There has been one bright spot in the MBA job market over the past year and that was the number of graduates snapped up by the management consultancies. Top of the pile is McKinsey, which was the largest recruiter at several schools in 2012, including Kellogg School of Management and neighbour the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in the US, and London Business School in the UK. The consulting firm recruited 55, 28 and 36 students respectively at the three schools.

McKinsey is also traditionally the biggest recruiter at Insead. Between the two graduating classes of June and December 2011, for example – the latest available figures – McKinsey recruited 107 graduates there, probably the biggest haul at any single business school.

Why is this significant? While students can get an MBA in under a year at Insead, the school can still place large numbers of graduates in coveted jobs. Which begs this question: who decides how long an MBA should take – the schools or the market?