Global AMBA & BGA Survey Reveals High Satisfaction Among Business Graduates
How do graduates feel about their business schools when they have had some time to reflect on their courses? Do they think their hard work was worth it? Do they believe that their business course enabled them to get the job they wanted when they finished their course?
AMBA & BGA Graduate Survey 2024: Reflecting on learnings which surveyed 576 AMBA & BGA current business graduates worldwide, aimed to answer these key questions.
Key results included:
Part 1: Current working conditions
- Employment status: 86% of graduates are working full time
- Sector distribution: The most common sectors for graduates include consultancy (10%), banking/financial services (8%) and education (7%)
- Management roles: 40% of respondents are in middle management, 17% in senior management and 10% are business owners
- Work environment: 48% work in a hybrid mode (office and remote), 30% work full time in an office and 18% work fully remotely
Part 2: Reflecting on the business course
- Reasons for course completion: Top motivations for completing the business programme include acquiring skills and knowledge (69%), expanding expertise (66%) and enhancing job market competitiveness (48%)
- Job attainment post-graduation: 26% had obtained their desired role before starting the programme, while 17% haven’t secured it yet
- Satisfaction with programme impact: 73% of graduates are either very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the impact of their courses on their careers
- Skills gained and perceived impact: Graduates felt more confident (63%), better prepared for competitive environments (50%) and improved at problem-solving (49%) and professional interaction (45%) as a result of their courses
- Interest in further courses: Graduates expressed interest in additional management programmes, with data analytics for managers (42%) being the most sought-after subject
Ellen Buchan, Insight, Content and PR Manager, AMBA & BGA, said of the results, “This survey reveals that, in general, graduates reflected on their business school experience in a positive way. The majority were satisfied with their programme and the impact it has had on their career.
“From comparing the results of part one of this report (which focused on current students) to the graduates’ answers, we can see that there is a general alignment between students’ desired industry/sector in which they would like to work and the sectors of the economy where graduates have actually ended up working.
“The alignment between students’ desired sectors of employment and graduates’ actual work circumstances suggest that business school education has a positive impact on career paths.”
Methodology
Between April and June 2023, AMBA & BGA conducted its most extensive online survey to date, reaching out to its diverse membership of 76,600 AMBA (Association of MBAs) and BGA (Business Graduates Association) student and graduate members across more than 150 countries.
The survey received responses from a total of 1,120 students and graduates affiliated with AMBA & BGA institutions, with 576 identifying as graduates; this group will be the survey respondents on which this report focuses.
Regarding gender distribution, 69 per cent of the participants were male, 30 per cent were female and one per cent preferred not to disclose their gender.
The students and graduates who participated in the survey represented an impressive 94 different countries. The United Kingdom constituted the largest proportion at 22 per cent, followed by South Africa with six per cent, the United States at four per cent and Germany at three per cent.
Please note that in cases where figures do not sum to 100 per cent, or combine to a whole number, this discrepancy is attributed to rounding.
In terms of the graduates, fewer than one per cent graduated in the 1970s, one per cent graduated in the 1980s, five per cent graduated in the 1990s, 14 per cent graduated between 2000 and 2009, 46 per cent graduated between 2010 and 2019 and 34 per cent graduated between 2020 and 2023. Of the more recent graduates, 13 per cent graduated in 2022, eight per cent graduated in 2021, eight per cent graduated in 2019 and seven per cent graduated in 2020.
