Alumni Survey: What Is an MBA Worth?

As the business world is growing ever more uncertain, chaotic, and impossible to plan for, prospective MBA applicants might wonder whether the time and costs necessary to complete an MBA are actually worth it and prepare them for the increasingly complex challenges of tomorrow. To get to the bottom of things, we conducted an alumni survey among former MBA and Master of Laws students, asking them about the return of investment (ROI) of their studies at the WU Executive Academy.

“The times when an MBA was merely seen as a pathway to higher salaries and a textbook management career are definitely over,” says Bodo B. Schlegelmilch, Dean of the WU Executive Academy. 

A Master of Business Administration (MBA) offers far more than just economic benefits. Of course, the financial logic continues to play a central role in the question of the value of an MBA - both from an individual and a corporate perspective. Ideally, the investment should be worthwhile in the long term and promote both personal and corporate profits. But the return on investment (ROI) that participants get from a first-class MBA is much more than just financial gain. In addition to broadening students’ skills and competences, it will enhance their personal development and provide access to a hand-picked international business network.  

“People often take a too narrow of a view in the debate about ROI, overlooking the extraordinary perks of such degree programs,” Bodo Schlegelmilch points out. In terms of what an MBA is worth, other aspects are just as important as financial benefits. 

“In conversations with students and graduates, we always hear how much they appreciate – in addition to having expanded their knowledge and their network – aspects such as a boost in confidence regarding their own skills and more courage or assertiveness, all of which positively impact their everyday work. There’s also hard evidence in an increase of graduates’ job satisfaction and their passion for a given topic through an MBA program. And that’s also what we are seeing in our current alumni survey.”  

But let’s start at the beginning: what is an MBA worth when it comes to career advancement? An MBA furthers careers also in times of digitalization, AI, and New Work. The current alumni survey shows that the positive impact has remained high. In the survey among graduates who completed an MBA or a Master of Laws program at the WU Executive Academy in the last five years, as many as 83% said that it helped them take a positive career move in the past three years.  

Forty-three percent were able to score a better position within their company, and about 40% continued to climb the career ladder at a different organization. 18% of alumni founded a company during or after completing their MBA studies.  

An MBA degree also has a significant impact on leadership positions. Before their studies, 34% of respondents had nobody reporting to them. Three years after completing the program, only 20% did not have staff reporting to them. Before the program, 19% of respondents worked in middle management; five years after graduation, this figure had climbed to 35%. Also, the number of top managers holding C-level positions had more than doubled, growing from 6 to 15%.  

And these effects were not short-lived: for those alumni who had graduated more than five years ago, a positive long-term effect regarding their careers could be observed. While 10% of the cohort held a top management position when they embarked on a degree program, this number was already at 27% at the time of the survey.  

19% of the respondents who graduated less than five years ago changed their field of work during or after their studies, for instance switching from marketing to sales. 16% each are responsible for bigger budgets and larger teams now. 13% each have a more international career than before the MBA.  

The majority of respondents reported that they found the MBA or Master of Laws program they completed very helpful for changing their field of work, position, or industry (93%) or founding a company (91%). With regard to the latter, the results are truly impressive: while only 6% of the respondents were entrepreneurs before the program, as many as 18% had founded a company at the time of the survey, making for an astonishing three-fold multiplication.  

The way we will work in the future is likely to be impacted by new requirements posed by the markets, permacrisis, and the changes due to digitalization and the use of AI. All of these things will play a part in shaping the roles and tasks of managers. Against this backdrop, an MBA or Master of Laws program can set up future leaders for success. 

This approach is also reflected in the survey: almost 90% report that the degree program helped them gain a clearer understanding of what it means for a company and society to grow in a sustainable way. About 89% feel that their cross-functional and strategic thinking skills have greatly improved. And almost as many respondents view the degree program as an essential driver for development, both as a manager and a person, helping them adopt a more global perspective and further build their reputation. 

Among the numerous offers for alumni organized by the WU Executive Club, particularly career services (job search workshops, company visits), alumni events (WU EA lounges, networking events, WU Ball, etc.), and the offers of the executive search partners (Career Checks, online LinkedIn lectures, etc.) are particularly popular. Eighty percent still make use of networking events and offers of the WU Executive Club five years after graduating from their programs. 64% have kept in touch with their contacts in the network that they built together with their peers during their MBA or Master of Laws program. 

“I am particularly pleased that 92% of respondents would recommend the WU Executive Academy to friends, colleagues and family as a trustworthy continuing education partner -  this is a great confirmation of our joint efforts to continuously improve our programs and career services,” Bodo B. Schlegelmilch summarizes. 

Overall, 162 graduates of both MBA and Master of Laws programs at the WU Executive Academy (classes of 2016 to 2022) participated in alumni surveys carried out and accumulated in 2023/2024. 

The lion’s share of respondents completed an Executive MBA with specialization options (65%), followed by the Global Executive MBA (19%) and the Executive MBA Bucharest (12%). Women accounted for 28% of the respondents and men for 70% (with 2% not stating their gender). 

Geographical distribution 

A large number of respondents hailed from the following countries: 32% were from Austria, 12% from Romania, 8% from Russia, 7% from Germany, and 5% from Italy. 

Industries and functions 

Respondents frequently work in banking/finance/insurance, IT/telecommunications, and the manufacturing industry. Within these sectors, they are often found in marketing/sales/PR, finance/controlling, IT, and general management. 

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