There are now a huge number of business schools dotted around Europe, all of them promising potential students with status, fortune and major career advancement if they sign up for their courses.

But opinions are divided about the true benefits of academic experience in dealing with the 'real' world of cut-throat international business.

"For young entrants into the business world, a basic understanding of business disciplines, achieved through post-school qualifications, is desirable, but not mandatory, " says Tony Russell, director of development and training networks at French giant cosmetics company L' Oréal.

"Experience-based business competence, gained in progressively challenging business situations and in different country and cultural contexts has for many years been, and will continue to be, the mainstay of the management and career development system for L'Oréal," he says.

Knut Asebo, vice president of the 'learning and development' department at Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian oil refining and industrial group, is more inclined to the MBA candidate: "The development of individuals, which many European business schools have always been good at and continue to be good at, is about building up and renewing a person’s knowledge and skill base," he says.

But Asebo guards against the idea that MBA's are everything: "Companies need executives who are familiar with the latest thinking in strategy, marketing or finance — but they also need managers who know about what’s happening in the world around them," he adds.

"In principle we think MBAs can be a good thing," explains Richard Dodd a spokesman for the UK business lobby, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). "But students should make sure that they take a recognised and respected course," he adds.

While top European institutions like the London Business School, the Insead college at Fontainbleau near Paris, or Spain’s Instituto de Empresa, are all highly respected — many other school’s offering MBA's carry rather less clout with potential employers.

"Doing and MBA is worthwhile for someone who wants to apply for a top management post with us but it has to be a really top-level qualification from a respected school," comments a spokeswoman for the giant French retail group Printemps-Pinault-Redoute (PPR).

"Also, candidates should only take this sort of qualification after several years of professional experience," she insists. Interestingly, PPR's CEO, François Pinault, has no qualifications to his name, left school at 16, and is now, at 65 years old, one of France's richest individuals with a personal fortune estimated at EUR 5.5 billion (USD 5 billion)!

Kevin Crump is a 29-year-old second-year MBA student at the prestigious London Business School. "An MBA certainly isn’t for everyone," he says and warns that potential students should think long and hard before deciding to apply to an institution like the LBS.

"If you already have sufficient knowledge or contacts or if you don’t really want to develop your career, then it’s really not for you," he argues. Dodd also argues that MBAs are only really useful for people who already have some business experience.

"Most business schools demand that you have at least three years management experience before taking an MBA, so someone who’s very young and maybe just out of university probably wouldn’t be accepted," he says.

Crump points out that for a London Business School MBA student, the combined cost of tuition fees and living expenses can run to a daunting GBP 30,000 (about FF 290,000) per year for a two-year course.

But he does insist that for someone with the right profile, an MBA from an institution like this can open a huge number of doors. "First and foremost, coming to a top business school helps you build a great network of contacts that will help you throughout your career," he explains.

"For many LBS students that’s one of the main reasons they’re here," he adds. Crump believes an internationally recognised business school can prove invaluable for young mangers seeking work outside of their home country.

"About 80 percent of LBS students go on to work in a country other than their own,"he says.

One useful source of information for potential MBA students in search of a reputable course is the annual ‘league table’ of international business schools published by the Financial Times.

This study ranks business schools by a number of key criteria including the size of salary increases graduates can expect to enjoy after completing an MBA course and how a degree from a particular institution will help you climb the corporate ladder.

In the FT's latest annual rank of the top 10 European MBA schools, Insead, in France, comes out top, followed by the LBS (UK), third the IMD (Switzerland), 4th is IESE (Spain), 5th is Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands), 6th is Empresa (Spain), 7th is Said, Oxford (UK), 8th is Manchester business school(UK) , 9th is the SDA Bocconi (Italy) and 10th is Warwick (UK).

But Crump insists nothing can beat good old-fashioned legwork when it comes to picking the right school.

"Talk to people already doing courses, visit alumni, ask questions. That will give an on the ground impression of what a school is really like," he says.

Crump speaks French and is hoping to work in France after graduating, although with the current economic climate he is ready to search elsewhere in Europe for work. He says in recent years the international acceptance for MBAs from schools like the LBS has "rocketed".

Meanwhile, most experts warn that there is no sure-fire formula for landing a coveted job, especially in today’s uncertain economic climate, and while MBAs may give you an edge over others, even business school graduates can find themselves on the dole.

Subject: Expat career tips