More Brunel MBA international graduates able to work in UK this year

The UKBA have announced an extension to the Graduate Entrepreneur scheme for 2013, which will allow each Higher Education Institution to endorse up to 10 places on the scheme for MBA graduates, in addition to the 10 places for graduates of any subject. In general, the UKBA expanded the scheme from April 2013 to include an additional 1000 places for talented international MBA graduates.

Brunel University successfully bid for 10 places last year and following a rigorous application and selection process, we endorsed 5 Graduate Entrepreneurs, who have all since been granted their visas and are working on their businesses and business plans according to the rules of the scheme.

Brunel Placement and Career Centre will be running information seminars in April, with one exclusively for MBA students, to inform them about the scheme, and answer any general questions they might have. Following those seminars students will be asked to express their interest in applying for the Graduate Entrepreneur scheme through an on-line form. Please check the PCC website after Easter for details.

To find out more about the MBA programme please visit the Brunel MBA website. 

MBA vs Specialist Masters – a choice that will decide on your future career.

Prof Francesco Moscone from Brunel Business School gives his view on the choices faced by candidates wishing to pursue Postgraduate Study in the area of Business and Management.

MBAs and specialist Masters have many strengths and similarities, and they differ in several aspects, including contents, students’ experience, and projected career paths.

Essentially, an MBA is a ‘post-experience’ qualification in general management, although some business schools may offer specialist MBA programmes in areas such as aviation and health care. The aim of an MBA is to offer students a holistic overview of how a business works, covering all major functions and practices of a business. As a result, MBA graduates will acquire theoretical and applied knowledge of several core subjects including marketing, international business, entrepreneurship and human resources.  One of the strengths of an MBA is fostering organisation, persuasion, leadership ad team-building skills as well as skills for innovation which are needed to expand career prospects, and tackle the most difficult issues facing businesses and societies. The plurality of students’ professional backgrounds is another key benefit as they may profit from networking with their peers. 

Specialist Master programmes are designed for people in the early stages of their career; immediately after their undergraduate degree or after one/two years on the job. These courses focus more on the theoretical side of the management field than the MBA, equipping students with more specialist knowledge.  A student may opt for a specialised Master if she is more interested in acquiring specific skills required by the industry.

From a pedagogical point of view, although some Masters cover the similar material as the MBA, they have a different teaching style which is more lecture-based. MBAs, in contrast, tend to focus on teamwork, business case studies, and the exchange of individual experience.

In this period of economic downturn investing in a post graduate management course is worthwhile, as the need for well-educated and internationally-oriented graduates will not cease or decrease in the long-term.

As people leave jobs in industries as a result of the economic crisis, an MBA is a unique opportunity for ambitious leaders to secure a better management position. A specialist Master is a worthwhile investment in order to stand out in a demanding and competitive job market.

Professor Francesco Moscone is the Director of the Brunel MBA programme and the former head of the Centre of Research into Entrepreneurship, International Business in Emerging Markets. He has previously worked at the University of Leicester, University of Cambridge, and London School of Economics (LSE). He has held visiting scholar positions at University of California-Berkeley, University Pompeu Fabra, and LSE. He has worked as health economist for the National Collaborating Centre for Women and Children’s Health, and the National Agency for Regional Health Services (Rome, Italy). He is principal investigator on an ESRC (UK government funding) first research grant entitled “Statistical Modelling of Interdependence in Economics”. Additionally he is co-investigator for the grant “Economic Performance and Quality of Life in European Cities” awarded by the Economics Education and Research Consortium. Francesco is also a co-investigator for the grant “Development of new indicators to assess research within scientific areas” awarded by the European Social Fund. Additionally Francesco co investigates a major EU grant entitled “Biopool- Services associated to digitalise contents of tissues in Biobanks across Europe”.

He is associate editor of the journal Economic Modelling and a Member of ESRC Peer Review College.

Times Higher shortlists BBS for Business School of the Year

We are extremely pleased to announce that Brunel Business School has been shortlisted for Business School of the Year Award by the Times Higher Education. Only half a dozen of Business Schools have been shortlisted for the award and Brunel Business School is up against up against Cass, Manchester, LUMS, Exeter and Plymouth.

This title, new for 2012, will be awarded to the business school demonstrating the most outstanding performance in the past academic year. It is open to all business schools in the UK, including those situated within universities and those in the private sector. The winners will be announced at an awards dinner in London on the 29th November.

Prof Zahir Irani, Head of School, explains the background behind our nomination. 

Brunel Business School (BBS) set out a coherent long-term strategy to create a ‘balanced economy’ of teaching and research, transforming itself from a large undergraduate provider to a research-intensive, global competitor with an international complement of staff (over 55% foreign nationals). Focus on quality and student employability, with a managed reduction of undergraduate numbers, drove teaching improvements and enabled BBS to become selective in recruitment. Postgraduate provision, staff research time and PhD supervision also prioritised.  Finally, the purpose built £28 million campus building is a highly visible sign of our commitment to this vision. 

Eastern Gateway Building

In terms of student experience and return on investment we have: 

• Steadily driven up our entry tariffs; 
• Developed ‘Business Life’ as distinguishing employability programme both parallel to and embedded in the curriculum of all course modules. BBS’s National Student Survey results have jumped from 94^th position in 2010 to 29^th in 2011. 
• Launched international student study tours (to India and Turkey) for some Masters programmes, in line with new international strategy.

We cultivated Programmes and Partnerships, such as: 

• Positioned BBS globally, evidenced by Financial Times’ ranking of MSc in Management as 59^th in 2010 and 56^th in 2011 (overtaking Durham, Lancaster and Manchester). 
• The Guardian’s latest (2013) ranking for Business and Management saw BBS jump 52 places, to 45^th. 
• Recently established alumni chapters in Turkey, China and India, with new ones to be announced shortly.

Our Research power continues to improve: 

• RAE2008 positioned BBS in the upper quartile for research, and we are on track to achieve top 15 position for ‘research power’ in the 2013 REF. Percentage of staff submitted jumped from 24% in 2001 to 90% in 2008; a further increase planned for 2013 REF. 
• Research diversity and international collaboration are strong features, with six recognised research centres, recent funding from EU, EPSRC, ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy and Qatar Foundation.

Brunel University has been shortlisted for the prestigious University of the Year award and Brunel University Library has been shortlisted for Outstanding Student Support at the Times Higher Education Awards 2012. Brunel’s shortlisting for University of the Year comes on the back of strong improvement in the annual university league tables in which it was the most improved institution in the UK.

Please see more on THE website

Latest Business School Newsletter is here!

The latest edition of our School newsletter has finally arrived! Enjoy the stories about our students, alumni, staff and the school and so much more for the best insight into what’s on in BBS. Here’s a sneak preview of some of our stories.

Please read the full newsletter here.

2nd International Conference on Islamic Marketing and Branding

We look forward to the 2nd International Conference on Islamic Marketing and Branding organised by the faculty of Business and Accountancy from University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and Brunel Business School, Brunel University, London.

Korea – UK Exchange Programme

Four Brunel Business School students Merisa Bishwakarma, Abubakr Chaudhry, Sara Kahsay and Claire Munday have been taking part in the Korea Aerospace University’s (KAU) foreign summer exchange programme from 5th June to 20th July this year.

Empowering public sector communities in Europe by live video-to-video

Headed by Prof Zahir Irani, the research team from Brunel Business School are participating in LiveCity – a technology integration trial which offers advanced services to over 3000 users in five European cities.

Please read the full newsletter here.

Branding students learn real-life agency – client relationship

In May, MSc Applied Corporate Brand Management students embarked on a company visit to Telefonica Europe head office as part of their study. The visit was led by Professor T C Melewar and organised by the Business Life programme.

Students learn high flying strategy in British Airways HQ

A group of MBA students recently visited the British Airways global headquarters. The aim of the visit was to gain a detailed insight into the history and the future challenges facing this leading player in the aviation industry.

Jaguar and MINI: automobile industry from a management perspective

To bring the tools and techniques of supply chain and logistics management to life, students on the MSc Global Supply Chain Management embarked on a visit to the MINI production plant in Cowley, Oxford. 

Please read the full newsletter here.

International Work Placements are a hit in BBS

The Placement and Careers Centre (PCC) team of Brunel University offers students the opportunity to gain work experience by way of 1-year placements, and more frequently students take up these placements abroad.

Best Placement Student Award

Best Placement Student Award was won by Siobhan Feeney, a Business and Management Undergraduate who did her placement in SAP.

Graduation Ceremony 2012

The graduating class of 2012 enjoyed magnificent weather and celebrations during an exceptional week in Brunel University including the exhilarating spectacle of the Olympic Torch Relay.

Red Carpet event for students

The BBS Academic Programmes Office organized an exciting red carpet event for our final year undergraduate and postgraduate students as they celebrated the submission of their final year dissertations.

The art of Alumni Networking at the Saatchi Gallery, London

The School hosted the annual Alumni Reunion in March 2012 at the beautiful restaurant of the Saatchi Gallery in Central London. This is another of such events held in London, following last year’s successful event in the Albermarle Gallery.

Prof Jarvis chairs Chartered Banker Professional Standard Board’s Advisory Panel

Professor of Accounting, Robin Jarvis from Brunel Business School, has recently been appointed to chair the Advisory Panel of the Chartered Banker Professional Standard Board (CB:PSB).

Dr Yen explores the notion of “guanxi” in new book

Dr Dorothy Yen published a chapter in the book “Exploring Western and Chinese Business Relationship Paradigms”. It provides a comparative overview relating to the Western literature on business relationships and the Chinese notion of “guanxi” – translated as ‘relationships’ and ‘connections’ in English. 

Please read the full newsletter here.

International work placements are a hit in BBS

The Placement and Careers Centre (PCC) Team of Brunel University offers students the opportunity to gain work experience by way of 1 year placements, and more frequently students take up these placements abroad.

Brunel University is extremely proud of its Placement and Career Centre, as it has been consistently voted number 1 in UK for the last three years by students and employers.

PCC Awards

Placements are typically either one year (or two separate periods of up to six months) and are spent in an organisation undertaking a role that is directly relevant to the student’s degree studies.  

The placements can be in the UK but more often students express interest in international destinations where they can combine work with learning about a new culture. The Brunel Business School students have been particularly intrepid in exploring far away countries and often working for companies on a foreign soil. 

Michelle Kavan, deputy director of the Placement and Career Centre, working with the Brunel Business School student placements said:

Last year the team placed over 900 students in a wide range of industries, banking firms, government departments and not for profit organisations. Internationally, the Brunel Business School students are working for Adidas and Intel in Munich, American Express in Dubai, in Libya for the Libya Airlines, and in an import and export company in New York.

If you would like to hear about the experiences of other Brunel students and graduates, there is a range of ways for you to find the stories that interest you most:

i.workat

i.workat.org has been developed by Brunel’s Placement and Careers Centre (PCC) to help you get a real picture of what it’s like to work somewhere. Whether it’s a summer job, internship, placement or graduate job, i.workat has stories written by real Brunel students doing real jobs.  You can browse around the stories, explore what jobs students from your school have done, look at specific kinds of jobs or search for something interesting.

workglobal

brunel.workglobal.org is where you hear stories from our international graduates about their life after Brunel. We asked students from overseas to talk to us about what they are doing now and how Brunel has helped them to either get into or progress in  their careers. You can search by country or degree course, read stories about students’ UK experience and the careers they have moved onto and hear their stories in their own words.

Latest Guardian rankings show our dramatic climb towards the top

Professor Zahir Irani, Head of the Brunel Business School, explains his delight with the results announced in today’s Guardian Tables that show the Brunel Business School (BBS) has jumped some 52 places in the last 12 months to 45th out of 116 universities in the UK .

This meteoric rise has happened by way of a clear strategy that is underpinned by a focus on a relevant curriculum that supports student employability, positive student experience and engaged academic staff. The future represents a challenge for the Higher Education sector, with BBS committed to maximizing students’ employability through its Business Life programme, by providing an intensive programme of professional events that run in parallel with academic studies. We will continue to work with all our stakeholders to help produce job ready graduates.

Here are the headlines:

2011 Brunel University @ 75th out of 120
2012 Brunel University @ 82nd out of 120
2013 Brunel University @ 44th out of 120

Now, for the Business School:

2011 Business and Management @ 101st out of 112
2012 Business and Management @ 97th out of 116
2013 Business and Management @ 45th out of 116

Excellent result for us all!