OUT OF LEHMAN: A speck of good news in the MBA nightmare

This may be no more than spurious gossip, but it looks like there's at least one shred of good news for MBA students wondering what on earth they'll do when their course finishes - Nomura's said to be hiring.

I have it on good authority that the Japanese bank, which now contains the remnants of Lehman in Europe and Asia, is touring the likes of London Business School, IESE and INSEAD in search of summer associates. The numbers aren't huge (we're talking 10 people at the most), but given Nomura didn't hire any associates last year and Lehman looked like it had gone kaput, it's certainly better than nothing.

This is particularly good news as other banks' interest in MBA students appears to have nosedived. Most have been pretending that their appetite for summer interns won't be impacted by the downturn because interns won't join for another two years. But the truth has been far from it.

The situation is even worse for second year students. In a normal year, up to 60% of them find jobs in the last few months prior to graduation. This year, the chance of them finding a job in an investment bank is roughly equivalent to that of a pig achieving lift off and propelling itself through the air.

The situation is worst of all, however, for the business schools themselves. Most of them barely breakeven on their standard MBA programs; instead, the Advancement Management Programs and the Executive MBA programs are the cash cows.

I learnt this during the first week of my MBA course. The school had just built a brand new gleaming building equipped with the latest hi-tech classroom equipments. When one of my classmates eagerly asked the program coordinator if we would be having classes in the new building, she cut him short by saying that we didn't pay enough to enjoy the new facilities, and that the new building was exclusively for the executive MBA programs. Imagine coughing up upwards of $100k for an MBA, and being told that you don't pay enough!

Now that bank CEOs are forfeiting bonuses and big salaries, the chance of them splurging on expensive EMBAs and executive education programmes seem minimal. I predict that business schools will be forced to offer new no frills MBA education - less contact, shorter duration, and more industry specific courses. Watch this space.