Many European business schools saw a sharp rise in the number of experienced engineers and technical professionals opting to study an MBA between 2000 and 2003, followed by a slight drop in 2004 and a resumed increase in numbers in 2005. Kai Pieters, Director at Ashridge Business School and previously at Rotterdam School of Management, explains “Business skills are crucial to IT and engineering professionals in the 21st Century. Technical experts can only really counter scepticism about their profession by extending themselves beyond technical issues and explaining themselves in the context of the needs of the business. Understanding strategy, marketing and finance, enables managers to make informed decisions and to be more pro-active in influencing decisions that will affect the company as a whole.”

Across Europe, technical professionals have become an increasingly important component of top MBA programmes. The 25 European schools with the most IT and engineering professionals in 2005 averaged 40 pc of their class, up from 32 pc in 2004, 34 pc in 2003 and 24 pc in 1998. The total number of IT and engineering professionals in their programmes doubled from 677 to over 1300, over the same period. Of these twenty-five technology oriented business schools, eight are in France, whilst four are in the UK. Only one is in Germany – Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology. ESMT in Germany fell just outside this list. TSM in the Netherlands, Politecnico di Milano in Italy and Aerospace MBA Toulouse in France have each developed programmes with dedicated specialisations in technology management. As a rule of thumb, non-specialist schools aim to have about 5 pc of their class with an IT background and a further 10 pc with an engineering background.

The chart shows the 25 European schools with the highest proportion of engineers.

The majority of technical professionals give up secure jobs to pursue an MBA, which can cost anything between Euro14,000 and 55,000 for a one or two year course. The incentives need to be pretty good to encourage someone to make this investment. According to the TopMBA.com Salary and Recruitment Trends report, the market has rarely been better. Average MBA salaries are almost back at the record levels of 2001. And average total compensation (salary plus bonus) is actually ahead of the 2001 peak, having increased by 10 pc in 2005, to Euro91,000.

Consulting firms, many of whom are actively targeting IT and engineering professionals, have reported a 35 pc increase in demand for MBAs this year. Consulting salaries, in particular, are back to their peak, with Euro90,000-110,000 per annum becoming the norm for strategy consulting. Industrial companies are not far behind: the average MBA salary in industry in 2005 was Euro78,000. Tech firms pay less in the way of starting salaries – averaging Euro62,000, but they pay higherbonuses and are more likely to include stock options and other incentives within their performance packages.

Graham Hastie, Careers Director at London Business School predicts further salary growth in 2006: “The MBA job market has transformed over the last two years. Naturally multiple offers per student result in upward pressure on salaries. Our average salary this year is Euro85,000 with a Euro28,000 sign-on bonus and Euro25,000 end of year bonus.”

Technology professionals decide to take an MBA through frustration at their lack of advancement on the basis of their technical skills and experience. Barry Dennington had worked in both engineering and IT management for many years and by the age of 47 had reached the position of Senior Manager. He felt that technical management had a “glass ceiling” and decided to take a full-time Executive MBA at Ashridge. For Dennington, the motivation to take an MBA was to break through the limitations set by his skills and qualifications, and to advance more rapidly. After his MBA he became a Vice President for Computing at Philips in California, earning double his pre-MBA salary.

Entrepreneurial zeal is another factor driving up the numbers of technologists on MBA programmes in Europe. Schools that specialise in entrepreneurship are recruiting large numbers of technologists – EM Lyon has 47 pc of the class with an engineering first degree, Salford has 50 pc engineers in the class, whilst IE-Instituto de Empresa in Spain has 27 pc. Santiago Iniguez, Dean of IE comments, “Engineers have many of the skills necessary to develop innovative product and service solutions. Combined with the teachings of an MBA, these people have an excellent record of business success”.

New MBA programmes are to be launched to serve engineers. In September 2005, Imperial College Management School launched the first Masters in Business Engineering (MBE), aimed at helping engineers who wish to develop business skills, but also wish to be up-to-date with the very latest technical systems and processes, which can offer a competitive advantage to their future employer and help to fast-track their career.

Nunzio Quacquarelli is a director of TopMBA.com and of the World MBA Tour.

Source: www.TopMBA.com