Open University MBA: Job skills and salary prospects grow thanks to practical knowledge transfer

However, in the first place, for most students the salary increase is not the most essential aspect. They want to increase their knowledge for global management tasks and create better international networks.

Many Open University MBA students report that their primary motivation for doing the OU MBA is career and personal development. They want to manage their professional duties better by learning leadership skills, exchanging experiences with other experts and practitioners while working out their personal leadership style. “Nevertheless, the OU MBA also has a positive effect on the salary,” said Dr. Devendra Kodwani, Director MBA Qualifications from The Open University Business School.

He refers to a current statistic of his university: Approximately 74% of the MBA students work full-time and 15% are self-employed. “Our MBA students stand out through the strengthening of their professional potential and by the positive development of their salary”, Dr. Devendra Kodwani explained. According to Open University surveys, the average basic salary of an MBA student is approximately € 71 400. After successfully completing the MBA, it rises by approximately € 23 400, a salary increase of almost one-third.

For over 25 years, The Open University Business School has engaged in the training of working professionals and executives. Through tutor-assisted distance learning, the university enables managers without interruption of their jobs to prepare for tasks with managerial responsibility. “There are a number of important factors that make the UK MBA programme successful,” said Dr. Devendra Kodwani. Of great importance is The Open University’s unique learning and teaching method – “blended learning”. The approach is a balanced mix of online learning materials, classic course books, online courses, intranet discussion forums and face-to-face tutorials amongst international MBA students. Additionally tutors contribute to the strength and flexibility of the programme.

Many MBA students say the best part of their OU study is applying their individual management experience from their jobs to successfully master an exam, assignment or project work. Mutual learning is important during the transfer of knowledge: First, MBA students are taught to utilize the knowledge learnt in their studies to develop a sensible solution applied to a problem in their own company. Second, they will then discuss in the circle of their international fellow students how the others would solve the question in their work environment. Thus there are numerous opportunities for sharing and networking. For example, after meeting in a Frankfurt tutorial, OU Alumni Christoph Siebert and Roland Kessens launched a successful market research company in Hamburg, which today has more than 30 permanent employees and a number of high profile clients in Germany, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.

The MBA course material is designed by a scientific team comprising professors, academic qualified specialists and teaching-specialised experts, and is delivered by associate lecturers who are practising managers. This enables academic learning with practical experience from various business fields. Following a recent restructuring, the OU-MBA programme now offers students additional subjects to choose from. These include business ethics, sustainability, creativity, critical analysis and other global management issues. These subjects directly help MBA students in their current jobs as well as prepare them for international leadership tasks.

The full interview with Dr. Devendra Kodwani is available here: http://www.anglohigher.com/pages/index/436

(Source: Anglohigher® Global English Speaking Higher Education & Professional Training: www.anglohigher.com – AngloHigher® magazine (AngloHigher® The Magazine of Global English Speaking Higher Education, ISSN 2041-8469 Online)

For more information: The Open University Business School Representation, Tristan Sage, Zeppelinstrasse 73, 81669 Munich, Tel 089/89 70 90 48, E-mail:

T. Sage@open.ac.uk or http://www.open.ac.uk/germany