A Master of Business Administration (MBA) should be regarded as a postgraduate qualification equivalent to a postgraduate diploma, the Council on Higher Education (CHE) said on Monday.

"It most closely resembles the purpose, characteristics and admission requirements of the proposed postgraduate diploma on the revised Higher Education Qualifications Framework," the CHE said in a statement.

At the moment, the MBA is regarded as a postgraduate qualification equivalent to an honours degree.

However, in the Higher Education Qualifications Framework promulgated in 2008, the MBA was pegged at the level of a masters degree which includes a substantive research component.

The Higher Education Qualifications Framework in relation to programmes accredited prior to 2008 is scheduled to begin in early 2012.

However, the CHE has since been revising the framework due to inconsistencies.

The revised framework has now made provision for an academic masters and a professional masters degree with a less intensive research component.

"However, the entry requirements for both types of masters degrees remain the same, namely an honours or postgraduate diploma," the CHE said.

The MBA did not conform with the admission requirements for a professional masters as it did not require an honours degree or a postgraduate qualification.

"Instead, the entrance requirements for the MBA typically include a combination of an undergraduate degree, work experience, in particular, at the management level, and selection tests such as the GMAT [Graduate Management Admission Test]," the CHE said.

Its proposal to give the MBA the status of a postgraduate diploma was not based on an assessment of the quality of the qualifications on offer.

However, business schools want the MBA treated as a special case, the CHE said.

"This requires further discussion and debate within the higher education sector, which the CHE would welcome."