I don’t think the MBA degree has ever guaranteed a better salary post-graduation.  It really depends on the type of job and industry that students come from and go into.  Career switchers quite often have a stable or even decreasing salary in the first job post-MBA due to their lack of relevant work experiences.  The driving force for high salary increases in recent years has been the rapid emergence of professional career tracks in finance and consulting.  Schools that show high percentage increases in salary typically have placed a very large proportion of their graduates into these sectors.  

What generally is true, regardless of economic factors and career tracks, is that an MBA greatly enhances the potential for lifelong earning.  Managers without an MBA might progress quickly in the early stages of their career but they typically hit a ceiling when their capability for higher level management and strategic planning becomes insufficient.  As I noted earlier, the capability, confidence and perspective for high level management is exactly what world-class MBA programs contribute to their graduates.   If we measure long-run ROI it becomes quite clear that MBA education far outstrips working experience in its earnings impact.

---

Über
Dr. Lydia J. Price is Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean and Academic Director of the MBA Program at CEIBS.

In a ranking of one-year MBA programs by the Wall Street Journal in September 2009 our program was ranked in the world’s top 8 for return on investment.  The graduating class from this September have already indicated that this is a continuing trend.   However it must be stressed that different individuals take an MBA for different reasons.  Not everybody takes an MBA purely for financial gain.  It must be remembered that this is also a form of education.  The obsession of rankings with the financial aspect of programs draws emphasis away from the aim of MBA programs to educate and develop individuals.  A perfect example is one of our Norwegian students from 2008 who took the program to set up a non-profit organization helping women in the former Yugoslavia.  This she has done very successfully.  Does this make her MBA worth less than someone who has tripled their salary in two years?  An MBA is undoubtedly a strongly recognized qualification which gives graduates the tools to increase their income, rapidly develop their career and equally as importantly themselves.

---

Über
Lee Milligan is the Admissions Manager for the Full-time MBA program at Copenhagen Business School. Business School. He is also Professor at the Centre for Strategic Management and Globalization.

The average uplift is just over 50% - but this varies quite significantly depending on previous salary on commencement of the programme and the role the student opts for on graduation.  MBA employers do not pay a standard market rate, with rates of pay in the commercial sector being heavily dependent on previous experience.  Those students choosing to start a new business or work in a social enterprise may well see an initial drop in income.  Therefore the time taken to recoup the investment on the MBA is also highly variable - for some it may be as little as 2 years, and for others it will take much longer. 

---

Über
Derek Walker is Director of Careers at Said Business School.

There are no guarantees. With a growing number of MBA students and alumni world-wide, competition among MBA graduates will increase. The MBA offers you a tremendous set of knowledge and tools, but it’s up to the individual to reap the benefits. That’s the main reason the TiasNimbas MBA emphasizes personal and professional development in combination with individual (career) coaching, next to knowledge building

---

Über
Jan Henk van der Werff is Director Corporate Sales and Recruitment at Tias Nimbas Business School and former vice president, Europe at University of Phoenix. He has profound experience in international business education and is engaged in projects in USA, Brasil, Mexico and India.

For senior executives, the main motivation to pursue an executive education program is not primarily a good salary. It is more about exchanging ideas with like-minded colleagues in similar leadership positions, getting new impulses and insights and challenging their visions and views to broaden their horizons. Having said this, in MBA rankings our alumni do rather well in terms of salary progression.

---

Über
Univ.Prof. Bodo B. Schlegelmilch Ph.D., D.Litt., Dean WU Executive Academy and Institute for International Marketing Management

No program can give a guarantee for a better salary. However, an MBA title is associated with a considerably higher salary in most cases and – what is even much more important in my eyes – is associated with a more exciting professional endeavor than before the degree. We recently conducted a survey among our alumni from the year 2006. This shows that almost all graduates have not only significantly increased their salary, but the costs for the MBA have long since been compensated.

---

Über
Christian Homburg is President of Mannheim Business School and Professor of Marketing at the University of Mannheim in Germany. Christian Homburg ranks first in the Handelsblatt-Ranking of german-speaking professors for Business Administration.