The future looks bright for business graduates

In the future everyone will need some kind of business study. No matter what your career – scientist, engineer, web designer, even artist – a business degree gives you the practical skills you need to succeed.

The way we work is changing. Understanding how to make decisions, take action, analyse the results, and work in a team to develop the best solutions… if you can do all this, you can manage a successful project, product, service or company.

Whether you are looking for a general management education, or the entrepreneurial skills to set up your own business or run a multinational company, there are many business courses to choose from.

First steps in business

Undergraduate degrees give you a basic understanding of how businesses operate, and allow you to specialise in an area that you are interested in, such as finance, accounting, marketing, IT or economics. You need to think carefully about which of these appeal to you as they are quite different – the analytical skills required in finance or economics or the practical management and creativity of marketing and management?

Compare and Apply to Undergraduate Business Courses

Boost your business skills

Postgraduate degrees allow you to specialise further – and they are also perfect for students from other disciplines, such as law, humanities or science, to get a business education. The MBA (Master of Business Administration) is exploding in popularity, and you don’t need to go to one of the Top 10 business schools to get a great MBA education.

What’s so special about MBAs?

Your fellow students have all had at least two or three years’ work experience, and come from all over the world – which is vital as you will learn from each other. “A typical MBA student brings maturity, intellect, experience, determination and a willingness to invest in their own intellectual capital,” says Dave Wilson, CEO of the Graduate Management Admission Council.

So it is no wonder that MBA students receive a much higher salary once they graduate – on average, they can expect over a 50% increase. And employers, including major multinational companies, want more and more graduates with this qualification.

The University of Edinburgh Business School develops global business leaders with its challenging MBA program. You can study a full-time MBA, an MBA in International Business or take modular units of an MBA course (if you don’t want to commit to full-time study). Students need to have a good degree, at least three years work experience and a TOEFL score of at least 250 (or IELTS 7.0). There are many scholarships available, including specific scholarships for students from regions such as Africa, Latin America or South-East Asia.

You could also study a truly global one-year MBA program at Hult International Business School. This prestigious Boston-based school now offers its MBA program at a state-of-the-art Dubai campus – the first top-ranking US MBA program available in the Middle East.

What makes a great business school?

No matter what level of business education, you should look for expert teachers who are still working in their field. They understand what’s happening right now and how it affects business – not just the theory.

Like medicine, business needs much more than book study. Very few business situations fit the textbook example. So you also need a course with strong practical focus, such as business simulations in the classroom, internships, case studies and links with industry.

And finally, a good business education will gives you a global perspective of commerce. All businesses, no matter how small, are affected by world issues and cultural trends. And being an international business student is a great opportunity to work with students of all backgrounds.

Studying business at an English-speaking school makes your new business skills even more portable – across countries and market sectors. The Faculty of Organisation and Management at Sheffield Hallam University is one of the UK’s major centres for business and management education. The university has also been ranked No. 1 for international student experience, thanks to its excellent students support and accommodation.

Ruban Chakravarthy, from India, completed his MBA at Sheffield. He says; “Sheffield Hallam stood out, because Sheffield is a friendly city, the living costs are decent and moreover the university is highly recognised. I love the Learning Centre… so many network PCs, internet access, thousands of books, journals, reviews, articles, media, all functioning 24 hours a day!”

Two internationally focused universities in Australia also offer excellent undergraduate and postgraduate business degrees. Monash University, in Victoria, is Australia’s largest university. It has six campuses in Australia, and others in South Africa, Malaysia and Italy. The Monash MBA program is ranked in the top 50 worldwide.

“Since it’s so large with a wide range of courses, there is flexibility in what you can do. I found work translating for new Chinese students, which helped me improve my English skills and make friends,” says Wei Wei Ma from China, who studied a Bachelor of Business and Commerce, specialising in Accounting, at Monash.

In Sydney, the University of NSW (UNSW) has one of the largest numbers of international students on campus in the world – over 9,000 from 120 countries. It is a vibrant international community, and the UNSW Bachelor of Commerce and Master programmes are world-renowned.

Magdelena Suder is the Brand and Communication Manager for Blake Dawson, one of Australia’s leading legal firms. She summed up the importance of her UNSW Master of Marketing experience as; “a specialist degrees sees you working with other students who are passionate about what they do… being able to anticipate issues and take opportunities is critical in a competitive world.”

You don’t have to study overseas to get a great business education, either. Cengage, one of the world’s leading distance learning providers, now offers an accredited Bachelor of Accounting. It is taught in association with the National Institute of Accountants, as well as other major industry bodies, so graduates can develop the practical skills needed for a career in accounting.

With Cengage, you can study where and when you want, and enrol during any of the five intakes per year. Further Bachelor of Business courses will be offered soon, including financial management, marketing, ICT and general management.

Do you want to find out what drives the financial sector, how governments can manage their economy, or even why people buy products they don’t need with money they don’t have? A business education will help you find all the answers. And it will set you on an exciting and rewarding career path, which could take you anywhere in the world.