London - The MBA is cynically known as the Marriage Breaking Academy.
Jon Foster-Pedley, Dean of Henley Business School Africa, based in Johannesburg, thinks its reputation needs mending. “It's irresponsible and unnecessary for MBA programmes to be designed in such a way that they damage families and children. Good educators can do better.”
So what are good educators doing? Not much, across the board. For over two decades business schools have attempted to attract more women to do MBAs, but the average MBA candidate is around 30, just when many women are starting families. There's little attempt to consider the practical support these women need to combine an MBA with a family.
The general assumption among business schools is that an MBA student is white, male and single according to Mimi West, an MBA student at Darden School of Business who has four-year-old twins. “There's a lack of adequate resources to help mothers not just survive, but truly succeed in MBA programmes. It should start with improving awareness then building on more robust programmes to support mothers. Student mothers are largely left to be proactive and find their own way.”
Most support is aimed at the usually female partners of MBA students and their families - for example Darden has a very active Partners Association. But unusually Emlyon Business School organises coaching sessions for Executive MBA participants, 80 per cent of whom are male, to focus on the family issues and conflicts which may arise while they're studying. Full-time MBAs with families like Sungjong Kang who brought his wife and two young children from South Korea to Warwick Business School when he did an MBA, need support with settling in.
They lived in furnished accommodation and staff helped to put the children into a local school.
Professor John Colley, associate dean of Warwick Business School, says “Being part of Warwick University means that MBAs and their families have fantastic facilities on their doorstep. There's a nursery on the campus, as well as a cinema, supermarket, sports facilities and a health centre. The International Office helps with visa applications for dependents, finding schools and organising babysitters. Doing a full-time MBA is an intense experience so it's important that students' family life runs smoothly.”
Cranfield Management School, also with the advantages of a university campus, has been ahead in the family-friendly stakes for many years. As a former RAF base, it offers a variety of accommodation from apartments for couples to houses for families. “We focus on families,” says David Simmons, admissions director. “When you're travelling half the world to come here the most important person is the partner, not the person doing the MBA. We have a safe, green environment with a strong community where partners have an inbuilt network of people in the same situation. There's a crèche in the village, local schools, and we involve partners as much as possible - they can even sit in on lectures if there's space.”
Ife Ibitokun brought her mum Bukola to Cranfield to help with Bisola, aged 5 and Risola, 2, while she did an MBA. “We had a furnished house on campus, mum became actively involved in the local church and we all quickly made friends,” says Ife. “There was an environment of trust, and the faculty was hugely supportive. The MBA director even once helped to babysit!”
Men are starting to look for more family-friendly treatment in France, according to EM Normandie , where it's common for divorced couples to spend alternate weeks with their children. The business school notes that there is an increase in divorced fathers asking for flexible course hours so they can look after their kids, and there's also more demand for distance learning, specifically from work-at-home mothers.
GSM London offers flexible weekend study for its EMBA with eight three-day teaching weekends to fit within students' lives. Mila Jechova combines a baby, business and MBA. She commutes between Prague and Bletchley. “The tutors are supportive, respond to emails immediately and are available at all hours. When I was pregnant, my doctor in Prague said I must stop flying. GSM allowed me to take a three-month break until my daughter was born.”
Henley Business School's full time MBA students have access to a creche and pre-school, while Henley Africa has focused seriously on family-friendly policies, championed by Jon Foster-Pedley, himself an older father with 9 and 11 year-olds. “Family involvement includes briefing on MBA stress points, assistance in building networks amongst the families and free monthly sessions by experts on topics including positive parenting, and working with generation X while the children enjoy films and bouncy castles. The feedback has been positive, with an increasing number of couples doing the programme together.”
Clearly, carefully planned family-friendly policies do work, and attract more women to the MBA. But they'll fail to have a true impact until they become the rule not the exception.
THE INDEPENDENT