return on investment of MBA

How much return on investment can students really expect from their hard-ruppees , pounds or euros? And are the cost increases of recent years really justified?
Rose Martinelli, an associate dean at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, makes the point that it is not just the cost of receiving business education which has risen, it is also the cost of providing it. She makes the case that MBA programmes are now much more resource-driven than they were a decade ago, citing a new career-management centre, more teaching facilities, increased use of technology and greater use of mentoring and coaching as examples at her own school.
It’s a valid argument. A pre-dotcom MBA student dropped into a present day programme would barely recognise his pampered, modern-day colleague. And one other expensive feature that might come as a surprise would be the sheer diversity of the class. Ten years ago even the more international programmes drew most of their participants from the host country, with the balance largely recruited elsewhere in the developed West. Now schools spend large sums touring the world to promote their wares on every continent but Antarctica.
Furthermore, working out the return on investment an MBA programme can deliver has always been challenging. Most rankings focus on shorter-term benefits such as the difference between pre- and post-programme earnings. However, in recent years the popularity of the qualification has allowed top schools to cherry-pick the very best candidates, candidates who, in most cases, are already high earners. As a result, the immediate effect on earning power diminishes and so too does the perception of value for money.
Perhaps the only way that the true return on an MBA can be measured is by looking at its effect over the course of five or even ten years. This may seem a leap of faith—especially right now—but students can take heart by examining the careers of successful alumni. And then the rising cost of the MBA experience may not seem so daunting after all.

Refernce: economist