Professional degrees and certifications such as Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) respectively, give their holders various advantages as competition intensifies in the labour market and employers look beyond certificates to content.
According to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s (GMAC) 2016 Alumni Perspectives Survey, 93 percent of business school alumni said their graduate management education was personally rewarding, 89 percent professionally rewarding, and 75 percent financially rewarding.
From the same survey, nine in 10 b-school alumni said they would pursue a graduate management education again if given the choice. In 2015, 84 percent of alumni reported more opportunities for quicker career advancement as a result of their graduate-level business degree.
The GMAC contended that regardless of employment status, the majority of class of 2015 alumni agree that their education developed their skills, expanded their network, and prepared them for the labour market.
“Over the last five years, we found that on a full-time MBA programme the average graduate earned 180 percent more in terms of monthly salary than what they earned prior to the programme. On the executive MBA programme, we found that they earn close to 30 per cent more upon completion of the MBA programme” said Uchenna Uzo, MBA director at the Lagos Business School, Ajah, Lagos.
MBA degree originated in the United States of America in the early 20th century when the country industrialised and companies sought scientific approaches to management. The core courses in an MBA programme cover various areas of business such as accounting, finance, marketing, human resources, operations, and statistics, in a manner most relevant to management analysis and strategy.
Similarly, the CFA came into existence in the USA, in 1947 when four financial analyst societies, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, cooperated for the purpose of promoting the exchange of ideas and supporting the welfare of their profession. In 1962, some of these financial analysts created the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and established a code of conduct. In 1963, the profession was formalised when 284 candidates sat for the first CFA exam and 268 CFA charters were awarded.
“These professional degrees and certifications are credible, important and highly regarded. This is because they help benchmark the perceived skills of an individual. For instance, if you take certifications in the field of cyber-security, there is a gold standard for cyber security and anybody who has that certification, is regarded as a professional. It is called the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)” said David Isiavwe, General Manager of Union Bank Plc on a phone interview.
“Then on the financial side, just imagine that someone says they are Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) certified, the certification is the Associate Chartered Accountant, (ACA). So when someone says they have an ACA, organisations give it a premium. This applies to other areas as well. It depends on the organisation that is offering such certification, also. For MBAs in Nigeria, Lagos Business School is rated as tops. This is because of the brand it has built over time. The lecturers are not just book lecturers alone but also practitioners in the field of business. They are combining experience with theory. This is what we call balanced diet” Isiavwe added.
CFA test-takers typically pour more than 300 hours into studying for each level and spend thousands of dollars on fees and materials. Four out of five who start the process reportedly drop out.
A record 172,682 candidates from 183 countries registered for last year’s CFA exam, according to data from the Charlottesville, Virginia-based CFA Institute, which generates $260 million in annual revenue. Asia accounted for 45 percent of registrants, with the Americas providing 33 percent and Europe, the Middle East and Africa 22 percent.
In West Africa CFA exams are conducted in Accra, Ghana, although plans are in the works to return the venue to Nigeria by December 2018, according to the President of the CFA institute Paul Smith, who visited the country last month.
Standard registration fees for each level of the exam range from $825 to $860, which covers the curriculum, a study planner and practice tests. The real cost is the time spent studying say most charter holders.
STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
