The recent news that the TiasNimbasBusiness School will close its MBA programme in Germany came as a surprise to staff, students and the general public. It has now been confirmed that the Duke-Goethe Executive MBA programme will also be discontinued in 2012. Both institutions have offered their programmes as premium part-time MBA programmes and both cite a lack of demand and market conditions as the key reasons for discontinuing the programme. This begs the question: Is the market for part-time MBA programmes trending downward in Germany?
The closure of the TiasNimbas programme in Bonn was an unexpected announcement to most involved with the institution, especially as the school had only last year moved into new offices. In a letter to students and staff, the business school’s Dean, Professor Ramon O'Callaghan, clarifies the decision for the Dutch institution. The primary reason for the decision to discontinue the programme in Germany were noticeably weak student numbers for Bonn in recent years, while the other branches – Tilburg and Utrecht – have flourished. Furthermore, the institution was running the risk to lose their AMBA accreditation if the programme in Bonn continued to deliver inadequate student enrolment numbers, as accreditation institutions generally do not accredit programmes with less than 20 participants. A recent communiqué issued by the business school explains that the enrolment numbers of recent years have been a concern: “We believe this is a structural problem due to an increase in competition in the German MBA market. We do not see the marketability of this program improving in the future.”
O’Callaghan is quick to reassure those students finishing their MBA in Bonn that it will be business as usual until they complete their programme in 2012. TiasNimbas will continue to recruit students in Germany, but exclusively for their MBA programmes in Tilburg, Utrecht and a new campus in Amsterdam, as the institution continues to expand its Netherlands locations.
Similarly, the Goethe Business School (GBS) in Frankfurt has problems recruiting sufficient student numbers for their Duke-Goethe EMBA programme. While stressing that, overall, Executive Education is growing and that full-time MBA enrolment has indeed nearly doubled, the institution has made the decision to dissolve the EMBA programme “due to the still weak demand in Germany / Frankfurt for premium Part-Time MBAs”, as GBS Dean Professor Alexander Hackethal confirms. Instead of the collaborative MBA Duke-Goethe degree, GBS is now focusing on “new degree programmes that cater specifically to the Banking and Finance industry, including central banks and supervisors”.
The TiasNimbas and the Duke-Goethe part-time MBA programmes are placed at the higher end of the tuition fee scale. The Duke Goethe EMBA programme requires an investment of approximately €48,000, while TiasNimbas Bonn MBA charges students €38,950 for two years. Although these premium programmes cannot readily be compared to the numerous MBAs provided today by many of the Universities of Applied Sciences in Germany, the large number of programmes on offer in the market may have a negative impact on the marketability of premium programmes in a continued environment of economic uncertainty.
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Goethe Business School
Full-Time MBA, Executive MBA -
TiasNimbas Business School
Full-Time MBA, Part-Time MBA, Executive MBA