LBS applicants double in one year

Dubai: Applications to the London Business School (LBS) have doubled within a year, officials announced at the school's second Dubai graduation at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) yesterday.

Ranked number one in the Financial Times Global MBA rankings 2009, LBS saw a 2009 intake of 4,000 applicants for the its Dubai-London Executive MBA programme running at the DIFC Centre of Excellence (CoE). The figure has doubled since 2008, said Faten Hani, CEO of the DIFC CoE.

"There has been an average increase of 30 per cent in intakes and applications submitted [to the CoE], but in the case of LBS, last year we received 4,000 applications which tells us more people are seeking out executive programmes ," said Hani.

"At the moment there is a worldwide increase of people going for MBA courses," said Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean of LBS. He said applications have increased for all LBS courses with one exception — finance in London. "Partly because people want education in a way that is not related to economic activity," he said.

Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and President of the DIFC, conferred degrees on 78 graduates of the LBS class.

LBS opened its doors at DIFC in 2006 and already boasts 400 alumni in the region and 40,000 worldwide.

Of the graduates, 15 per cent were women, said Hani. "In our region this presents a better opportunity for women to participate in higher education," she said. "Women who are mothers and wives can't afford to leave the region for two years in pursuit of a higher degree but now they can do it without leaving their lives behind," she added. Illustrating the increased demand for LBS' executive MBA programme, Likierman said the school introduced its second class for "well ahead of schedule" and now has intakes twice a year.

Thirty-eight per cent of graduates of the 18-month course were from countries such as Nigeria, Italy, Greece and Indonesia.

However they say it is worth it, for the valuable connections they have formed."One of the reasons I pursued an MBA was to expand my network and meet some emerging leaders of the next few decades," said Sohail Lalani, LBS graduate and Private equity senior associate. "That is exactly what this programme has allowed me to do — make long-lasting life connections." .

Rachele Sheard joined from Qatar. She works in the oil and gas industry and says she pursued an MBA to change her career to a more strategic and leadership role and "meet amazing people along the way".