstances.
As a master’s degree, entry to the MBA should be limited to students with an honours or equivalent qualification, such as a business-based postgraduate diploma. The MBA, however, has always had a split personality. Whatever its academic level, it has traditionally been considered a “professional” degree, intended to impart hands-on, practical management and leadership skills.
It’s a point of contention among the country’s business schools — more so since the MBA was raised from a level 8 qualification under the National Qualification Framework to level 9, says Paresh Soni, academic director of the Management College of Southern Africa. “That made it more of an academic qualification,” he tells the FM. “Traditionally, people come to the MBA for management education; the higher requirement makes that difficult.”
For Sean Jugmohan, acting head of the department for executive education at Durban University of Technology Business School, RPL has its place in MBA intake. “We recognise the importance of practical experience [in providing] access to formal qualifications, and accord applicants an opportunity without compromising on the quality and credibility of the qualifications,” he says.
But, he adds: “Schools need to be more flexible in their admissions criteria. For example, they could consider accepting students with relevant work experience or who have completed a bridging course.”
Joe Musandiwa, MBA programme manager at Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership at the University of Limpopo, is also in the RPL enrolment camp — however, he says, there needs to be a set process in place. “At the University of Limpopo, there is a rigorous RPL process that is administered before any student who does not have prerequisite entry requirements is accepted in the programme,” he explains. “The process [is] to ensure that a particular student may stand a better chance of succeeding.”
Skae makes a similar point: “It is essential that the criteria for admission are consistent and based on a portfolio of evidence that meets the rigours of the programme.”
We recognise the importance of practical experience [in providing] access to formal qualifications, and accord applicants an opportunity without compromising on the quality and credibility of the qualifications
— Sean Jugmohan
Some schools argue that the 10% allocation should be increased to 20%, to create more opportunities for businesspeople who would benefit from the wide-ranging skills offered by an MBA.
Jonker, however, believes the current 10% is adequate. And Leenta Grobler, MBA head at North-West University Business School, says bluntly: “Twenty percent is excessive.” Schools must protect the quality and integrity of their qualifications. She says RPL students should rather be directed towards a pre-MBA postgraduate diploma. If they manage that, they can move on to the “real thing”.
RPL recruitment is not compulsory; 10% is the maximum, not a target. For some schools it’s become almost irrelevant. WBS has admitted one RPL candidate in the past three years, says academic director Logan Rangasamy. Johannesburg Business School hasn’t taken in any this year. The institution has “a cautious approach and is studying the process”, says academic director Tankiso Moloi. But, he adds, the school doesn’t “look at the colour of MBA candidates”.
One university that does have a strong focus on RPL is Unisa — South Africa’s largest tertiary education institution. But it is not so much the case at the business school. “We don’t apply any affirmative student selection,” says Peet Venter, academic director of the Graduate School of Business Leadership. “We haven’t had huge numbers at the school. On our MBA and MBL programmes we probably admitted one RPL student each this year. But we will most likely use our website to make more people aware of RPL existence.”
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