As the MBA qualification is sure to opeAs the MBA qualification is sure to open up new career development landscapes for senior managers and business leaders, it continues to remain the preferred postgraduate business qualification in Sri Lanka. The recognition enjoyed by the MBA in Sri Lanka is only fast gathering momentum and, in an economic backdrop where Sri Lanka is continuing to draw direct foreign investment at the conclusion of a 30 year war, the average manager is required to be primed with essential skills for survival and efficient performance within the organization.
Parallel to the global precedent, in Sri Lanka, senior professionals are more attracted by the MBA than fresh graduates and on this finding we conclude that an MBA is looked upon by business professionals as a sure-fire means of furthering advancement in their business career.

And when it comes to MBAs, the first thing that comes to mind is the 12 Month MBA offered at the Oxford College of Business. The 12 Month MBA at Oxford is regarded as the most sought after MBA in Sri Lanka. Oxford College of Business, Sri Lanka’s pioneer higher education institution, was the first to offer a 12 month MBA programme in Sri Lanka, and today the AIB’s MBA is the oldest 12 Month MBA programme in the country. It is well recognized for having produced a large number of brilliant business professionals and business leaders. The 12 Month MBA programme of the Australian Institute of Business offered at the Oxford College of Business carries a unique feature that elevates it well above any traditional programme and making it the first preference in the knowledgeable business community of the country.
The theme of the “mindful manager” is given high priority and is dealt with all through the three stages of this MBA programme in multifarious ways by the facilitators and other resource persons, in an effort to evolve the skills pertaining to critical thinking, reflectivity and mindful leadership in the student.
Learning about management through self-reflection
Seven core modules of the 12 Month MBA programme emphasize personal development and leadership quality cultivation. This, in the first place, lays bare to the student what the true basis of management is and also the actual role of the manager.
In addition to showing the way to maturity as a mindful manager, these modules persuade us to question the generally acknowledged assumptions pertaining to business. The aim here is for the student to evolve critical thinking in the three domains of dominant ideologies in business, namely: the business/management thought of the academic, world and business education and moreover in the student’s own thought process as well. Critical thinking involves sensitive awareness of the things that might affect the thinking of the critical thinker. The student is made to develop reflectivity by exercising habitual reflection on his or her own personal conduct and by reflective assignments. Deadlines for writing reflective assignments are at the close of each module as learning through reflection involves a circular process emerging with experience. In the learning process in this respect, students are made to develop reflective framework based around three questions: what, so what, and now what.
What students learn about mindful leadership?
Mindful leadership deals with evolving a student’s skills, transforming him or her to be a leader, incorporating theory into practice, and the objective is developing flexibility and self-awareness. There are abundant opportunities available for developing skills involved in mindful leadership. Through compulsory modules like Strategic Management and Leadership, students come to be aware that the world of management is an enigmatic and highly involved environment. During this MBA programme students get the valuable opportunity of listening to guest lectures by prominent business leaders of the country, wherein they learn their top business skills. Moreover, during these workshops students come to understand the motivations in terms of strategy that propel these top leaders and also their judgments regarding the actual turbulent world of business. Discussions with student participation, representative of a multiplicity of business organizations, enable the students to evaluate and streamline their own notions regarding leadership, at the same time drawing from different perspectives of their peers regarding leadership. In the learning process, students are purposefully forced out of their comfort zone resulting in improved decision-making skills.
Only the 12 Month MBA programme at OCB designed by the Australian Institute of Business entwining practical business education and business theory can take pride in this unique feature that students at Oxford College of Business get the privilege to enjoy. Students come to understand that managers are sculptors guided by an array of motives. Henry Mintzberg’s dictum “Management is, above all, a practice where art, science and craft meet”, is enshrined in the heart of every mindful manager following the 12 Month MBA at Oxford College of Business.
Moreover, the 12 Month MBA at Oxford College of Business awakens senior managers to an awareness of what they ought to be, what is lacking in them and how to proceed from where they are. The Head of Academic at Oxford College of Business states that most of the students, before they embark on this programme tend to have a foggy perception of themselves, though aspiring to having global professional skills and awareness. The 12 Month MBA at Oxford College of Business is able to guide them towards the things they yearn for, which is an everlasting adventure.
Ranked #2 in Australia
The 12 Month MBA programme of the Australian Institute of Business ranks 13th globally and 2nd in Australia, according to the latest International Graduate Forum (IGF) rankings released for the Winter 2013/2014 edition of the CEO Magazine (UK). Thus, the Australian Institute of Business’s MBA has been ranked in the top 20 MBAs in the world for two consecutive years. It has also improved its Australian ranking from #3 to #2 within one year.