MBA vs. Master

Balancing work, family and an international MBA degree — is that even possible? Sascha Baae, a senior executive at a globally active IT company and current participant in the MBA programme at Opresnik Business School (OBS), speaks with Prof. Dr. Marc Oliver Opresnik about his experiences, challenges and insights from his studies.

The MBA programme offers not only a thorough grounding in business management, but also opens up meaningful new career opportunities. Many graduates report noticeable salary increases following completion — particularly in management positions or when making a move into a new industry.

The MBA programme is not exclusively for established professionals with an academic background. Opresnik Business School (OBS) enables flexible, 100% online study in partnership with British universities — and this is possible even without a traditional educational pathway, thanks to a practice-oriented admissions process and clear eligibility criteria.

Whilst traditional master's programmes tend to focus on a specific academic discipline, an MBA is designed specifically around leadership skills, strategic thinking and management expertise. Opresnik Business School (OBS) offers a part-time, 100% online MBA programme — ideal for those already in professional life who wish to develop in a practical, applied way.

The MBA is no longer purely academic training for individuals — it is increasingly becoming a strategic instrument for HR departments. Opresnik Business School (OBS) offers a practice-oriented, 100% online MBA programme that organisations can deploy specifically for employee development and long-term retention.

Modern MBA programmes offer far more than a broad grounding in management. Through targeted specialisations, students can develop expertise in areas directly relevant to their professional practice — such as digitalisation, sustainability or strategic marketing. In this way, the MBA becomes a genuinely tailored continuing education experience.

Professional decisions rarely arise from a single moment. They take shape gradually, often imperceptibly, embedded in everyday life through accumulated responsibility, established routines and growing expectations. The decision to pursue an MBA programme almost always follows this pattern. It is less a spontaneous resolution than the result of a lengthy internal process. Many managers report that the idea did not initially present itself in concrete terms. It emerges more as a quiet restlessness — a sense that familiar approaches continue to function but are losing their depth. Decisions are being made, projects managed, teams led — and yet there is a growing desire to reflect more closely on one's own actions and to place them in a more conscious framework.

Experience accumulates faster than it can be organised

Professional experience does not grow in a linear fashion. It is shaped through projects, decisions, conflicts and successes — often simultaneously and under time pressure. Over the years, knowledge accumulates that is highly effective in practice, yet is rarely consciously structured. Many managers perform excellently in this environment: they solve problems, make decisions and take responsibility. Yet there is seldom room to systematically reflect on and organise one's own experience.

The impulse to pursue an MBA frequently originates at precisely this point — not from a sense of inadequacy, but from a desire for clarity. The experience is there, but it is fragmented. The MBA begins here without replacing anything. It provides a framework within which existing knowledge is sorted, examined and placed in a broader context.

A familiar qualification within a different academic framework

For many students from Germany, pursuing an MBA in England is not an exotic undertaking, but a deliberate choice to engage with a different academic system. The qualification is internationally established, the language of instruction is familiar, and yet the day-to-day experience of study differs in important respects from what many will know from the German university context.

These differences are often not experienced as obstacles, but as a clear structure that provides orientation. For professionals in particular, this creates a study environment with a defined rhythm and a sustained focus on outcomes.