2021年经济学人 新冠疫情下的MBA绝地求生(1)（在线收听）

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Once endangered, the MBA is emerging stronger from the pandemic

疫情使曾经濒危的MBA（工商管理学硕士）重新变成热门

Edieal pinker, deputy dean of the Yale School of Management, bristles at the suggestion that the MBA, long seen as a stepping stone to corporate success, has been made less relevant by the covid-19 crisis. The traditional two-year degree remains vital, he insists. “Do you think the problems the pandemic created for society and the economy are narrow specialised problems or complex ones that cut across sectors and disciplines?”

耶鲁大学管理学院副院长伊迪尔·平克怒不可遏地表示，长期以来，MBA一直被视为企业成功的敲门砖，而新冠危机却削弱了MBA的重要性。他坚称，这种传统的两年制学位仍然至关重要。“你认为这次疫情给社会和经济带来的问题是狭隘的专科问题还是跨越领域和学科的复杂问题？”

His words would have sounded odd a year ago. The MBA was falling out of fashion. With the global economy booming, the opportunity cost of this pricey degree (top schools charge $100,000 or more a year) did not seem worthwhile to many. Some schools could not cover their expenses. In 2019 the University of Illinois said it would end its residential MBA programme. Dozens of middling schools have done the same in recent years.

要是把他的话放在一年前，那听起来会很奇怪。毕竟在当时，MBA已经过时了。随着全球经济的蓬勃发展，这种昂贵学位的机会成本（顶级学校每年收费超过10万美元）对许多人来说似乎并不值得。有些学校负担不起费用。2019年，伊利诺伊大学表示将结束其住校MBA项目。近年来，几十所中等学校也采取了同样的做法。

Surely Mr Pinker’s defence of the MBA seems even odder in the new pandemic reality? On the contrary. “Students held up and schools stepped up,” says Sangeet Chowfla, head of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), an industry body. GMAC’s latest annual global survey of more than 300 business schools found that 66% of programmes saw applications rise. Has covid-19 saved the MBA?

面对新冠疫情这一新的现实，平克先生对MBA的辩护似乎更显奇怪？但恰恰相反。管理专业研究生入学委员会（GMAC）是一家管理业机构，其负责人桑吉特·乔夫拉表示：“学生们鼎力支持，学校也加快了步伐。”。GMAC对300多所商学院进行的最新年度全球调查发现，66%的商学院课程申请人数有所增加。是新冠拯救了MBA吗？

At first the virus looked lethal. Lectures moved online, team exercises became socially distant and study-trips abroad were cancelled. That diminished the value of the MBA experience, which is “greatly enhanced by the opportunity to expand and diversify one’s professional network through in-person interactions”, says Scott DeRue, dean of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Covid-19 restrictions hurt what Ilian Mihov, dean of INSEAD, a French school with campuses in Fontainebleau, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, calls “horizontal learning”—working in teams or discussing the day’s lessons over coffee. Ominously, INSEAD’s most popular MBA course last year was “Psychological Issues in Management”. “I miss interacting and having fun,” laments a student at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Columbia Business School has disciplined 70 students who violated covid-19 rules on socialising by travelling to Turks and Caicos for the autumn break.

起初这种病毒看起来是致命的。讲课转移到网上，团队活动变成维持社交距离，出国留学也被取消。这些都削弱了MBA经历的价值，密歇根大学罗斯商学院院长斯科特·德鲁表示，“要通过提供面对面交流机会以扩大和多样化职业网络，才能提升MBA经历的价值。”伊里安·米霍夫是一所法国学校欧洲工商管理学院（INSEAD）的院长，这所学校在枫丹白露、新加坡和阿布扎比都设有校区。而新冠限制措施正损害了米霍夫所说的“横向学习”，即一边喝着咖啡，一边团队作业或讨论一天的课程。不祥的是，欧洲工商管理学院（INSEAD）去年最受欢迎的MBA课程是“管理中的心理问题”。纽约大学斯特恩商学院的一名学生感叹道：“我怀念沟通合作和娱乐。”。哥伦比亚商学院对70名违反新冠社交规则的学生进行了处分，因为他们在秋假期间前往特克斯和凯科斯群岛。

Some students, angry about social isolation and online education, demanded refunds. Many foreigners, a cash cow for Western schools, stayed away. Mr Chowfla points to the “one-flight dynamic”: horror stories about students kicked out of dorms getting stranded on layovers while returning home put many Asians off American schools.

一些学生对社交隔离和网络教育感到愤怒，要求退款。作为西方学校的摇钱树的许多外国学生都离开了。乔夫拉先生指出了“单程飞行作用”：关于被赶出宿舍的学生们在返乡时滞留在家中的恐怖事实使许多亚洲人离开了美国学校。