Diversity MBA Magazine - Summer 2008 - (Page 88)

Business Degrees by Yvonne F. Brown With full time applications on the decline, many business schools are crafting specialized MBA programs such as healthcare, real estate, sports management, and finance. Some schools, like the University of WisconsinMadison (UWM), have found a way to increase student enrollment by focusing their MBA curriculums on preparing students for specific business careers. In an article “Specializing in Success: Specialized MBA Programs are Meeting the Demand for Focused Grads,” Michael Knetter, dean of UWM’s School of Business, says, “The students best suited for the program are those with a clear idea of what they want to do when they grow up. We think this type of person will get the most out of an MBA degree.” According to Business Week, UWM had experienced a 30% drop in applications in three years and expected the situation to get worse. That was the impetus for Knetter’s scrapping the general management MBA curriculum altogether in 2004 and replacing it with the specialized program, which increased enrollment. Other schools, both here and abroad, have taken the same route with mixed results. Some European schools are also taking the specialized route. Sean Rickard, director of full-time MBA programs at England’s Cranfield School of Management, says, “I don’t agree with it at all. The MBA is a post-experience qualification that was originally designed for people around age 30 who are preparing for moving into a senior, strategic, general management role. They’re already supposed to have some functional management skills. They’ve probably been an accountant or project manager and are preparing to operate at the senior level. If you put two programs together, you’re devaluing both.” Dr. John Mather, executive director of Masters Programs at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, has a different take on specialized MBAs: “An MBA in finance means that you’re specializing or taking a significant number of electives in finance. Some schools offer a master of science in finance, but an MBA has core requirements for accreditation. How the students want to format their second year or their elective courses after the core is up to them. Tepper allows MBA students to select electives or concentrations during their second year, and many take three or four to get a more well rounded business education. “We introduce the concept of tracks in collaborative partnership with other colleges on the Carnegie Mellon campus, as we want our graduates to experience other disciplines.” “So we allow MBA students to migrate into other schools to interact with faculty,” Dr. Mather continues. “Graduate students research generally with intellectual capital that gives them opportunities to prepare for working. Carnegie Mellon doesn’t call this a specialized MBA, but it allows 88 w w w. d ive r s it y mb a ma g a z in e. c o m Crafting Specialized http://www.diversitymbamagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Diversity MBA Magazine - Summer 2008

Diversity MBA Magazine - Summer 2008 Contents Letters to the Editor In Your Own Hands Editor's View Find Your Power Voice Business Briefs Off the Shelf The Fourth Annual Top 100 Under 50 Diverse Corporate Executives Negotiation: The Art of Persuasion or Zero Sum Game? Career Planning for Tomorrow's Hispanic Workforce Who's Who In Diversity Entrepreneur Profile: Anita Santiago: Doing It Her Way Businesses that Keep On Giving Rising Sun Going Global: Will An International Assignment Benefit Your Career Work-Life Balance and the C-Suite: An Oxymoron? A Call to Save Travel: Off the Beaten Path - Chile Drawing the Line – Latin Art Exhibit The New Taste of Latin Cuisine American Sabor: Exhibit Highlights Latino Influence in Pop Music Crafting Specialized Business Degrees Latest MBA Salary Suggests MBA Is A Safe Haven Gadgets & Gizmos Gone Phishing – How Scammers Mine Private Data From Web Surfers Advertiser's Index The Meaning of Sanctuary

Diversity MBA Magazine - Summer 2008

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