South Africa is becoming the target for international business schools anxious to sign up the country’s high-calibre students, but also to create a launchpad into the rest of Africa. Faced with ageing populations in traditional markets, they are lured by the size and relative youthfulness of the African population.
At an MBA expo in Joburg this month, a record 12 foreign business schools from as far afield as Spain, France, Switzerland, Canada, the UK and the US touted their programmes to hundreds of potential South African students keen to broaden their business education horizons.
Segran Nair, director of Milpark Business School — one of several local institutions whose MBA programmes are internationally accredited — believes it’s only a matter of time before more major foreign schools establish South African campuses.
Henley Africa, an offshoot of UK-based Henley Business School, has been here for many years and become a leading member of the local business schools community. Its South African MBA students are among the top achievers in the global group.
More recently, Duke Corporate Education, part of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in the US, has carved out a sizeable share of the local executive education market not only by bringing international expertise to the game but also tailoring it to local needs.
Not everyone achieves that. Australian and UK schools are among others that tried and failed in South Africa, mainly because their local MBA programmes were virtual carbon copies of those offered by their parent universities, with limited relevance to the local market or the broader African ones.
That remains a potent argument against South African students undertaking foreign MBAs. During audience discussions at the recent expo, local and overseas school representatives traded opinions about whether a US MBA, for example, prepared South African students for a career in Africa. While there is no doubt that many business principles are global, local or regional realities are not.
“Foreign MBAs lack African context,” says DaVinci Business School CEO HB Klopper firmly.
For many South African students, however, that is not an issue. Local business schools may be world class, and have the international accreditations to prove it, but the perception that a foreign MBA is somehow superior can’t be eradicated.
In some cases, the African focus of a local qualification can seem a disadvantage. For the growing number of South Africans planning to quit the country and make their fortunes elsewhere, an African slant is the last thing they want.
Representatives of foreign schools at the expo — even those that have attracted South African students before — admit they were surprised by the increased level of interest.
Daniella Wagner, marketing and recruitment assistant director for the executive MBA programme at Insead Business School, reveals that the Paris-based institution already has more than 900 South African alumni, though not all for the MBA.
The University of St Gallen in Switzerland is “in an exploratory phase to assess the level of increased demand”, says marketing and talent manager Andrea Echeverri.
As for the US, South African students are prized not just for their academic talent but for the different business perspectives they bring to the classroom, according to Rebecca Mallen-Churchill, recruitment director for the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Jako Volschenk, MBA head at Stellenbosch Business School, says: “South Africans are used to obstacles and to the going being tough in ways that other students can’t comprehend. They bring a different and balanced context to the classroom.”
South Africans are used to obstacles and to the going being tough in ways that other students can’t comprehend. They bring a different and balanced context to the classroom
— Jaco Volschenk
Students aren’t the only ones eyeing the international route. Market research for this cover story shows some employers think their executives can benefit more from the cachet of a foreign MBA. Their favourite, perhaps not surprisingly, is Harvard Business School in the US, followed by London (UK), Insead, Stanford (US), Cambridge (UK), MIT/Sloan (US), Oxford (UK) and Columbia (US).
The last of these, coincidentally, topped the 2023 London Financial Times ranking for the world’s best full-time MBA programme.
One of the main drawbacks of a foreign MBA is cost. South African programmes in 2023 are priced from below R100,000 to just over R500,000. Study at a reputable school in the US or Europe and you’ll be very, very, very lucky to get change from R1m. At some the real cost can be double that.
That may be fine for a corporate sponsoring one of its high-flyers, but a self-funding individual?
Don’t panic, say schools. Echeverri tells the FM that South African students can apply for St Gallen bursaries worth up to 40% of programme costs. Some US schools say their scholarships run as high as 70%.
A number of companies offer study-now, pay-later deals to South Africans studying overseas. Megan Williams, student adviser at Sable International, says her company is helping scores of young South Africans in this way.
Repayment may be less traumatic than students think, says Vivien Tran, recruitment and admissions manager at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business in Canada. She says North American student visas allow recipients to live and work there for a period after completing their courses. In Canada, an MBA graduate can stay up to four years. Make a success of your time there and you’ll be repaying rand loans with dollars.
Mallen-Churchill says 97% of Arizona’s full-time MBA students have a job within three months of graduating.
South Africa has world-class business schools, world-class facilities and world-class accreditations
— Mark Smith
None of this is meant to detract from the value of a South African MBA. Four local schools can boast the “triple crown” of international accreditation: from the Association of MBAs, or Amba, in the UK; the Quality Improvement System from the European Foundation for Management Development, better known as Equis; and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in the US.
As of June this year, only 124 business schools around the world, of an estimated 30,000, held that triple crown distinction. In addition, eight local MBA programmes are accredited by Amba. What all this adds up to is that South African business education is world class.
This quality is what makes the country such a desirable target for foreign business schools, says Stellenbosch director Mark Smith. “It is a recognition of the talent that exists in the country but also perhaps the potential role of South Africa as a hub for management education on the continent.”
Some leading European and US schools have already created satellite campuses in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, so setting up shop here would be a continuation of this activity. In fact, Smith considers it inevitable.
“One of the key characteristics of the markets these international schools originate from is that they are rather saturated and that the populations are ageing. As in any sector of the economy, organisations facing saturated markets seek new markets to sell their products and services,” he says.
“Unlike Europe, North America and parts of Asia, where birth rates are falling below replacement rates, Africa offers an expanding supply of young people.”
Global demand for postgraduate students is sky high. A Netherlands student portal lists more than 22,000 master’s degrees in business and management around the world. With the breakdown in international boundaries through online teaching, accelerated by Covid, South Africa is bound to become a battleground.
“One does not have to spend much time on social media in South Africa before an advert appears from an overseas university offering an online or hybrid programme,” says Smith.
The competition is not just for South African students, but for those across Africa and beyond.
“South Africa has world-class business schools, world-class facilities and world-class accreditations,” says Smith. With an openness to world-class academics and students, it could become a key educational destination for the continent and an important export industry for the country.”
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