An MBA is a career investment. A bit like buying a house, it adds a certain security and substance to a CV. But, as we know, investments can go down as well as up. So, with a credit crunch already making its presence felt and an economic downturn looming, is now a good time to invest in an MBA?

In the past, the MBA market has shown itself to be highly resilient to recessionary trends. In the early 1990s and the first years of this century, for example, business school campuses provided a haven for aspiring chief executives and career refugees alike. Early indications suggest that the market is still holding up well.

The latest research from the Graduate Management Admissions Council suggests that the MBA job market remains robust. The GMAC survey, carried out in November, involved 142 recruiting concerns.

The survey found that 81 per cent of them plan to recruit the same number of, or more, MBA graduates this year; 69 per cent said they expected salaries to match or exceed inflation levels, with 20 per cent expecting salaries to outpace inflation. A third of the companies surveyed predicted that they would have to compete even harder to attract MBA graduates this year.

“At a time when you might expect the market to be soft, it is not,” says David Wilson, GMAC’s president. “A lot has been written about the credit crunch and the impact on investment banks but they do not hire that many MBA graduates and the rest of the world is still rocketing along.”

Business schools back Wilson’s interpretation. Cathy Butler, careers director at Judge School, Cambridge, has noticed a decline in the number of MBA holders invited to interview by investment banks but other sectors remain strong. Judge students have received the largest number of preChristmas job offers ever, she says.

At Manchester Business School, Clare Hudson, director of career management services, is also upbeat: “Although the sub-prime mortgage situation and subsequent credit crunch are dominating the headlines, as yet this is not translating into a serious downturn in MBA career opportunities. The leading investment banks continue to offer internships for summer 2008, particularly in London, as they look to develop a talent pool for 2009. As yet, there are no indicators that this is likely to change over the next few months.”

The picture is bright at the other end of the MBA pipeline, where applications also remain buoyant.

Anna Farrus, admissions manager at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, reports a surge of early applicants: “This year we have seen an increase in the number of applications by 70 per cent. This is huge. Another interesting trend is that we have about 25 new nationalities applying early that did not apply until the later stages last year.”

Sean Rickard, director of the full-time MBA at Cranfield School of Management, says: “We continue to see an increase in the number of applications for the full-time programme, especially from India but also from Latin America.”

At Manchester Metropolitan University Business School (MMBUS), Dr Patricia Rees, MBA programme director, also notes a change in the make up of foreign applicants: “There are now fewer students from China on the MBA but more from India, Pakistan and the Maldives.” Rees also identifies new demands coming from students and employers. Both are asking for more practical and soft skills to make them attractive in the market place.

Grant MacKerron, MBA director at Edinburgh’s Napier University Business School, says there is an increasing need to provide more flexible provision, “especially distance learning, including online materials, and flexible courses to meet the demands faced by many executives who travel throughout their study”.

Several schools report an increase in the number of women applying. The part-time MBA at MMBUS, for example, has achieved a 50-50 male-female balance – a trend the school aims to encourage with its full-time programme

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