NYTimes 10/11/08

The New York Times (Finance Students Keep Their Job Hopes Alive) checks in on how the schools are coping with financial uncertainty. “Financial companies shed 150,000 jobs last year and more than 100,000 so far this year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a national job placement company. Yet amid the downturn, applications to graduate business schools rose this year, as they have in other periods of uncertainty.”

It seems clear that the current financial mess will be good for business schools (in the form of increased applications) in the near term. The more interesting question is what the long-term effects will be: Less I-banking oriented curricula and a bigger focus on non-finance industry needs? Lower demand for the MBA degree (leading to lower student fees or a shake-out amongst schools)? Accelerated internationalization of B-schools’ offerings as non-US employers pick up the slack?