As the supply of M.B.A. graduates outpaces demand in Lebanon in the aftermath of the global recession, students have started to question the benefits of such programs, as well as the possible need to obtain other degrees to boost their chances of getting better jobs and higher salaries.
“I graduated last year with a master’s degree in human resources management from Universite Saint Joseph hoping to get an increase in my salary or a better job position but I could unfortunately not achieve any of my goals until now,” said Nadia, who works in the human resources department of a very well-known bank in Lebanon.
Nadia said she has been working for more than two years in the same position and with the same institution but without any improvements whatsoever. “My salary is the same and they are placing extra responsibilities on my shoulders,” she complained.
Nadia believes that the only way she can improve her career is to enroll for a Professional in Human Resources certification. “I think the M.B.A. is not enough nowadays and certificates are necessary to advance in your career.”
Like many other M.B.A. graduates, Nadia is not sure she made the right decision by pursuing a master’s degree, given the position she has right now. “I honestly believe that I could have been able to reach my current job position and salary without having pursued an M.B.A.,” she said.
Similarly, Maya Rashed, an M.B.A. graduate and an administrative employee at Notre Dame University (N.D.U.), expressed her own doubts that the benefits that M.B.A. has offered her so far. “My M.B.A. did not have a direct positive impact on my job so far,” she said.
However, Maya was much more optimistic than Nadia and said she believes her M.B.A. will get her a better job opportunity and a higher salary in the future. “When you apply to a job with an M.B.A. in hand you can easily ask for a raise,” she said. “The M.B.A. will definitely improve my overall working conditions in the future.”
Contrary to some graduates’ beliefs, scholars say the importance of acquiring an M.B.A. has not been diluted and the demand for such programs has increased despite the recession witnessed in the past couple of years.
“We have seen an increase of 22 percent in the number of applicants to the M.B.A. program during the 2010-2011 academic year,” said M.B.A. program director at the American University of Beirut (A.U.B.) Salim Chahine.
Chahine concedes that the global financial crisis has had a negative effect on everybody. “Nobody can say that companies are hiring more. But companies have to hire and when they are facing crises they usually try to limit their hiring practices to top schools,” he said. He added that companies are back to their old hiring practices and the negative impact of the crisis on M.B.A. recruitments has started to fade.
Chahine emphasized the importance of enrolling in an M.B.A. program by giving an example of an engineer whose job is to design products but who also, at a certain stage, would acquire enough exposure to the product and would like to manage teams working with projects. “Lacking the expertise of an M.B.A. student and the understanding of an organization as well as the relationship between employees and managers, it is difficult to develop a career path that would lead to a managerial position,” he said.
Chahine’s remarks were echoed by the assistant dean of the faculty of business administration and economics at N.D.U. Roy Khoueiri, who reported a 7 percent increase in the number of M.B.A. students at the university during the current academic year as compared to last year. “This is considered to be a tremendous increase and many of our students come from neighboring countries but most of them are Lebanese,” he said.
According to Khoueiri, many N.D.U. M.B.A. students seek to enroll in this program because they were told by their companies that a higher degree is needed to be able to obtain a managerial position in the future. Moreover, in Khoueiri’s opinion, the recession had a positive impact on M.B.A. demand because people previously working in the Gulf region came back to Lebanon after being laid off and enrolled in M.B.A. programs for them to augment their chances of being hired again.
Assistant dean of the business school at the Lebanese American University (L.A.U.) Jim Finlay had a different opinion on the subject and reported a slight decrease in M.B.A. demand following the recession.
However, the effect of the recession was not long lasting, he said. Finlay said that in times of recession people in the United States usually go for M.B.A. programs but in Lebanon’s case, it is different. “In Lebanon, you don’t have all the grants and public support and loan programs that exist in the U.S. and Lebanese students have to depend on financial aid offered by their universities,” he said. “These are nothing compared to what students have access to in the United States.”
Scholars interviewed by The Daily Star blamed any slight decrease that might have taken place in M.B.A. demand during the past couple of years on the improvement of requirements set by the top universities in Lebanon rather than on the squeeze caused by the recession.
A.U.B., for instance, has improved its requirements during the last few years by committing students to sit for a G.M.A.T. exam. “We were able to improve our requirements by imposing a G.M.A.T. exam on new M.B.A. applicants, who should earn a minimum grade of 570,” he said.
Similarly, Finlay said it is no longer possible to determine how much the demand for the M.B.A. program has decreased due to recession because this development coincided with L.A.U. raising its admission standards.
On the other hand, scholars admitted that access to managerial positions is not the only benefit offered by an M.B.A. program. A study conducted by A.U.B. for the year 2005 showed that M.B.A. students enjoy a 20 percent higher starting salary in Lebanon. “The average starting salary of an M.B.A. graduate in 2005 was $1,500 after having been $800 before joining the program,” he said. “Moreover, what we’ve seen through some statistics is that an average starting salary in a multinational environment for M.B.A. students is $4,000 and within an eight year period salaries can increase to up to $8,000,” he added.
Another study conducted by A.U.B. for the years 2008 and 2009 stated that the average starting salary in Lebanon following the pursuit of an M.B.A. program increased during that period from $1,500 to $2,500 while the average starting salary abroad moved from $4,000 to $5,000, an increase of 25 percent.
Moreover, recruitment agencies in Lebanon have reported a remarkable increase in packages offered to M.B.A. graduates as well but they placed equal importance on experience.
“Experience is more important than education with the deep conviction that if education is prestigious, it might boost the image of the experience,” said Cinops Manager Rita Haskour.
Her views were echoed by Careers General Manager Fadi Eid who said that experience in some cases might be more important than education but added that a combination of both is essential, especially in multinational companies. “In most of the multinational companies the M.B.A. is a must but not a plus,” he said.
Similarly, a recruitment consultant at B.S.O noted that only multinational companies require an M.B.A., while other companies are more interested in experience. “Lebanese companies do not request an M.B.A. but they focus more on experience. However, banks and other institutions nowadays are demanding more and more professional certificates such as the C.F.A.,” she said, requesting anonymity.
Likewise, A.U.B. M.B.A. graduate and C.F.A. holder Bassam said it is important to acquire a professional certificate in today’s business environment especially if one intends to work in a very specialized field such as banking or finance.
Nassar, who works as a senior analyst at Audi Capital, believes that the M.B.A. and the C.F.A. are equally important and they complement one another as they both offer different kinds of skills. However, he said, his salary had started to gradually increase after completing each C.F.A. level.
However, Nassar also said that his starting salary as an M.B.A. graduate was higher than non-M.B.A. graduates. “I started with a $500 salary back in 2004 while non-M.B.A. colleagues used to earn an entry level salary of only $350,” he added.
Likewise, Hala Yanni, team leader in the internal audit department at BLOM bank, emphasized the importance of acquiring a professional certificate along with the M.B.A.
“I earned my M.B.A. from L.A.U. and it taught me a lot about team work and projects but I believe that certificates are more specialized,” she said. “They are required to be able to earn a higher salary and a better position in the future.”
By Dana Halawi
