What is the difference between an MBA degree and an MSc degree in the United Kingdom?
What is the eligibility criterion for MBA and MSc program? Which program suits me better?
These are two of the most common questions that pop up in the minds of people aspiring for a Post Graduate degree related to business in the United Kingdom.
I had these questions unanswered in my mind until I had visited Education UK Exhibition in Mumbai in the month of October in 2009. Education UK exhibition was an event conducted by the British Council, India.
At the venue of the event, I anxiously waited for the seminar session on “MBA in the UK” to start. I had great anticipation that the speaker of this session would clear all my doubts related to the MSc and MBA programmes in the UK.
The session started as per the scheduled time at sharp 3:30 PM. A senior lecturer who teaches Marketing in Worcester University, started speaking about MBA programme offered in the UK universities. He included a separate slide in his slide show for explaining the differences between MSc and MBA.
Generalist vs Specialist degree
MBA degree in comparison to MSc degree is a generalist degree. That means, curriculum of a typical MBA programme covers all the fields related to business such as Finance, Sales, Marketing, HR, General Management, etc. Whereas MSc degree is a more specialist degree, it focuses on a specialised field of study.
Take the case of a course named International Marketing Management MSc in the University of Worcester. The International Marketing Management MSc develops your general management skills and explores the many complex issues associated with marketing in MSc in an international context. But it would not include any other business related subjects such as finance or HR. The curriculum would purely deal with specifics of International Marketing and Management.
Take a look at the MBA programme curriculum in the University of Worcestor. The course includes all the general subjects related to management and business.
So, if you are seeking basic knowledge in all the subjects related to business, an MBA degree is more suited to you. Whereas, if you are seeking specific and in-depth knowledge of a particular subject related to business, an MSc degree suits you better.
Age and experience
Typically, age of a student pursuing MBA degree in the UK is 28 years with 4 years of work experience. Which clearly means that universities expect the applicants to have at least 4-5 years of work experience. And some institutions insist that the applicants have managerial work experience. Some institutions are okay with technical work experience.
Whereas freshers who have just passed out of their college can apply for an MSc degree course. They are not expected to have any work history. There is no age criterion for admission of students in the MSc course.
Nature of the course
The speaker of the seminar quoted an example “If I had to take a lesson on a particular subject common to MBA and MSc students, the style of teaching would differ in an MBA class and an MSc class. In an MBA class, I’d show the lesson slides to the class, take a seat in the classroom and let the students discuss. As MBA students would have had prior professional experience, they would share their view on the topic of discussion. They would share their opinions on how this lesson relates to their past work, how they had applied those concepts in their companies, how their companies worked, etc. The classes are more discussion oriented. It is assumed that the class has knowledge of the topics that are being taught.
Whereas if I had to take the same topic in an MSc classroom, I teach the lesson in detail and give them a case study for their practice. I would not assume that they have any prior knowledge of the topic being taught.”
Administrator vs Scientist
Lastly the speaker joked, “When the recruiting companies ask me whether to choose an MBA graduate or an MSc graduate, I ask them back, Do you want an Administrator(MBA) or a Scientist(MSC)?”
What the speaker meant was that an MBA course teaches more about the administration part of business. Whereas a MSc course includes science related things involved in that business. Such as statistics or complex math or engineering related to business.
I hope that this article demystified the mystery of differences between MBA and MSc.
Comment below if you have any specific question related to MBA vs MSc in the UK.
About the Author: Sridhar Jammalamadaka is the editor of this blog, Interview Mantra. He is a professional blogger from Pune, India. He is an experienced programmer with expertise in Java, C and Micro Controller programming. He enjoys playing cricket and piano. Through this blog, he wishes to gather a large online community of aspiring Indians - students and working professionals. You can find him on Twitter at @sriavr 