Manchester Business School Middle East Centre (MBS) has inducted 70 new students onto its Global Part-time MBA programme, during the institution’s January 2016 intake.

The new student cohort brings the total number of MBS’ part-time MBA students in the region close to 2,000. All the students are experienced and qualified working professionals, with around 10 per cent already holding a Masters degree and many in senior roles with leading multinational and regional organisations, said a statement.

MBS’ new cohort comprises students of 22 nationalities and around 55 per cent of the new students are resident in the UAE with the majority of the balance residing in other countries within the GCC, it added.

More than 20 per cent of the new students are women, which is one of the highest ratios of any intake since MBS opened its Middle East Centre in 2006.  Around one third have more than 10 years of work experience and more than 10 per cent are sponsored by their employer, it said.

Randa Bessiso, director – Middle East, Manchester Business School, said: “We are delighted to welcome our new students to one of the most successful and popular part-time MBA programmes in the region.”

“The MBA continues to be the most widely recognised business qualification and a pre-requisite in many organisations for people who aim to move into senior management; our MBA students also look for consultancy roles and even a career switch whilst others use their MBA to embark on new careers as entrepreneurs,” he said.

“Our career service supports students in preparing themselves for these changes. In this challenging regional economy, highly qualified working professionals are still committed to maintaining the momentum of their careers and this increasingly includes women - we are especially pleased to see so many well qualified business women in this new cohort,” he added.

The new cohort gathered together in Dubai recently for induction sessions and their first MBA workshops, hosted at the Dubai Knowledge Village conference centre, said the statement.

The students broke the ice with their peers, and got their first taste of an assessed group exercise, working to analyse, critique and present on topics covered by the World Economic Forum, it added. – TradeArabia News Service