Last year during the height of the financial crisis, there was an 8% increase in the salaries of people holding MBAs and more people holding the qualification were operating at board level or above in 2009 (27 per cent) than in the previous year (23 per cent), according to figures from the Association of MBAs (AMBA).
Mark Stoddard, accreditation projects manager of AMBA said: "Data from our Economic Downturn Survey suggests the qualifications are still in demand even in times of economic instability and that they continue to be valued at the strategic level in organisations."
It's not only the corporate world that values the MBA, designed to widen the horizons of business professionals, covering major functions and practices of business. While the consulting sector at 15% and finance at 12% are the largest sectors for MBA recruitment, IT, public sector and education recruit 6% each.
On Hull University Business School's Executive MBA a heart surgeon and two army officers rub shoulders with senior managers from industry and finance.
Professor Sue Miller, programme leader of the MBA at the business school, said: "Employers in the public sector, the not-for-profit sector and the voluntary sector also see the value of sponsoring their top people through the degree.
"We have students who are hospital doctors, engineers and IT consultants. They come from the public, private and voluntary sectors and from Small and Medium Enterprises as well as from larger companies.
"Employers in all sectors value high quality MBA programmes that concentrate on personal skills and development and that focus on areas valued by employers such as ethics and social responsibility."
The business school, which is AMBA accredited, offers the Executive MBA part-time over two years, reflecting a growing demand for flexible learning, as well as a full time MBA over one year. There are also four off-shore locations in Bahrain, Oman, Hong Kong and Singapore, where Executive MBA students come from a variety of sectors ranging from government to telecommunications and airlines.
Miller said: "Around the world, the MBA is recognised as a passport to a successful management career and a British education is regarded as high quality by global operators.
"At Hull University Business School, we are outward looking and internationally focused. We have been operating for 15 years and are well established with a good network of alumni. We have strong links with industry and get a lot of repeat business."
The Hull MBA has 33 corporate partners who help to inform the course content and keep it relevant, ranging from the NHS hospital trusts, fire and rescue, the police, local authorities and companies such as BAe Systems and the Royal Bank of Scotland. But how exactly does an MBA give you an edge over other professionals?
"The Hull MBA will prepare you to lead responsibly and shape strategy. It will give you a route to achieving significant career advancement by equipping you to succeed in a fast-changing, competitive world," said Miller.
The emphasis at Hull is on 'connected thinking', a perspective that builds an understanding of the complexities in today's global business environment.
Miller said: "The Hull MBA really helps you understand complex, multi-faceted business problems. This approach helps you to see the inter-relationship between complex business problems so you can understand those problems better and gives you the tools and techniques to work through them."
Company director Rory Clarke, who is currently studying for the Executive MBA at Hull, already finds himself approaching business problems in a different way since he embarked on the course last year. He decided to study for an EMBA – sponsored by his firm – because he has become a board director of a J R Rix & Sons, a company that is involved in a diverse range of activities including shipping, fuel distribution, shipbuilding, property, selling cars, caravan manufacturing, stevedoring and warehousing.
"I felt that an MBA would broaden my knowledge and skill set, providing me with a broad range of business tools that would help me when it came to understanding what needed to be done either for growth in some of our businesses and to manage difficult periods in other businesses," said Clarke, 50.
"The wide range of people in the group enriches the course. I'm surprised by how certain aspects of the modules are applied whether it's to the military, to medicine or to a local authority or another business, and that enriches the course. There are a number of people at a pretty senior level with a different range of experience so it certainly helps me to see things from a different angle."
As an executive of a company that sponsors employees through the MBA, Rory Clarke can see the advantages of the MBA to employer and the employee.
"My company benefits from myself and other employees doing the MBA because as we are a fairly large and diverse business there won't be anything that we do on the MBA that won't be relevant to some part of the organisation, whether it relates to manufacturing, accounting, finance, marketing or HR. All the modules equip me better to understand up-to-date thinking, the academic thought behind modern business processes and to see how that applies within our business.
"I've been able to apply what I've learned to the company. My colleagues and I have found that we've been able to come back and improve and develop the way we do things at the company as a direct result of the course."
Clarke believes that it's important for organisations to continue to invest in their staff, despite the cost involved of paying tuition fees and allowing staff time off to study and attend campus over long weekends.
"It's easy to make economies in difficult times by backing away from training staff but ultimately it's your own business that suffers as a result. Not only does it equip people better to deal with problems within the business, it helps motivate people and keep them fresh and interested in you as an employer. Investing in staff through training and development keeps them loyal."
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This article has been sponsored by Hull University Business School
