Are Private Business Schools at an Advantage?

To understand the difference between public and private business schools – and why this difference matters when applying to business schools – you must first understand how the approach to business schools changes in various key markets around the world.

Private business schools and stable funding

In the US, the traditional home of the business school, competition runs high. The biggest problem all schools face is funding – it’s crucial to be financially healthy. Historically, there are a handful of top private schools (Harvard, Wharton and MIT, for example) with such sterling reputations that applicants and investors alike flock to them, which in turn enables them to thrive. In these instances, it can be very tough for public schools to compete – particularly when facing budget cuts, declining state support and changes in policy which only serve to widen the gap.

But looking at Asia, we see a vastly different situation. There, the demand for MBA programs is overwhelming, which causes many universities to offer business education by building a business school on the side, to retain appeal with applicants. Look at the top schools, for instance in Shanghai, where up to 600 students graduate every year. That’s enormous. The demand is so high that there’s simply no problem with securing funding there.

With all these differences between schools and regions, one thing seems universally true - private business schools have an important edge over public ones. What they offer is stability in both funding and faculty.

Private business schools and stable faculty

The increased levels of funding that private business schools are able to secure means that they can invest in developing a top-level and permanent faculty who can be fully committed to the institution and its goals. This is something that public schools are all too often simply unable to achieve. Either they can’t afford to keep these star faculty members in tenure and lose them to their competitors, or they are unable to attract the best talent in the first place and must resort to shared faculties, visiting professors and part-time positions to compete.

These schools are forced to fly in such faculty as and when needed, but this tends to result in less engagement and can undermine the stability of their education programs. MBA curricula are very demanding – both for students and the school. To provide the best possible education, or to position itself favorably on the market, a school needs a faculty who can become part of the institution beyond the classes they teach. That’s tough to encourage if your faculty scatters as soon as their individual commitments are completed.

The other advantage private business schools enjoy against their public school competitors is autonomy, and the opportunity to really differentiate themselves in what is becoming an increasingly competitive – not to mention busy – market. Take Nyenrode as an example; our independence has allowed us to shape our MBA program in the way we feel will best serve our students and their professional aspirations. Our focus is to provide a ‘hands-on’ business-focused program and we often go beyond typical MBA curricula to achieve this. At every available opportunity, we opt to take our students out of the classroom – whether that be through travelling abroad to experience local business cultures (we recently conducted a banking tour of London as part of our finance module), visiting companies in their offices or bringing heads of industry to campus for our regular ‘Meet the CEO’ sessions. Rather than setting a topic or agenda for these meetings, we let these leaders talk. It’s this approach which makes us unique – we do things the ‘other way round’ from most institutions and, with our position as a private institution we are able to do so without restraint.

Instead of creating a curriculum that will, hopefully, meet the demands of tomorrow’s market, we ask the business world, our alumni, faculties and students what they value most and apply these values to our program to ensure it is entirely relevant. Being a private business school provides us with the flexibility to set up these types of cooperation. In the end, this directly benefits our students.

Cost is an issue that affects both school and student alike. But, when considering the quality of education, the balance that a dedicated faculty brings and the market-oriented MBA programs on offer, there’s a clear advantage to private business schools. We operate as a company and have a real connection to the business world. That’s what we do, we train internationally minded business leaders.

Regardless of the choice between private and public, the most important question for students, in my opinion, is where do they see themselves working after graduation? In Western Europe, the continent is inevitably influenced by its dense tapestry of cultures and nations and, as a result, business schools in Europe tend to be more internationally minded than most, and carry their own flavor. Every country has its own characteristics, whether this relates to its values, how democratic decisions are made or even the way in which locally important industries can put their stamp on a program. In Germany, the automobile industry is king, whereas it’s London’s financial sector in the UK which provides a big draw for applicants. Here in Amsterdam, things are very different from, say, Barcelona. Amsterdam is economically very attractive and offers huge employment opportunities. All this should factor in heavily with a student’s decision to apply for a particular school. The decision should start at a continental level then filter down to the regional level and finally, the choice for public or private.