MBA or MIS?

The AFR BOSS Magazine published its annual survey of Australian MBA courses last week. As expected Melbourne Business School was identified as one of the top two; the other being none other than AGSM. Of course, MBS and AGSM are the only Australian b-schools that require a GMAT, the only Australian b-schools that have an active and well-funded alumni community, and the only Australian b-schools that regularly make it into the top 100 in global MBA surveys.

AFR BOSS have identified a second-tier of MBA programs with a fairly exclusive membership of just three - Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM), Monash University, and University of Western Australia. I've always thought of MGSM as the number three, and a good option if your a Sydneysider closer to 40 than 30. Monash and UWA will be interesting to watch over the next few years. Other than a former accountant of mine in Melbourne, I'm yet to meet an alumnus of the MBA programs at Monash and UWA.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a launch event for the Master of Information Systems degree from another alma mater of mine, the School of Information Systems, Technology, and Management (SISTM) at UNSW. As an alumnus of the Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology degree (commonly referred to as BIT) at SISTM, and with my recent experiences as a member of the active MBS alumni community, I've started getting involved in some SISTM-related alumni opportunities in recent months; including acting as a guest lecturer, and laying some of the groundwork for a major upgrade in functionality and processes surrounding the BIT student/alumni website.

While it's definitely not suited for me (I still have aspirations of being a generalist business person, despite my current role back in the IT industry), the Master of Information Systems degree at SISTM definitely has its merits. The content has a slight overlap with the MBA, especially when it comes to HR management, and team leadership, but it's all structured around the reasonably unique challenges that face senior IT/IS managers and CIOs. It's been accredited by the ACS, and should be starting with a cohort of about 20 - 30 students in 2005. If you're three to five years into your IT/IS career and looking for a bit of an academic sabbatical before you make you next move into management, this could would be ideal for you.