At international accreditation conferences, one frequently hears of the shift of MBA graduates from Wall Street to Silicon Valley venture businesses. The Columbia Business School has published data that supports this assertion (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, May 5, 2016). Certainly, Wall Street is the first image associated with the Columbia MBA. Yet in recent years, there has been a shift in popularity toward IT businesses and start-ups. Sixteen percent (16%) of Harvard Business School graduates move on to start-ups (i.e., brand-new companies), the highest level in the past 20 years.

Yet it would be a mistake to simply conclude that 16% of Harvard graduates either start their own businesses or change jobs to work at a start-up immediately after graduation. Although not mentioned in the article, Harvard professors have stated that their MBA holders take their time before making a decision, and that in many cases, they only move on to a start-up 10 years or more after graduation.

According to the news article, 16% of the graduates of Stanford University, which is located in Silicon Valley, started businesses in the past year. However, one should be cautious about such statistics: Does this mean that, at the same time, students are not concentrating on their MBA lectures? Columbia University also noted that it has no course contents that are especially tailored for specific industries or business fields, as their goal is the general training and education of leaders. Starting a new business is certainly one choice available in the future, but one must be conscious of the fact that the main goal and purpose of MBA is to train students in general skills.