Oxford’s Saïd Business School Planning £60m Expansion
The Financial Times reports an Oxford expansion is in the works, with upwards of £60 million planned for the Saïd Business School.
What are the Most Successful MBA Startups of 2018?
Earlier this month, LinkedIn released its 2018 list for the Top Startups in the U.S. The list includes 50 of the newest successful startups in the U.S. Most specifically, the list analyzes young companies that are experiencing exceptional employee growth, increasing interest, member engagement, and talent. The social media platform used its network of 575 million members to see which startups commanded the most attention and had the most top talent. To be eligible, startups need to be less than seven years old, have at least 50 employees, and be privately held and headquartered in the U.S.
We decided to take a look at the list and see which of these year’s startups were founded by an MBA. This list is by no means exhaustive, but quickly we were able to find founders and CEOs with MBAs from top universities such as USC Marshall, Wharton, Harvard Business School, and Columbia Business School. Continue reading…
Oxford Saïd MBA Deadlines Have Arrived
The newest batch of Oxford University MBA deadline dates have been announced for the Saïd Business School, going in to the 2018-19 academic season.
Round One
Deadlines: September 7, 2018
Final Decision: October 19, 2018
Round Two
Deadlines: November 2, 2019
Final Decision: December 14, 2019
Round Three
Deadlines: January 11, 2019
Final Decision: March 22, 2019
Round Four
Deadlines: April 5, 2019
Final Decision: June 7, 2019
Head over to the official Oxford Saïd website for more application information.
Financial Times Ranks the Top MBAs for Entrepreneurs
Leading entrepreneurs in the business world today can often be seen as trailblazers, standing strong and independent in an often cutthroat world. What isn’t seen as often is the kind of support—whether financial capital or mentorships—that can help get an idea off the ground. In recent years, business schools and MBA programs around the globe have made this kind of support for new businesses a core part of their operation, often offering entrepreneurship majors, business pitch competitions, startup incubators and more.
Each year, The Financial Times releases their ranking of the best MBA programs for entrepreneurship, helping up-and-coming entrepreneurs to make informed choices about the best program for their career and startup goals. Its latest ranking, for 2018, has just been released.
The 2018 ranking of the top MBA’s for entrepreneurship compiled fifty schools from around the world. A number of factors went into determining which schools would make the grade, including the percentage of graduates who started a company after earning their degree, percentage of female entrepreneurs, the extend to which funding from the school or from the school’s alumni network helped in the creation of new businesses, and more. These factors combined would help decide in what position a school would fall on the ranking.
This year, schools in the United States took the top three spots on the list: the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Two UK business schools—the Lancaster University Management School and the Cass Business School—rounded out the top five.
Despite dipping numbers of students, the Stanford Graduate School of Business entrepreneurship program is still the top-ranked in the world, according to the Financial Times.
At Stanford, although it still ranked as the best school for entrepreneurship globally, there was actually a significant drop since in the number of students starting a business within three years of graduation. This year, it was just 22 percent of students compared with last year’s 36 percent. Babson College’s Olin Graduate School of Business also witnessed a drop; from 52 percent last year to 37 percent in 2018.
One explanation for the drop, however, is not that interest in entrepreneurship is declining, but instead being taken on more as a ‘side hustle’ than a full-time career. This was certainly the case for Samantha Penabad, a former strategy manager at Accenture and MBA at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, who has been working on a digital donation platform called GivingFund. Although she didn’t intend on becoming an entrepreneur when she started business school, tutors at the university helped her to develop a business plan and a fellow student with finance experience joined as a co-founder. The service is scheduled to launch later this month.
But GivingFund remains a side job for Penabad, who will be taking on a full-time job in strategy and operations at Google in New York after graduation. As a result, someone like Penabad will be not be included in data for students starting businesses after graduation, but among those accepting full-time jobs. Students pursuing similar paths—working full-time but starting businesses on the side—may help explain the dip in entrepreneurship that many MBA programs are witnessing.
One reason behind this trend may be the fact that many students see a full-time role as just one step to eventually starting their own company. By putting their skills to work at a top company like Amazon or Google, students are able to more quickly pay off their student loans, which means eventually starting a business debt free. Companies like Amazon also may seek out those with entrepreneurial experience, because it demonstrates an attractive leadership quality.
“We welcome applicants with an entrepreneurial spirit,” says Amazon’s senior manager of campus recruiting, Dee Clarke. “They are given the ownership over their work, like they would [in] their own business, but within a global support network that provides added guidance and support.”
Guthrie Jones, an MBA at London’s Cass Business School, holds a similar philosophy. Although he had no intention of getting into entrepreneurship, he couldn’t stop thinking about one particular business idea and decided he’d have to pursue it. Guthrie believes his company, Icepick, which lets people rent out space on their hard drives, has the potential to become a global business. Still, if he right opportunity for a salaried role came up after graduation, he would gladly shift his plan to the side.
Nevertheless, student interest in studying entrepreneurship as part of their MBA has grown at schools like Cass. Part of this may be the result of Cass’s £10m investment fund, which has not only supported new MBA start-ups but has also trained students in the process of investing.
Financial Times MBA Entrepreneur Ranking (2018)
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business (Babson)
- Tuck Business School (Dartmouth)
- Lancaster University Management School
- Cass Business School (City University)
- Otto Beisheim School of Management (WHU)
- IMD Business School
- Saïd Business School (Oxford)
- Harvard Business School
- Judge Business School (Cambridge)
The MBA Real Estate Boom: Inside The Schulich Real Estate Program
Real estate is booming. In fact, according to the Financial Times, commercial property asset values and investment yields have surpassed levels prior to the Great Recession, and there is continued strong demand for offices, urban apartments, and more. It’s all thanks to continued low interest rates and tight supply.
What has this real estate boom meant for business schools? It’s meant a decrease in interest in banking and an increase in interest for real estate study, particularly among MBA students who understand the cycle and want to get involved while they can. The reality is that there are many jobs in real estate, and that’s what MBA students want.
According to Sherena Hussain, an assistant professor in Infrastructure at the York University Schulich School of Business, “The real estate and infrastructure sectors account for a large proportion of a nation’s GDP.” So, it shouldn’t be surprising that many top MBA programs are prioritizing real estate curriculum, specializations, and clubs for their students.
Real Estate and Infrastructure at the Schulich School
Real estate and infrastructure have an indispensable role at the Schulich School. Not only does the school offer a Master of Real Estate and Infrastructure (REI), but MBA students can also specialize their curriculum with a focus on REI. The MBA specialization focuses on “creating and maintaining places for living, working, shopping, learning, recreation and culture, and the critical accompanying support systems ranging from mobility and logistical networks, to utilities and energy supply,” according to the school website.
One of the reasons behind the MBA REI specialization at Schulich is Toronto itself.
“Many of the leading global Real Estate and Infrastructure firms are located in Toronto,” explains Hussain. “If you are interested in a career in real estate and infrastructure, Schulich’s MBA specialization is a rare opportunity to develop your understanding, skills, and network in a way that leverages the specialization’s top-tier reputation and committed faculty and alumni base.”
As part of the REI specialization, students must complete 12 credits focused on real estate including two required courses: Real Estate Finance & Investment and Development Prototypes. Other potential courses include:
- Partnership Models for Infrastructure Delivery
- Structuring Real Estate Transactions
- Commercial Real Estate Asset Management
“The idea behind the REI MBA specialization is to bring students to industry and industry into the classroom,” Hussain outlined in an email exchange with MetroMBA.
“Our faculty and sessional instructors have real-world experience and bring this perspective into the classroom by leveraging experiential learning at its finest. Examples include flying in senior policy officials to judge a capstone assignment about international infrastructure, bringing leading CEOs into the classroom as guest speakers in REI investment classes, or partnering with a leading national-law firm to have our students learn how to negotiate joint venture agreements. This is a small sample of how the REI MBA specialization approaches holistic learning.”
But holistic learning isn’t just regulated to the MBA program and inside classrooms. It can be found throughout the school, including within Schulich’s Real Estate and Infrastructure Club (SREIC).
Schulich Real Estate and Infrastructure Club
SREIC is open to all Schulich business students interested in learning more about pursuing a career in real estate and infrastructure. The club acts as a liaison between students, the industry, and professionals.
“SREIC offers MBA students an opportunity to supplement their learning with real-world, co-curricular programming and unique networking opportunities,” says Hussain. “It’s a student-run group that has the full backing of Schulich’s Real Estate and Infrastructure program faculty, and it is one of the most active student groups at the business school.”
Programming offered by the club includes:
- Value-Oriented Programming: site visits, breakfast seminars, conference engagements, project panels, case competitions, etc.
- Deep Industry and Alumni Relations: on a one-on-one and broad basis through speed mentoring, recruitment breakfasts, and keynote events.
- Leadership Development Opportunities: including the semi-annual resume book circulated to recruiters and senior leaders.
There are also several keynote events that take place each year including Schulich’s Developers’ Den international case competition, ARGUS training, and Schulich’s annual Perspectives Lecture. And one event that just took place in February was the annual New York City real estate study tour.
The study tour is part of a partnership with Columbia University’s real estate program, beginning several years ago. It’s a three-day intensive and transformative real estate experience that takes students to site visits and tours of leading real estate and infrastructure firms all over NYC. Some of those firms include Blackstone, Related Companies, Oxford, Vornado Realty, WSP, Brookfield, and Silverstein Properties. The goal is to give students a glimpse into the future of real estate
“Schulich students benefit from learning more about a new market, as well as having a basis for global comparative learning,” Hussain explains. “The partnership [with Columbia] offers an opportunity to develop a network of peers engaged in commercial real estate development in New York City and across the U.S. Each year, the club visits a development class held at Columbia University to learn more about their approaches to learning about real estate. In return, the Schulich School hosts an annual friendship dinner in Manhattan to offer more opportunities for students, alumni, and friends of industry from Canada and the U.S. to forge relationships.”
The trek is a unique event that gives Schulich students a chance to explore real estate and infrastructure in a whole new way.
“The 2018 SREIC New York trip was an excellent and well-balanced learning experience for students who are truly passionate about real estate and infrastructure,” says James Chang, an MBA student working to his REI specialization. “A prime example of ‘outside the classroom’ learning with the perfect balance between education, relationship building, and fun. I would highly recommend it to students in the MREI or MBA program to take advantage of this opportunity next year!”
To learn more about real estate and infrastructure at the Schulich School of Business, visit the school’s website.
Interview with John Gilligan: The New Director of the Oxford Saïd Finance Lab
Are you looking to dive deep into finance during your MBA program with the opportunity to interact with banking firms, funds, and industry leaders? That’s the theory behind the Finance Lab at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Continue reading…
