M Rahman
Employers look for applicants with appropriate qualifications, skills, and experience. As competition is high in the job markets, a prospective job applicant needs to ensure that he/she has some kind of competitive advantage over others. A university graduate with appropriate skills should have competitive advantage over non-graduates. That being said, it will be wise to explore degrees in different disciplines. However, please note that this article focuses on business degrees only.
Business degrees
Graduates of business degrees are in high demand among a wide range of employers in leading economies in the world. Therefore, universities around the world offer a wide variety of business degrees. For example, BA (Hons) Business Management, BA (Hons) Marketing, BA (Hons) HRM, and BA (Hons) Business & Finance are some of the popular business degrees. Often a business degree covers subjects such as Business Environment, Business Strategy, Marketing, Management, Economics, Accounting, Finance, E-commerce, Research Methods, HRM and, increasingly Entrepreneurship. This wide range of subjects demonstrates that a business degree is multidisciplinary and prepares graduates with knowledge and skills required to excel in the field of business.
Career prospects
Business degrees usually place a strong emphasis on employability skills. Students are placed in the best possible position after graduation to pursue rewarding and successful careers. Jobs directly related to business degrees include, but not limited to business analyst, management consultant, project manager, product manager, accountant, retail manager, marketing executive, HR manager, social media manager etc.
Top ten UK universities for business degrees
According to The Guardian (2017), the top ten universities to study business, management, & marketing in the UK are as follows:
- University of Oxford
- University of Surrey
- University of Bath
- University of Warwick
- Falmouth University
- University of Leeds
- University of St Andrews
- Lancaster University
- City, University of London
- University of Nottingham
Top ten USA universities for business degrees
According to Eduniversal Group (2016) the top ten USA universities to study business degrees are as follows:
- Harvard Business School
- Yale School of Management
- MIT Sloan School of Management
- Stanford University Graduate School of Business
- Cornell University Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
- University of California – Berkeley HAAS School of Business
- Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management
- Duke University the Fuqua School of Business
- The University of Chicago Booth School Of Business
- Columbia University Columbia Business School (Cbs)
Further reading/References
Avery, A. (2017) University guide 2017: league table for business, management & marketing, available from https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2016/may/23/university-guide-2017-league-table-for-business-management-marketing (Accessed 17 February 2017)
Eduniversal Group (2016) University and Business Schools Ranking in U.S.A., available from http://www.eduniversal-ranking.com/business-school-university-ranking-in-usa.html (Accessed 17 February 2017)
Last update: February 2017
Author: M Rahman
M Rahman writes extensively online and offline with an emphasis on business management, marketing, and tourism. He is a lecturer in Management and Marketing. He holds an MSc in Tourism & Hospitality from the University of Sunderland. Also, graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University with a BA in Business & Management Studies and completed a DTLLS (Diploma in Teaching in the Life-Long Learning Sector) from London South Bank University.
Joe David