The collapse of Lehman Brothers was a watershed, not just for the banking world but also for business schools, which trained many of the bankers. So how does the MBA market look a year on?

First, the bad news: for the first time since 2004 international admissions to American graduate schools are down. A traumatised job market and tightening of visas and financing are blamed. But the good news is that business schools are reporting an increase in applications generally and an improving job market.

More importantly, the latest research among MBA graduates suggests that they see the qualification — and the transferable skills it provides — as a major asset in a turbulent economy. Preliminary findings from a research report to be published later this autumn by the Association of MBAs in partnership with Durham Business School indicate that transferable skills are more in demand in recessionary times.

When more than 500 MBA graduates were asked to rate the importance of the skills they had learnt, they cited the ability to manage change (66 per cent), communication skills (60 per cent) and an understanding of leadership (58 per cent) as the top three. These were followed by the ability to deal with ambiguity and team working.

There are signs, too, that the MBA market on both sides of the Atlantic is regaining its confidence. Paul Danos, dean at the Tuck School of Business, New Hampshire, is cautiously upbeat. “I believe we have seen the worse. The markets are stabilising. We expect that the interest among applicants in top full-time MBA programmes will stay strong.”

The UK market is also showing renewed signs of life. Judge Business School, Cambridge, opened applications for the MBA class of 2009 in September last year at about the time Lehman Brothers fell. “We received more than 1,200 applications for about 160 places — both record numbers,” says Conrad Chua, head of MBA recruitment there.

Applications to Cranfield University School of Management are up on last year, too. The quality of applicants is also higher when measured by GMAT scores, degrees and job seniority. “As far as the recession is concerned I think we have seen the worst,” says Séan Rickard, director of the full-time MBA.

At Nottingham University Business School applications have risen by 40 per cent. Bob Perry, MBA director, says: “There is an average of 14 applicants for each place. The school is having to reject applicants with the right academic qualifications who lack the necessary work experience.”

The recruiters are also starting to return. “The job market is improving, but slowly,” says Derek Walker, director of careers at Saïd Business School, Oxford. “The improvement seems to result mainly from the interest of smaller employers, rather than larger, traditional MBA recruiters.”

Cautious optimism is also the message from Diane Morgan, director of career services at London Business School. She reports that the banks are beginning to hire MBA graduates again. “The banking world has shrunk post-Lehman, making it extremely competitive to get in but new players are picking up the slack.”

In any case, many believe that the focus on the banking sector is out of proportion to its impact on MBA jobs.

Dave Wilson, president and chief executive of the Graduate Management Admission Council, says: “Even though the financial services sector draws only a few per cent of the graduating MBA students, it seems to dominate the conversation,” “I call it the Tiger Woods effect. It matters little where Tiger Woods is placed in a tournament; if he is in it, he is the story. The poor chap who is 16 strokes ahead of the second-place players gets only a passing mention.”