Facts You Don’t Know About the History of MBA

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MBA or Master of Business Administration is one of the most prestigious degrees worldwide. We have several business schools of top stature, infrastructure and repute offering MBA degree courses in Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management and other specializations.

We just thought of curating some interesting facts from the past, exploring the history and evolution of MBA degree. This article is a nice read for all MBA aspirants looking for the MBA fees in Jaipur or elsewhere to pursue their management degree.

MBA started in the Early 1900’s

Though the world’s first school of business – Wharton Business School was established at the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, it didn’t offer graduate courses. The first graduate school of management, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, only came into existence in 1900 and offered an advanced business degree – Master of Science in Commerce degree.

However, the first school to offer an MBA degree was the Harvard Business School, Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, eight years later in 1908. The first ever class of an MBA program at Harvard had just 15 faculty members, 33 regular students and 47 special students.

Aren’t these figures and dates quite amusing?

Women didn’t study MBA until 1950’s

Earlier women weren’t granted admissions in MBA program. It was only in 1959 that Harvard admitted women into their MBA program. Whereas, women now earn the majority of masters and PhD degrees and surpass men in performance at most levels.

For 50 years, MBA was only in the United States

The first MBA program outside the United States was in 1950 in Canada by the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. MBA was started in the University of Karachi in Pakistan in 1955, at INSEAD in France in 1957 (the first European MBA program), and at the Melbourne Business School in Australia. In 1960s, the Manchester Business School and the London Business School were established in UK.

INSEAD in Fountainebleau France was also the first business school to offer a one-year MBA program.

The first Executive MBA program was offered at the Booth School of Business in the University of Chicago in 1943.

The first MBA program focusing on International Management was offered at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 1946.

MBA wasn’t a Such Prestigious Degree Always

While MBA is considered one of the most prestigious degrees to earn today, this wasn’t the case always. Initially when the course of business management was just introduced, it wasn’t as highly regarded as the degrees in medicine or law. It was only after the growth of industrialization and corporate growth that the world realised the need for proficient managers and leaders. Gradually with the increase in market sizes, the degree of business management MBA became more worthy and gained popularity.

Since then, MBA has seen immense growth, value and popularity. If you ask people from that age, they wouldn’t have even imagined that MBA would grow into the kind of degree it is today.

Specialisations in MBA

Two year MBA courses were introduced with different specializations, such as international business, finance, public sector and even football. The most popular MBA courses pursued today are MBA in Marketing, Finance, Human Resource Management and International Business.

From Full-Time to Part-Time and Distance MBAs

From being a full-time two-year post graduate program, MBAs today are offered as full-time as well as executive, part-time and distance-learning programs. It has become easier for working professionals to earn their MBA degrees without quitting their corporate jobs. Executive MBA program classes are mostly conducted during evenings or over the weekends, making it easier to pursue for working professionals.

This is the story about the journey of MBA and its evolution into the valuable degree it is today. Are you planning to pursue an MBA degree to advance in your career or do you plan to start your own entrepreneurial venture with the skills you develop during the course? Whatever may be the case, look for the best business schools in the world to earn yours! Have a meaningful career...:)