Durham is a very good name, Birmingham is a very good name and Aston has too (Look at the UK ranking for undergrad courses). In general university terms, you have to think about the reputational dimension - this would matter for those who worry about having a 'brand' name and for employers who would judge your CV by looking at brand and perhaps not so much on content. Now in terms of the quality of business schools, regarding content, top notch teaching, student contentedness and accessible teachers - this is another element to consider. Employers in the 'know' and who regularly keep abreast of business school rankings, employment and salary stats and even the relevance of course module contents to them and their commercial goals, will certainly look beyond the name university brand and seek relevance. All of these universities are excellent! So it comes down to personal choice that no one else can actually decide for you - with either one, you will not be making a mistake.
And I have to articulate that after a few weeks of studying Organisational behaviour, environment does matter and can be critical to performance so I would not discount the environment that so easily. It doesn?t matter if the tuition is great, if it?s the student isn't able to absorb and make the best of it. When I went for my interview at Birmingham in August, they told me themselves that 'a happy student is a good student.' Like I've mentioned before on this site, Aston 'felt' right and I'm very happy with my choice even though Birmingham is quite a few grand cheaper! I appreciate it being a smaller university, the facilities which are **just** for MBA students (MBA building, a whole floor of the building is dedicated to us as workspaces with wifi etc) and I feel that I get more personal support from the academic staff, admin staff, dedicated MBA careers advisor and the lecturers are always asking us to come and visit their during their office hours if we have any questions. I'm also not sure if Durham/Birmingham have a similar personal development programme? If this is important to you then, Aston does have an extensive personal development and career management programme that runs alongside our lectures. If you want to get really analytical about it I would make up a matrix to compare and really find out what factors are most important to you to help you be sure (logically) where you will be happy to spend your money. The importance you place on certain factors will ultimately decide which course/university will give you the most value.
One question - Do the fees for Durham/Birmingham also include some of the books for the course? Be sure to ask about this as a lot of the books cost in excess of £50 each - you might have a bit of a surprise when you turn up!
Durham is a very good name, Birmingham is a very good name and Aston has too (Look at the UK ranking for undergrad courses). In general university terms, you have to think about the reputational dimension - this would matter for those who worry about having a 'brand' name and for employers who would judge your CV by looking at brand and perhaps not so much on content. Now in terms of the quality of business schools, regarding content, top notch teaching, student contentedness and accessible teachers - this is another element to consider. Employers in the 'know' and who regularly keep abreast of business school rankings, employment and salary stats and even the relevance of course module contents to them and their commercial goals, will certainly look beyond the name university brand and seek relevance. All of these universities are excellent! So it comes down to personal choice that no one else can actually decide for you - with either one, you will not be making a mistake.
And I have to articulate that after a few weeks of studying Organisational behaviour, environment does matter and can be critical to performance so I would not discount the environment that so easily. It doesn?t matter if the tuition is great, if it?s the student isn't able to absorb and make the best of it. When I went for my interview at Birmingham in August, they told me themselves that 'a happy student is a good student.' Like I've mentioned before on this site, Aston 'felt' right and I'm very happy with my choice even though Birmingham is quite a few grand cheaper! I appreciate it being a smaller university, the facilities which are **just** for MBA students (MBA building, a whole floor of the building is dedicated to us as workspaces with wifi etc) and I feel that I get more personal support from the academic staff, admin staff, dedicated MBA careers advisor and the lecturers are always asking us to come and visit their during their office hours if we have any questions. I'm also not sure if Durham/Birmingham have a similar personal development programme? If this is important to you then, Aston does have an extensive personal development and career management programme that runs alongside our lectures. If you want to get really analytical about it I would make up a matrix to compare and really find out what factors are most important to you to help you be sure (logically) where you will be happy to spend your money. The importance you place on certain factors will ultimately decide which course/university will give you the most value.
One question - Do the fees for Durham/Birmingham also include some of the books for the course? Be sure to ask about this as a lot of the books cost in excess of £50 each - you might have a bit of a surprise when you turn up!
