Rise in Salaries, But the International MBAs of UNC Still Fight

Thousands of students compete with each other to get admission to the best business schools in the country. The reason is simple. They want to grab the best jobs with a high pay scale. Hence, when a business school releases an employment report, one should check the salaries. 

Have the average salaries of the recruits gone up? Have they gone down? If the wages have gone up, then by how much? If the wages have gone down, then what are the reasons behind that?

After analyzing the salary, people can get an idea of the industries that are booming. They can find out where MBA students are getting jobs, and so on. 

The average salaries of the MBA pass outs have gone up 

Despite COVID-19, the average salaries of the MBA pass outs have increased. The employment report states that the wages of the UNC MBAs have gone up in 2020. There is a 2.4% salary hike for the students. The average salary is $126,957. In 2019, the average salary was $123,980. However, it is a marginal salary increase. The average wages of the UNC MBAs increased by 6.4% from 2018 to 2019. 

Why are MBA students so angry even after the salary increase?

There are many reasons why the UNC MBA students are too miffed even after the marginal salary increase. The salary is not the primary issue. The MBA pass outs faced a significant problem in getting jobs in 2020. Everyone is blaming COVID-19 due to sluggish job growth. 

Whatever unfortunate thing happens, people blame the pandemic. But covid-19 is not responsible for every bad thing that happened in 2020. According to the latest top B MBA schools’ latest report, the salary was not an issue for MBA students. The problem was something different. As it is, there is discrimination between international students and domestic students in the US. But the discrimination doesn’t stop right there. 

Discrimination exists even at the time of getting jobs. This year the discrimination went up further. Without any permanent authorization to work in the US, international students faced the major hurdle in getting job offers.

MBA schools are blaming Covid-19 for the mishap. But that is not the actual reason, according to the MBA graduates. Had it been so, then the domestic students would not have received more job offers than the international students. Even after completing the post graduation degree, the job offers for international students drop by 2 points in 2020. The final number in 2020 was 86%. Around 86% of Kenan-Flagler MBAs got job offers from various companies this year. As for the reports, almost 85% of the students grabbed the jobs. As far as international students are concerned, only 72% received job offers after completing the three-month post-graduation program. It is a 9% drop from the previous year. In 2018, around 94% of overseas MBA students received job offers from various companies. And 93% of them grabbed the jobs.

The figures are entirely different for domestic students. Around 89% of the trained students received job offers this year.

The condition of international students is the worst in all respects. First, Trump asked them to leave the country when the pandemic started taking millions of lives in the country. Secondly, they received fewer job offers than domestic students. So it is a sheer loss for them in all respects.

The managing director of an MBA program recently accepted a drop in the number of job offers for international students. However, he also said that it is wrong to blame coronavirus for this. Many other negative factors played a significant role here. The economic uncertainty, racial discrimination, the presidential election campaign, political unrest, strict visa rules for the international students, and social division made an overall impact.

How the MBA business schools are trying to help

2020 is the worst year for international students in all respects: the lost money, time, and lucrative career opportunities due to economic uncertainty and strict immigration rules. The business schools do understand this fact. They also realized that international students help to grow their revenue years after years. There were only 59 international students in 2020. Last year the figure was 71.

Job indeed offers dropped significantly for international students in 2020. However, domestic students didn’t suffer much. Business schools know that international students have observed this fact. Hence they are trying to do something to appease international students. Many business schools are offering internship programs for international students. It is a fact that city employees cannot provide lucrative jobs to students due to covid-19 this year. So business schools are trying to do something to make up for the loss. But that is not enough for the students.

Even then, business schools deserve some appreciation as they have genuinely tried to grab internship programs from the companies in the technology, healthcare, real estate, and financial sector.

The results of the final year students are also acceptable. Business schools have tried the best to cope with the challenges imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. 

Conclusion

The MBA career and leadership team’s alimony has come forward to help the business schools, parents, and students combat this challenging situation. Even if the alumni are unable to offer jobs to the students, they try to do what they can. They have updated their LinkedIn profile pages to assist schools and students. They are helping to grow their network and increase their connections. Plus, they are answering various questions of the students and the business schools. 

The situation of 2020 is almost like that of 2008, which was the significant recession period. Let us hope that the global economic crisis recovers fast. Otherwise, the job market is not going to expand soon. Let us hope that people change their outlook on international students because they are suffering years after years. They deserve better treatment in terms of work and visa rules.