SWOT Partial SWOT Opportunities Private

¶ … SWOT Partial SWOT Opportunities Private MBA programs have an excellent opportunity provided by the current economic downturn, which has encouraged many professionals who have excellent backgrounds and skills and yet who find themselves without work to go back to school to improve their chances in finding decent jobs.

Universities that do not depend on public dollars are free from the restraints and regulations of public oversight, which gives them more freedom in being able to select the candidates they truly wish to have and that they believe will be unique assets to the school, providing a richer opportunity for private MBA programs than for those run by public universities (Montauk 2007).

This opportunity may not last in the long-term, and should be capitalized on immediately in order to boost private programs' profiles in the business world and to extend their eventual alumni networks. Private universities also have a greater deal of flexibility in heir course offerings and in potentially tailoring new courses to specific students' needs and desires, which gives them a definite competitive opportunity when compared to public universities in the attracting the growing pool of prospective new students to the school (Cornell 2010; Carlson 2010).

All MBA programs have no doubt recognized the increased potential for attracting top talent in the current economic climate and this course flexibility provided private MBA programs with a distinct advantage in attracting students (Cornell 2010; Carlson 2010). Capitalizing on this opportunity now will increase private programs' profiles in coming years. Threats There are also certain threats fact private MBA programs due to the current economic situation that the world is facing.

Private programs tend to be more expensive than those offered at public schools, although there are certainly some exceptions to this generalization, and this threatens private programs' ability to attract students to the same degree as public universities, especially because job security and longevity are increasingly uncertain in this day and age (Cornell 2010; Carlson 2010; Montauk 2007).

This pricing difference is one of the largest threats facing private MBA programs the world over, and there is not always a great deal that can be done to counter this threat, though private universities do have more leeway in granting scholarships and subsidizing education for specifically selected individual students that they believe would be assets to the school Pritzwalks 2010).

In addition to the practical threat facing private MBA programs and private universities generally due to their higher costs of attendance, there is also a more abstract threat in the perception of elitism at many private programs.