Yale makes big changes to MBA program

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Yale this year became the first major university to require its MBA students to study abroad. The Ivy League school also replaced finance and marketing courses that have been the mainstay of business education for 50 years with courses structured to mimic the way business managers operate. For one group of graduate business students at Yale, next month’s lessons will take place on pineapple, banana and coffee plantations in Costa Rica.

Other Master of Business Administration students are checking out investment prospects in Tanzania and what’s sizzling in Singapore.

Yale this year became the first major university to require its MBA students to study abroad. The Ivy League school also replaced finance and marketing courses that have been the mainstay of business education for 50 years with courses structured to mimic the way business managers operate.

“We are at the beginning of what over the next five years will be tremendous change in business education,” said Joel M. Podolny, dean of Yale’s School of Management.

The changes, implemented this fall, come after criticism in scholarly articles that MBA programs have failed to teach useful skills. Other business schools are implementing or considering similar plans.

Business schools increasingly compete for students and faculty as the number of MBA programs has soared. Universities are trying to differentiate themselves with special programs, such as a growing emphasis on ethics courses in the wake of corporate scandals.

“There is a trend to being responsive to the needs of the marketplace,” said Arthur Kraft, chairman of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

Next fall, a new Stanford University curriculum will emphasize the skills a business manager needs and require students to have a global experience.

Yale’s new curriculum aims to elevate the 30-year-old business program, its newest professional school, into the ranks of elite business schools such as Harvard, Wharton and others. Business Week ranked Yale 19th out of its top 30 MBA programs.

Mindful of the global economy, Yale and other business schools are placing more emphasis on studying abroad.

Continue reading “Yale makes big changes to MBA program

Source: Associated Press (link opens in a new window)