{"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":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was a time when an MBA was one of the\u00a0most\u00a0sought-after degrees\u00a0across the world. But recent developments show that this is no\u00a0longer\u00a0the case. With the advent of AI, while\u00a0most tasks are automated, the relevance of an MBA is\u00a0at stake,\u00a0and therefore, many students wonder,\u00a0<strong><em>is pursuing an MBA worth it in 2026?<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\" title=\"Pratham Mittal\">Pratham Mittal<\/a>, founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/mastersunion.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" title=\"Masters Union\">Masters Union<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/saurabharora84\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" title=\"Saurabh\u00a0Arora\">Saurabh\u00a0Arora<\/a>, founder and CEO\u00a0of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"University Living\">University Living<\/a><\/strong>, in this blog, we shall try to understand if MBA is still\u00a0relevant\u00a0in\u00a0today\u2019s\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\"><strong>The Death of Employment and the Rise of the \u201cEntrepreneurial\u201d Skill Set<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the major shifts in\u00a0the 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\u00a0across the world are placing more emphasis on turning young graduates into entrepreneurs rather than professionals. This is done through relevant\u00a0training, real-life\u00a0applications, and\u00a0incubation centers.\u00a0Future professionals are not ready to work for someone else; they want to put their skills to their own use.\u00a0These entrepreneurs use AI agents that act as a low-cost, high-efficiency workforce.\u00a0<strong><em>Mr. Pratham says that you do not need to be a founder to succeed in your business, but you must boast an\u00a0\u201cownership mindset\u201d\u00a0by treating every project as your last!<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>IQ is Dead, Long Live EQ and Ambiguity<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prior to the advent of AI, employers used to look for Intelligence Quotient among\u00a0potential\u00a0employees, but since AI can handle<strong>\u00a0IQ-heavy tasks like coding and\u00a0accounting<\/strong>, the next best skills for a professional to have\u00a0are\u00a0<strong>Emotional and Social Quotient!\u00a0<\/strong>Another one of the most\u00a0<strong>critical skills for 2030 is being comfortable with uncertainty.<\/strong>\u00a0Ancient education systems, like the\u00a0<strong>Platonic Academy, prioritized \u201celoquence\u201d and \u201cambiguity\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0over math, and this is a model that modern MBAs should inculcate! Students these days use\u00a0startups as a laboratory to learn\u00a0resilience!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Moving Beyond the \u201cElite Club\u201d Mentality<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the students have a\u00a0perception\u00a0that getting into an\u00a0<strong>Ivy League, Russel Group, or IIMs<\/strong>\u00a0will make their future brighter and sound since these are elite clubs of validation rather than centers for learning.\u00a0As per research by\u00a0<em>Mustafa Kayyali, traditional rankings often weigh research for PhDs (50%)<\/em>\u00a0higher than the actual teaching quality for students, which means that these rankings might not be as\u00a0accurate\u00a0as we think\u00a0them to be!\u00a0Therefore, students must get over this stigma and pursue valuable\u00a0industry-related\u00a0skills!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Global Citizen: Why Where You Study Matters\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.\u00a0This relation is not of any help\u00a0as an\u00a0<em>MBA in 2026 will\u00a0likely involve\u00a0shuttling 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!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The<em>\u00a0future of the MBA lies in \u201clearning by doing,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0where 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\u00a0chase 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\u00a0most\u00a0sought-after degrees\u00a0across the world. But recent developments show that this is no\u00a0longer\u00a0the case. With the advent of AI, while\u00a0most tasks are automated, the relevance of an MBA is\u00a0at stake,\u00a0and therefore, many students wonder,\u00a0is pursuing an MBA worth it in 2026?\u00a0 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":["post-24137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","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":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.universityliving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24137\/revisions"}],"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}]}}