The 12 Month MBA programmes around the world are gaining in popularity very fast. Five years ago, the two-year MBA was significantly more popular than the one-year MBA model, but now they are neck to neck. The trend mirrors a shift that has taken place in the MBA market over the past few years. 12Month MBA programmes are aimed at senior managers who want to develop their career further. The Wall Street Journal Survey 2010 underlined the importance of networking as 29% of the participants said their top reason to do a 12Month MBA was to switch careers or industries. 35% said they were seeking a promotion within their current company. This has been one of the main motivators for attending a 12 Month MBA programme.

Traditional MBA Vs 12Month MBA
1. Experience needed: A 12Month MBA targets senior managers that have been in a supervisory role for at least 5 to 10 years. Participants are therefore older and more experienced.

2. More restricted schedule: As the participants are mostly working in managerial positions, classes normally take place on weekends.

3. Corporate Tuition Support: If a company sees enough benefit, it might sponsor a manager for a 12Month MBA programme as companies are able to reap quick results from its employees as opposed to that of a traditional MBA.

Oxford College of Business 12Month AIBA MBA
The MBA offered at Oxford College of Business (OCB) in affiliation with the Australian Institute of Business Administration (AIBA) is a UGC approved MBA programme in Sri Lanka which allows students to obtain an MBA which is recognized both locally and internationally, in just 12months while they work!
Top five reasons to select OCB-AIBA 12Month MBA

1. It's a number one for lots of reasons: Incomparable resources, prestige scale, the status of its alums, and the very best faculty most attuned to real business, not merely academic research.

2. Ability to obtain an International and locally recognized MBA in 12Months.

3. The MBA alumni network is arguably one of the best and most supportive of any business school in the country.

4. You want a premium MBA experience at a school that completely focuses on a 12Month MBA and not a host of other programmes that detract from it.

5. You prefer a highly collaborative and supportive student culture.

Size: With a target class size of 50 students per class, Oxford College of Business serves up an "intimate scale" MBA programme with one of the smallest MBA classrooms in the country. As a result OCB has quickly been able to transform itself to be an elite business school. At Oxford it's easier to get "air time" in a class and it's more likely your facilitators know everyone in the class. When 80% of your grades are based on class participation, individual attention by the facilitator and the class size becomes very crucial more than comforting. The small size of the class certainly assures that every student knows each other. Moreover, everybody knows there business at Oxford!

Culture: The size and location of Oxford create a fairly unique culture and one that is very different from other Institutes in the country. The bonding that occurs at OCB among students is second-to-none due to its size; very close relationships are formed between students and faculty at OCB for the same reasons. OCB students are decidedly an outdoorsy bunch: students are likely to engage in cricket matches, bowling, playing rugby and squash. Most traditional MBA programmes offered in the country does not have a culture as tight-knit as that of the OCB-AIBA MBA students.

Facilities: The campus at OCB has an area dedicated for the AIBA-MBA alone. Students have access to 24hour wireless internet facilities, canteen, IT lab for online research, access to Proquest (the world's largest online library) etc. The MBA hall itself is state-of-the-art equipped with interactive projectors, and LCD TVs which make learning a totally different experience. The expansive classrooms and study halls at OCB is something special.

Programme Focus: All MBA programmes offered in the country have a general management focus. The biggest single difference is in the wealth of offerings at AIBA MBA. With a faculty consisting of industry experts as opposed to full-time academics in other traditional MBA programmes, AIBA MBA students are able to apply what they study in class the very next day in their work environment. As a result the AIBA MBA offers an unusual breadth and diversity to its MBA programme. Traditional MBA models involve several individual subjects being offered generally over a 12 week period.

For a busy executive, this makes their learning susceptible to external factors such as unexpected work and personal issues that could occur during this time. The 12 Month MBA is offered as one subject per month. This means that students need to focus on just one subject at a time, in addition to their usual personal and professional obligations. The fact that the examination is just a month away from the start of each subject has contributed to high completion rates, as the students are continuously motivated.

Alumni network: You can't really go wrong by being part of any alumni network. However the AIBA MBA Alumni's network is large, diverse, and global. It is one of the best MBA alumni network in the country. During 2010 the overall participation rate for events by Alumni members where over 95% for all events. This demonstrates the alumni's remarkable loyalty and relationship with the school and its students. Both past and present students of the AIBA MBA are like one closely knit family and as for where the alums are, they are pretty much everywhere! Given their numbers the alums come from all parts of the country's corporate world mainly concentrating from banking (40%), telecommunications, (15%), advertising(10%), textile (8%), and stock broking (10%), insurance (5%), manufacturing (5%), travel (5%), tourism (2%),

The AIBA MBA Programme gives an opportunity for students to complete their degrees in 12months as opposed to that of a traditional MBA programme which would take as long as 16 to 18months. During the course of 12months, students obtain a wide range of new skills and improve their analytical abilities by combining coursework with daily working experience. The transformation in the pattern of thinking has enabled students to look and solve corporate problems from angles which they have not seen before which makes the AIBA 12month MBA one of the most sought after MBA programmes in the country. For more information contact the Malindu Ranasinghe - 0714151547 or visit www.12monthmba.com.au