Vedomosti (St. Petersburg), March 17, 2010

POSTPONED AMBITIONS, Elena Dombrova, Elena Zborovskaya, Maria Buravtseva

Demand for business education for top managers of St. Petersburg-based companies has decreased and companies are ready to pay only for the most necessary programs. Anna Izmailova, Market Communications manager of Stockholm School of Economics, Russia reported that in 2008 the audience decreased by 20% and did not change after that. Dmitry Pavlov, director for development and external relations of IMISP, said that EMBA-MBA and additional education sections decreased by 30% from the standpoint of quantity of students 18 months ago and remained on this level. Vladimir Cherkashin, director of Sanesta Metall, explained that before the crisis 25-305 of employees visited specialized courses and retraining programs annually, in 2009 the company fully stopped external education and at the beginning of 2010 it started training salespeople and launched "Project management" program for top managers. In Stockholm School of Economics, Russia the percentage of the students paying for education independently grew from 40% to 70%. Dmitry Pavlov said that companies practically stopped paying for MBA making exceptions only for students-shareholders. However, they do not save money on improvement of qualification of HR managers and employees pay almost for 90% of such programs. Korshunova says that the percentage of owners among the students has not changed and does not exceed 5-7%. Elena Kolkova, director of the St. Petersburg division of Staffwell, said that in the past companies, mostly the Western ones, offered payment for education for positions of financial, HR and operational directors. Now they offer payment only for obligatory retraining of auditors, accountants, financier and IT specialists. Galina Tokareva, director of the HR department of the division of Westcall, reports that external education of IT and telecommunication specialists accounts for 74% of the budget for education. Galina Kozlova, HR director of KIT Fortis Investments, says that the company is ready to pay for qualification exam CFA for its employees that provides a serious advantage to the company but not for MBA that increases the value of the employee. According to Tokareva, education at expense of an employee is practiced if it is not directly related to fulfillment of the functional duties. According to Begin Group that polled 28 business schools of St. Petersburg and Moscow, majority of them changed the structure of the programs, implemented new disciplines and increased orientation at practice. Izmailova reported that there appeared a program in the Russian language and the group was composed faster on account of students from the regions. According to her, the costs of MBA grew from 33,000 euros between 2008 and 2009 to 37,000 euros. Alexander Khodachek, director of the division of GU-VSHE in St. Petersburg, says that short-term single-time programs for heads of HR services and economic department enjoy demand. According to Pavlov, assessment of intangible assets is not important during the crisis but demand for strategic marketing and management of development of a company has remained. Korshunova presumes that it is important to have a diversified portfolio of educational products now. Cherkashin presumes that return of external education to the pre-crisis level is possible already in 2011. Igor Dukeov, EMT Area Principal of Stockholm School of Economics, Russia, is convinced that the market of business education of St. Petersburg has decreased by 30-40% and will stagnate for two or three years. Fewer candidates 25% – an average indicator of decrease in the quantity of people who entered business schools n 2009 according to Begin Group 20% – an average indicator of decrease in the quantity of students in 2009 25% – decrease in the quantity of EMBA entrants in the world in 2009 in comparison to 2008 according to GMAC