The Financial Times has published its updated MBA alumni profile. Once again, it shows the ever-dynamic nature of the MBA degree and its student make-up. This year’s profile, in comparison with earlier alumni groups, showcases shifting demographics with greater percentages of alumni who are women, from the Asia-Pacific region, and fewer who went into banking.
The profile uses data from the FT’s 2022 Global MBA rankings, which includes alumni from the top-100 ranked programs three years after graduation. We’ve listed the key insights below.
Reasons for Pursuing the MBA: Similar to the last two years, MBA alumni were most likely to name Personal Development and Management Development as their reasons for obtaining the degree. These two were followed by Improve Career Opportunities and Increase Salary as the third and fourth most highly-rated options. Falling to last place was Start Own Company, which most respondents rated at seven or below (out of ten) in importance.
Importance and Value of Courses. Alumni were asked to rate MBA courses in terms of importance and how well their alma mater teaches the subjects. Most alumni believe that General Management, Corporate Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Finance are important and taught well. Alumni rated Organizational Behavior and Statistics/Quantitative Methods of average importance. However, they rated the performance of their schools higher for teaching Organizational Behavior than Statistics. Finally, Ethics and Environmental Issues and Fintech—two emerging topic areas for MBAs—were rated below average on both importance and performance.
Alumni demographics. Over time the makeup of the alumni profile has shifted significantly in terms of region of origin, gender, and post-MBA employment.
In 2006, students from the US and Canada made up 50 percent of MBA alumni, however this proportion has declined steadily. Students from the Asia-Pacific region now make up the highest proportion at just under 40 percent. Students from the US and Canada fall next in line at just over 30 percent.
While the percentage of women alumni held relatively steady at 33 percent between 2006 and 2014, it jumped significantly in 2022 with women now making up 40 percent of alumni three years post-graduation.
The top sectors for post-MBA employment have also shifted over time. Declining steadily, finance/banking decreased from 31 percent of alumni in 2006 to 25 percent in 2014, and is down still further to 18 percent in 2022. The percentage of alumni in consulting has held relatively steady at 15 percent from 2006 to 2014, and has risen slightly to 17 percent in 2022. Not surprisingly, MBA alumni going into IT/Telecoms has increased over time, jumping from ten percent in 2006 to 14 percent in 2022. And, in 2022, e-commerce ranked among the top five employment sectors for the first time.
A demographic that has held relatively constant over time is age. The average alumni age, three years post-graduation, was 28 in 2006 and 2014, and increased slightly to 29 in 2022.
Since 2006, alumni salaries, both at graduation and three-years post-graduation, have increased by 28 percent. The FT notes that this is lower than the cumulative inflation rate of 37 percent over the same time period. In 2022, reported salaries for alumni three-years post-graduation are down compared to last year, which is the first time salaries have decreased year-over-year since 2014.
Access the full alumni profile here.