Letter: Business schools that follow the market
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: No business school head on either side of the Atlantic would fail to recognise many of the concerns raised by Roger Trapp (24 January). After the dramatic growth in the market for business education in the 1980s, it is not surprising that the effects of the downturn of the world economy are now being felt in some parts of the management education industry.
To imply, however, that only now are business schools looking to the practical value to companies and students of the programmes they offer, and that curriculum changes have come about only because of falling recruitment and revenue, shows a lack of understanding both of the process of continuing change in leading international schools, and of the quality-driven nature of the upper reaches of the MBA market.
Last year was London Business School's most successful, financially, for the past five years. Its MBA 2000, far from being just a plan as Mr Trapp implies, was conceived in 1990 and has been operating since 1992. It was introduced after wide-ranging analysis and consultation and it will continue to evolve in the light of student evaluation and reaction from international organisations which employ our graduates. It is indicative of the value those organisations place on the school's graduates that even in times of recession, demand for them has risen by 15 per cent over the last three years.
Yours faithfully,
GEORGE BAIN
Principal
London Business School
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