ok, am not super high-flyer, does it REALLY matter where my MBA is from, isn't it enough to have one??

[ExpatAgain]

some background, i have a long-lost diploma in management studies which i'm about to dust-off. At the time it was worth half-2/3s of an MBA at the institution (reasonable, AMBA-accredited ex-poly)at which I took it.

Due to pregnancies, babies, house moves, job moves I never went on to complete the MBA as planned with the OU. I called them last year to be told that they had just stopped recognising my diploma and that i would have to do it all from scratch with just 1 possible module exemption

To be honest, I feel I'm now too long in the tooth and also that I served my time sweating over MBA stage 1 level case-studies, exams, can't quite face doing it all again and paying for the privilege.

One possible solution is to do an MBA "top-up" with a much less well regarded institution - Sunderland/University of Wales Institute/University of Wales ..Basically they would recognise my diploma in full and i would just need to go a dissertation to get the MBA. Is it worth taking this easier, cheaper route to get the MBA or should i go back and do one with a good rep/networking opportunities etc etc ? I'm looking at p/t work for at least the the next couple of yrs due to small kids. I'm also overseas and can't really get a substantive job due to work permit but could possibly get some consultancy and for this an MBA might help.

Any advice would be helpful! Thanks.

I really would not bother.

The extra qualificaton you would get will not increase yor earning power, especially in part time roles.

I have an MBA and used to lecture on MBA programmes and my honest opinion is that unless you are young with a freshly minted MBA from a top business school and you were only out of work for a year or while doing it I dont think doing one now will enhance what skills and experience you already have. It will just cost you money.

I would just try and get a job now and work on your CV.

thanks but that's the point. i CAN'T get a job (not in the UK) not got the right to work where i live. however, consultancy type work via contacts IS a possibility.
Do you really think from your experience that it adds no value unless young/fresh etc?? Dh has one and is quite positive about me getting one esp as a top-up would not cost me much, just payment for the dissertation.

Have to agree with BB

If you're getting work through contacts, then you know them, they know your experience, so an MBA doesn't matter.

If you're pitching for work to people you don't know, an MBA from a low ranking school is unlikely to impress.

Most of the value of an MBA (IMO) is the contacts, so the better the school (generally) the better the alumni and the more useful contacts you'll make. The rest of the value is sharing experiences/ case studies etc. Doing a distance MBA purely by doing a dissertation with no classroom time seems a bit of a waste of time.

I did my MBA in 1990 - 92. My DW did one at the same time. We already had very good undergraduarte degrees plus 3 yrs of experience in top firms in The City and the business school we did our MBA at was and still is easily in the Top 10 in the World.

We came out of the MBA programme into the 1992 recession and struggled to get a job. In the end we did find employers were more interested in what we had already done in our previous career and our undergraduate degree. The fact that we had had an 18 month break was as much of a downside as the upside of the MBA we had.

I went to work for a consultancy firm alongside people who did not have MBAs. It did not asist me gettng a job and did not get me better pay. Same with DW. Our friends on the MBA programme had similar experiences.

Where it HAS definitley helped us though is in our later career where we now work for ourselves. We use what we learned on our MBA literally every day.

Your situation is slightly different. In that you are not permitted to work. It won't harm your CV and might be useful in providing a 'bridge' between your old job and the time when you are permitted to work. It will be a 'better than nothing' solution but it won't earn you more money. The question is, how much that extra qualification is worth if you do it now but then dont work for some time after you finshed it.

The shelf life of an MBA is about 1 year.

ok, thanks all. Much to ponder there..

Just to reiterate though, as i said, i'm not a high-flyer ex-city, top business school graduate etc etc. However, the diploma i already have had already helped me get work earlier on in my career. I like to believe that an MBA can help also to advance people such as me - women, part-time workers, middle-senior management - and that there's therefore a place for appropriate MBAs. Looking on MN threads, there seem to be quite a few of us out there, doing MBAs at the OU etc

thanks, twopeople, I hope that's the case.
I would indeed feel more fulfilled having completed it rather than thinking "what if"..

I'm overseas and don't have the right to work here and need to use my brain/have some kind of useful crossover for the time when we do come back to the UK, to evidence that i have been keeping up-to-date etc.

meant to say your course sounds v interesting, love art. Is it with the OU? Sounds really worth completing when you can.

Would doing a dissertation mean you spent time thinking in a business mindset etc? That might mean on its own that you interview much better because you have current examples near at hand etc.

thanks! Gosh, that was well diagnosed -a what if person, indeed, indeed.. Good luck with your course.