If you are thinking to work for Elon Musk, then definitely it’s a bad idea because he believes MBA program don’t teach students to create companies. Is it worthless to pursue MBA when world renewed personalities like Elon Musk brutally denies to hire MBA’s for his company? He has a point because 41% of MBA graduates in USA remain unemployed.  And, 90% of those who are working don’t apply their education in the workplace. Are educational institutions branding false hope about guaranteed placement? Not only Musk, companies like Facebook  Ebay are not positive in hiring MBA graduates. They all value experience rather than an academic degree for sure.

What our graduates say about this?   

King’s College has always believed in healthy discussions and therefore we students are always occupied with some kind of discussions whether it be on a virtual or real world.

In this issue, Asmita Gyawali says, “MBA is nothing but a degree. It depends upon what you have learned in those two years. There are people who just want to get degree anyhow but there are also those who genuinely want to learn”. This thrilling stance poked me to remember one of my conversation with a friend who once said, “I don’t know, why I am studying”. Asmita raised an important point about how unclear we are about our own choices and aspirations. In a country like Nepal, student’s choice to have certain degree are influenced by various socio-economic factor like social status, friends circle, lifestyle etc.

Sadiksha Thapa adds, “Best decision for me was doing MBA- HR here in King’s College because I learned so many things from our professors Malvika Desai and Rajiv Sharma that I wouldn’t have any idea about had I not taken this class.” Indeed, academic journey adds value to our own existing perception about life which widens our own horizon. Elon mightn’t have realized that some people pursue MBA not because they ultimately want to build companies but rather they want to be more empathetic towards self and others which could minimize the environmental degradation caused in the name of innovation.

Bibek Balami joins the discussion in excitement and adds, “I believe in Nepal genuinely MBA aren’t up to the mark which lacks practicality knowledge you need in a job or your business venture. Our degree only says one part of our potential but leaves the other ones.” Bibek is true when he rightly pointed out the skills we lack in professional carriers even after claiming a title of MBA. We struggle to write an email to customers, hesitant to make our own decision, struggle to confidently present ourselves in the team meeting and are unknown to operate basic computing skills. Rote learning methods on the basis of guide papers are not preparing anyways for the real world like Bibek said.

What I believe?  

The most common error that we students do is we don’t introspect on our choices and decisions. The culture of jumping to various level of academic agrees without any academic gap or prior professional experience leaves students in complete vagueness about market needs. When students come with professional experience in MBA courses, then the content of our subjects becomes more connecting with our prior experience which gradually nurtures the intellect zone of a person and makes us competent enough to explore this world in more meaningful way. That’s what my personal reflection is in in pursuing MBA after 4 years of professional experience in Teach for Nepal. I am confident that, the time I am spending in pursuing MBA courses will give me more confidence in my future aspirations. And, I don’t regret for my decision.

In many of our educational institutions, students are relying on “one text book” approach to gets “grades” which doesn’t mentally structure us to know about different perspectives. Indeed, Werner Heisenberg quotes makes so much sense who said, “It is probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet”. In Nepal, it’s not only about students enrolled in programs like MBA or BBA whose thought patterns have been systematically structured in one particular direction i.e. earn a degree for social prestige. If it isn’t that way, then students wouldn’t have been so incompetent with by lacking necessary skills, knowledge and mindset about the job market and it’s evolving needs. If it wasn’t that way, we wouldn’t have been so reluctant to ask a question in our classroom. It’s disappointing that when the world is discoursing about innovation we are still stuck in these small yet critical topics.

Now coming back to Elon Musk and many other people who say MBA are worthless investment, I say, most probably you are partially true in some sense or other. But it doesn’t necessarily mean whatever you say is complete fact and apply to everyone. May be you are rich and have high barging power and you choose to reject MBA’s for your companies but you can never reject our aspirations, hope and optimism we have for this planet. And, whatever you say will definitely push us to explore this world in more creative ways but it will not make us pessimistic in anyways and drop out from our MBA courses.