The specialist MBA, a concept that may seem a contradiction in terms, had a growing presence in Russia before the crisis. However, over the last year this academic commodity has all but disappeared fr om the country’s business education market, research has shown.

Worldwide, business education institutions welcomed more MBA students through their doors in 2009 than in the previous year, while in Russia the trend was the opposite, with Moscow’s and St. Petersburg’s universities suffering a 25 percent drop in applicants for their MBA courses, data from Russian education analysts Begin Group revealed.

Specialist MBAs, described by Sean Rickard of the United Kingdom’s Cranfield School of Management as a “second school tier” initiative, proved popular in Russia in the few years prior to 2008. Many institutions widened the range of business degrees they offered. Yet for 2009 entry, Russian MBA courses with a focus on manufacturing, IT or banking dropped by 80 percent, while real estate and construction vanished altogether as an MBA specialty, Begin wrote in April.

Yet there are big international schools that continue to offer specialized MBA degrees. The University of California’s Haas School offers a real estate program that includes modules such as “Business and legal issues in real estate development” and “Real estate finance and securitization” — not the core subject matter associated with a standard MBA course.

Even in Russia, the crisis prompted professionals to move across into MBA education — albeit in reduced numbers — in a bid to advance their careers or to capitalize on reductions in the cost of executive education, said Anton Ryaguzov, an analyst at Begin. A couple of specialist MBA disciplines, such as financial management and sales, increased their 2009 intake, but these were in the minority.

“The trends in the decline of specialist MBAs seem to be strongly connected to those branches of the economy that have suffered through the crisis,” Ryaguzov explained. “Schools in Russia, particularly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, previously offered MBA courses in response to an increasing demand that they could not match with their general degrees, but now it is hard to say that they are popular,” he added.

Currently, even though MBA intake in Russia has fallen thus freeing up places, the best option for Russian students is to pursue a classic MBA course at a high-ranking overseas institution, said Konstantin Demanov, a first-year MBA student at London Business School. Demanov previously completed a master’s degree in finance and business administration at the Academy of National Economy affiliated with the Russian government, but he considered the choice of MBA courses in Russia not yet developed enough to serve the needs of students.

In numerous schools worldwide, it is possible to choose options within general MBA or EMBA courses that place an emphasis on a particular discipline or industry, without detracting from the core MBA teaching, said Demanov, who himself has tended toward finance-related topics since starting his course.

However, even this subspecialization may not be too advantageous, said Natalya Katsap, another first-year Russian MBA student in London. “Talking to employers in industry, I’ve learnt that it is best to get varied experience from your MBA and not lim it yourself,” she explained.

Nevertheless, in Russia for the next academic year, certain institutions will still be pursuing the specialist MBA. The Moscow International Higher Business School, MIRBIS, in April launched a restructured MBA in hospitality management. “We think the uniqueness of our degree and the upcoming Olympics will make this a very attractive qualification,” said Marina Korsakova, an instructor in the course. “We are well aware of the tough economic conditions at the moment for specialized MBAs, but we also make distance-learning an option for students. We anticipate entrants particularly from the regions,” she added.