Two business scenarios for MBA schools this year: minus 20% or minus 35%

Business schools on the Romanian market are in full process of recruiting students for MBA and for Executive MBA programmes, and, although the signing up period is not over yet, most schools have noticed a downward trend as far as demand for business programmes is concerned. "We are halfway through the first signing up session for the EMBA programme, and we have noticed that as far as the decision to sign up is concerned, behind which lies financially support from the company, it takes longer for the approval to come," says Bianca Ioan, marketing manager of Asebuss, one of the oldest business schools on the Romanian market, which has 940 EMBA graduates. Whereas traditionally, in this time of the year, most companies had their training programmes planned, which included supporting a few managers for MBA or Executive MBA programmes, the budgets are currently either frozen for an indefinite period of time or reduced. "There will probably be a reduction in the number of sign-ups compared with previous years, but, whether it will be a 20% or even a 35% decline, will become apparent over the next 4-5 months (...)," explains Asebuss's marketing manager.