Thursday 23 July 2015

Can An MBA Help You Achieve Your Career Goals?

Are you aspiring to be a manager? Or looking forward to move into leadership roles? Want to change your career field or planning to become a business owner? If you wish to move your career forward then an MBA can certainly provide an edge and help you accomplish your career goals faster and more easily. By studying an MBA you will get to develop various business & management skills, “like the fundamentals of finance and how it ties a business together,” according to Peter von Loesecke, CEO and managing director of The MBA Tour, which hosts various events worldwide.

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Why study MBA

Being an MBA student you will acquire comprehensive knowledge about various aspects of a business like marketing, finance, economics, business strategy, human resource management, ethics, that will better enable you to run an organisation successfully. Through a series of group projects, case studies, networking and even real world experiences you will develop the essential skills that will enhance your business perspective and acumen.
Von Loesecke said “An MBA will teach you to think holistically when solving problems. In today’s business world, you have to learn how to look at the influences, work in groups under pressure, make decisions, even when the facts aren’t clear, and be flexible enough to change those decisions when needed.”

Scott Shrum, director of MBA admissions at graduate school admissions consulting company Veritas Prep, said that an MBA “degree is designed to help you think more as a manager should - critically, strategically and globally. But one of the best reasons to get an MBA is the exposure you will gain to people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. Your network will grow and you’ll learn a lot. That exposure has lasting business value.”

Changing environment

However, if you think that earning an MBA degree means you will instantly land a high paying job with a swanky corner office then you might be expecting too much. Although it might have been true earlier, but after the last financial crisis the whole scenario has changed drastically.

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Von Loesecke said “Before 2001, companies would hire new MBA grads even without a defined slot for them. They’re more judicious about hiring now, and 'employability,’ plays a large part in getting into schools and getting hired afterward.” I should mention that here 'employability' refers to relevant work experience which most employers tend to value more these days than a college degree. Shrum added “We’ve been seeing a trend of education inflation for some time. Two generations ago, a college degree was impressive. A generation ago, a graduate degree was impressive. Now everyone has a bachelor’s degree and many people have graduate degrees.”

So is the MBA still worth it?

Shrum believes that it is. He added “Yes, it’s still a good career investment if you choose the right program, for the right reasons and have realistic expectations.” However, first you need to gain some work experience, he said. Shrum continued “Future employers want to know what you have done and accomplished. They’re looking for talent and results. If you go straight to grad school from college, you’ll lack real-world experience, yet still expect a higher MBA salary when you get out. That’s a mismatch in today’s job market.”

Then what should you do?

If you ask me, the answer is simple, yet effective. Nowadays, online top up MBA courses have gained immense popularity due to quality education, affordability, flexibility and the numerous benefits it offers to the learners. Moreover, with rising tuition fees at B-schools and universities across the globe, more and more aspiring managers are now opting for online MBA. But how does it help you?




Apart from the providing you excellent learning opportunities and a cost-effective way to earn a degree, these courses offer high levels of flexibility and convenience. Hence, you can opt to work and study simultaneously and gain relevant work experience in your preferred industry. As the content and materials are easily accessible and available online, you can choose to study at night, at your leisure or while you are on the go and still manage time to work a full time job. Earning a recognised top up MBA degree from a reputed university in UK will also help you to get better opportunities and boost your employability. Now most employers accept and recognise top up MBA from UK universities as these provide high quality business education and offer accredited qualifications.

So if you are gearing up for a lucrative career in business management and wish to climb up the career ladder without any hassles then it's time you get enrolled for an online MBA course.

What do you think? Feel free to share your views and opinions by commenting below. I would love to hear from you.

Article source - on-ajc.com/1g7ytJK

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Top 5 Emerging Online Educational Platforms for Africa

Amongst all the issues that Africa has to tackle , education is a stem concern which leads to poor development of the African Countries. Unavailability of proper educational resources and insufficient funding for higher education lead to the significant increase in the illiteracy rates and hence unemployment.

But with the onset of technological revolution into education, Africa has got a new boost. Recently the ICT conference in Johannesburg had big plans for African IT and Communication studies with corporates eager to invest into technology education.


Image courtesy: bit.ly/1OlMlL4


As we all are aware of the Africa civil and economic crisis, development in education will not be possible unless foreign investments are increased.

Online Education has definitely been a boon in disguise for the African students who wish to pursue higher education but the lack of resources drag them behind into illiteracy. 

Open University Uk , British Council, IBM, and other Technology Corporate of education and technology have leaded their hands to bring about technology and innovation into online learning and hence involve more and more of the students into higher education.

Here are few Online Learning Platforms designed and marketed in the African Nations to promote and sustain huge revolution in online education.

1. Sterio.me

As far the tag line goes "Homework on your mobile phone for teachers and their learners." It clears indicates that the students have no longer spend hours in their classrooms and like wise for the teachers who spent more than 20 hours of a week going through the classes and checking homeworks.

All they need to do is listen to the sterio of the pre-recorded lesson and then finish the assignments online and submit it. The App is so designed that the lesson sterio can also be played on the basic mobile phones.

Sterio.me founder and co-chief executive officer (CEO) Christopher Pruijsen says that Sterio.me aims to save teachers significant amounts of time by automating the homework preparation, distribution and marking process.

 This is a gaint leap for the mobile learning technology.

2. Rethink Education

It is an interactive online learning platform designed to help both teachers and learners using. The platform has a huge data base of powerpoint presentations and also interactive chat sessions on Maths, Natural Science, Physics and Chemistry. This online and mobile learning platform is convenient , cost effective and even allows the teachers and parents to monitor the students progress. Rethink Education currently only operates in South Africa, but sees Ghana and Nigeria as ideal targets for expansion due to similarities in the mathematics and science curricula in the three countries.

3. Ubongo

Ubongo online educational platform aims you in teaching children Mathematics through fun videos. Currently its operational in Tanzania, and allows participation via simple SMS. The videos hit more than 1.4 million viewers in Tanzania .
 
4. Youngsoul

As an initiative from the ICT conference , Youngsoul is the technology platform which produces e-learning software in the West African country and also improvises on the implementation of ICT in school level education. It aims to produce computer literate young Nigerian minds through VirtualClass. 

Image courtesy: bit.ly/1RPdVqa

The software tools contain animated videos, simulation exercises and teaching tools to enable Nigerian schools to meet the requirements of becoming ICT enhanced organisations. The tools are so designed that can help the teachers to closely evaluate the student progress at the individual level.

5. Obami

Obami came into existence in 2009 founded by Barbara Mallinson describes it as a “generic social network” and since then it had undergone various developments and has now finally relaunched as a profitable organisation providing a variety of educational solutions. Obami is the one stop solution for the students, teachers and parents, as well as governing bodies, NGOs, small businesses and corporates. It is available both on web and mobile versions.

All these educational platforms have been developed and marketed to help the government overcome the education challenges of Africa and hence increase its education standards to an international level.
 
What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts and views with us by commenting below. We would love to hear from you.

Article source - bit.ly/1O8VA1v