{"id":24137,"date":"2026-04-08T14:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/?p=24137"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:45:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:15:33","slug":"is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/podcast\/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Is an MBA Still Worth It in\u00a02026? The Reality for Global Students\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/podcast\/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-2026\/#The_Death_of_Employment_and_the_Rise_of_the_%E2%80%9CEntrepreneurial%E2%80%9D_Skill_Set\" >The Death of Employment and the Rise of the &#8220;Entrepreneurial&#8221; Skill Set&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/podcast\/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-2026\/#IQ_is_Dead_Long_Live_EQ_and_Ambiguity\" >IQ is Dead, Long Live EQ and Ambiguity&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/podcast\/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-2026\/#Moving_Beyond_the_%E2%80%9CElite_Club%E2%80%9D_Mentality\" >Moving Beyond the &#8220;Elite Club&#8221; Mentality&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/podcast\/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-2026\/#The_Global_Citizen_Why_Where_You_Study_Matters\" >The Global Citizen: Why Where You Study Matters&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/podcast\/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-2026\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>There was a time when an MBA was one of the&nbsp;most&nbsp;sought-after degrees&nbsp;across the world. But recent developments show that this is no&nbsp;longer&nbsp;the case. With the advent of AI, while&nbsp;most tasks are automated, the relevance of an MBA is&nbsp;at stake,&nbsp;and therefore, many students wonder,&nbsp;<strong><em>is pursuing an MBA worth it in 2026?<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The primary reason for this is that an MBA is a 2-year\u00a0program,\u00a0and spending this time\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0seem fair when AI is replacing jobs faster than before.\u00a0<em>Experts say that over 700 universities\u00a0that\u00a0have been built over the last decade\u00a0are expected to shut down by 2034 because they\u00a0fail to\u00a0provide\u00a0real value\u00a0to students!<\/em>\u00a0Therefore, based on the conversations between\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/prathammittal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Pratham Mittal<\/a>, founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/mastersunion.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Masters Union<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/saurabharora84\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Saurabh\u00a0Arora<\/a>, founder and CEO\u00a0of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">University Living<\/a><\/strong>, in this blog, we shall try to understand if MBA is still\u00a0relevant\u00a0in\u00a0today&#8217;s\u00a0world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Pratham Mittal on Shark Tank, Elite MBA Admissions Lie &amp; End of Jobs by 2030 | The Living Pod Ep 89\" width=\"860\" height=\"484\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pnd3p6Za4zA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Death_of_Employment_and_the_Rise_of_the_%E2%80%9CEntrepreneurial%E2%80%9D_Skill_Set\"><\/span><strong>The Death of Employment and the Rise of the &#8220;Entrepreneurial&#8221; Skill Set<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the major shifts in&nbsp;the job market is that the traditional concept of employment from 9-5 is facing a decline because of the rise in Entrepreneurship. Most of the B -Schools&nbsp;across the world are placing more emphasis on turning young graduates into entrepreneurs rather than professionals. This is done through relevant&nbsp;training, real-life&nbsp;applications, and&nbsp;incubation centers.&nbsp;Future professionals are not ready to work for someone else; they want to put their skills to their own use.&nbsp;These entrepreneurs use AI agents that act as a low-cost, high-efficiency workforce.&nbsp;<strong><em>Mr. Pratham says that you do not need to be a founder to succeed in your business, but you must boast an&nbsp;\u201cownership mindset\u201d&nbsp;by treating every project as your last!<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"IQ_is_Dead_Long_Live_EQ_and_Ambiguity\"><\/span><strong>IQ is Dead, Long Live EQ and Ambiguity<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to the advent of AI, employers used to look for Intelligence Quotient among&nbsp;potential&nbsp;employees, but since AI can handle<strong>&nbsp;IQ-heavy tasks like coding and&nbsp;accounting<\/strong>, the next best skills for a professional to have&nbsp;are&nbsp;<strong>Emotional and Social Quotient!&nbsp;<\/strong>Another one of the most&nbsp;<strong>critical skills for 2030 is being comfortable with uncertainty.<\/strong>&nbsp;Ancient education systems, like the&nbsp;<strong>Platonic Academy, prioritized &#8220;eloquence&#8221; and &#8220;ambiguity&#8221;<\/strong>&nbsp;over math, and this is a model that modern MBAs should inculcate! Students these days use&nbsp;startups as a laboratory to learn&nbsp;resilience!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Moving_Beyond_the_%E2%80%9CElite_Club%E2%80%9D_Mentality\"><\/span><strong>Moving Beyond the &#8220;Elite Club&#8221; Mentality<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the students have a&nbsp;perception&nbsp;that getting into an&nbsp;<strong>Ivy League, Russel Group, or IIMs<\/strong>&nbsp;will make their future brighter and sound since these are elite clubs of validation rather than centers for learning.&nbsp;As per research by&nbsp;<em>Mustafa Kayyali, traditional rankings often weigh research for PhDs (50%)<\/em>&nbsp;higher than the actual teaching quality for students, which means that these rankings might not be as&nbsp;accurate&nbsp;as we think&nbsp;them to be!&nbsp;Therefore, students must get over this stigma and pursue valuable&nbsp;industry-related&nbsp;skills!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Global_Citizen_Why_Where_You_Study_Matters\"><\/span><strong>The Global Citizen: Why Where You Study Matters&nbsp;<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Globalization has genuinely affected people, as students these days are Global Citizens who have more in common with peers across the world than with neighbors just 1km away.&nbsp;This relation is not of any help&nbsp;as an&nbsp;<em>MBA in 2026 will&nbsp;likely involve&nbsp;shuttling between global hubs (e.g., Dubai, Singapore, the UK) to understand diverse markets and political contexts<\/em>. This is because true education comes from navigating local realities, like understanding the lack of infrastructure in emerging markets rather than sitting behind a computer screen!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span><strong>Conclusion<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The<em>&nbsp;future of the MBA lies in &#8220;learning by doing,&#8221;<\/em>&nbsp;where grades are derived from actual business margins and revenue rather than exams. Ironically, the ultimate success of a 2030 MBA program might be when a student is successful enough to drop out and pursue their venture full-time. Therefore, students must not&nbsp;chase the stamp but should chase the ecosystem that allows them to take risks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was a time when an MBA was one of the&nbsp;most&nbsp;sought-after degrees&nbsp;across the world. But recent developments show that this is no&nbsp;longer&nbsp;the case. With the advent of AI, while&nbsp;most tasks are automated, the relevance of an MBA is&nbsp;at stake,&nbsp;and therefore, many students wonder,&nbsp;is pursuing an MBA worth it in 2026?&nbsp; The primary reason for this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1105],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-podcast"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24164,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24137\/revisions\/24164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}