Business school heads vow to fight axing of MBA apprenticeship

The heads of primary British organization schools have vowed to thwart federal government programs to axe the MBA apprenticeship by splitting the study into two, with the bulk nevertheless being lined by the teaching programme.

Apprenticeships for senior executives have mushroomed next federal government reforms to capabilities funding that pressured businesses with yearly payrolls larger than £3m to established aside an equal to .5 for every cent of this sum for paying out on place of work teaching schemes.

Unhappiness that levy cash had been being put in in this way, on programmes costing up to £18,000, prompted education and learning secretary Gavin Williamson to find a evaluation into the MBA apprenticeship with an eye to removing it from the levy system.

Professor David Oglethorpe, dean of Cranfield © University of Sheffield

The Department for Training has not but formally scrapped the MBA apprenticeship. But in the most recent listing of apprenticeship benchmarks issued by the administering company, the prerequisite to receive an MBA or other masters diploma to finish a senior leader qualification has been lower.

Nevertheless, David Oglethorpe, dean of Cranfield university’s faculty of management, instructed the Economical Moments that his establishment would continue on to provide an MBA whichever the outcome of the evaluation.

Less than Mr Oglethorpe’s proposal, students would finish a senior leader apprenticeship and then undertake an added piece of coursework and fork out an more rate to receive an MBA. Some students may well have to fork out this demand, which could be up to £9,000, on their own but it would nevertheless only be a portion of the full rate.

“I have been fighting tooth and nail to say go away it as it is, but this signifies we could nevertheless provide the qualification,” Mr Oglethorpe said.

“The responses we get from businesses is that it can help them appeal to and keep key personnel. A fifth of our intake come from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and fifteen for every cent experienced never ever been to university just before starting the programme.”

“The senior leader apprenticeship typical has been mapped on to an MBA curriculum, generating it straightforward for us to provide an MBA for these that would like a single,” Mr Oglethorpe said. “We would have to demarcate the two qualifications but that is fairly basic to do.”

This way of funding an MBA has positive aspects, Mr Oglethorpe included. “Whilst the qualification stays component of an apprenticeship typical, you are not able to check with employees to add to the expense. If you could, it would signify they would have pores and skin in the game.”

Other organization faculty heads said they had been looking at identical preparations if the federal government decided to get rid of the MBA from apprenticeships.

“The MBA is noticed as a substantial point on a CV so there will always be an incentive to provide a route to receiving this as a result of the apprenticeship,” John Board, dean of Henley Business enterprise Faculty.

“The more substantial danger is that the federal government cuts the selling price businesses ought to fork out for the apprenticeship, which would no longer make it practical for schools like us to provide our class. You would then be left with suppliers who only fork out lip company to the benchmarks wanted for significant-excellent management teaching.”

The plan of giving an MBA independently to the apprenticeship also received the backing of the Chartered Administration Institute, the accreditation body for management education and learning in the Uk.

“It would established a peculiar precedent if the federal government said that businesses are not able to fork out for their employees to study for this qualification if that is what they want to do,” Daisy Hooper, the CMI’s head of plan and general public affairs, said.

“The apprenticeship levy has broadened entry to the MBA. Proscribing this will shift it back again to turning into an elitist qualification.”

The Department for Training said: “The education and learning secretary requested the Institute for Apprenticeships and Complex Training to evaluation the senior leader apprenticeships typical to ensure it is assembly its aims and delivers benefit for funds. The evaluation is ongoing.”