The University
Senate of
PROPOSAL 23-06
(Voting
Units: Academic)
Master
of Business Administration Degree
Spin-off
from Master of Science in Business Administration Degree
Approved by
SBE Faculty January 6, 2006
Amended
January 23, 2006
Approved by
GFC February 7, 2006
The
proposal is to create a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree as a spin-off
program from the existing Master of Science in Business Administration (MSBA)
in the School of Business & Economics at
1. General
Program Description and Characteristics
The
Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional masters
degree which prepares students to develop a managerial perspective and aptitude. It has traditionally prepared students with
non-business undergraduate degrees to work in management and business. The MBA will require 36 credit hours beyond
the bachelor’s degree (24 credit hours of core courses and 12 credit hours of
electives) and be a coursework only (Plan D) degree. It could be completed in
one calendar year (three semesters including summer semester).
2. Rationale
The
purpose of the Master of Business Administration to be offered by the School of
Business & Economics (SBE) is to provide students with technical and/or non-business
degrees with a general understanding of business functions and business
skills. The target market for the proposed
MBA is students with Bachelor’s degrees in engineering and the sciences, and in
particular students completing their degrees at Michigan Tech. Students with technical undergraduate degrees
who choose to work in business after graduation will have a competitive
advantage in the job market if they have the business knowledge and skills
developed by an MBA. An MBA which can be completed in one calendar year (three
semesters including summer semester) offers an attractive opportunity as a fifth-year
masters program for students completing their technical undergraduate degrees.
There
are two reasons for spinning off an MBA from the existing MSBA program. The first is that an MBA has more name
recognition than an MSBA with both employers and prospective students. The second is that the MBA is a general
business degree that is more appropriate for our target market of engineering
and science undergraduates than the MSBA degree, which is typically a
specialized degree which prepares students in specialized areas of business or
management such as operations management.
Our existing MSBA program, which was reinstituted in 2004/5 in order to
meet a demand for a one-year graduate business program at Michigan Tech, was
designed with both a core of general business courses and also sets of
specialization courses. Although it
successfully enrolled 25 students in the first year, and 50 in the second year,
we learned that our students were more interested in the general business curriculum
than in developing specializations. We
are therefore seeking approval to spin off an MBA, which would expand the
general business offerings currently offered under the MSBA, and offer more choice
in electives by removing restrictions required by MSBA specializations.
3. Discussion of
Related Programs within the Institution and at Other Institutions.
Related
programs in the School of Business & Economics include the MSBA and the MS
in Operations Management (not currently offered). If the MBA is approved, we would continue to
offer the MSBA to students already enrolled or accepted into the MSBA program. Students enrolled in the MSBA would be given
the option of transitioning to the MBA.
AACSB
accreditation policies (see below) now emphasize mission-driven programs, which
enable business schools to develop programs that serve their market niches. MBA
programs come in a wide variety of formats from full-time traditional MBA
programs requiring over 50 credits of coursework and two years to complete to
Executive MBA programs designed for busy professionals, to fast-track MBA
programs (which we are proposing) with under 40 credits of coursework which
students could complete in one calendar year (three semesters). The fast track
programs usually require completion of prerequisites or foundation courses in
business and economics prior to taking MBA core courses. AACSB-accredited
business schools at technological universities such as Rochester Institute of
Technology,
There
are currently no AACSB-accredited MBA programs in
4. Curriculum
Design.
The
MBA program will consist of 36 credits -- 24 credits of core courses and 12 credits
of electives. All students will have
successfully completed a set of prerequisites or their equivalents by the end
of their first semester after admittance to the program, and before taking any
courses that require the prerequisite.
Core courses will cover topics in accounting, finance, economics,
marketing, information systems, operations management, management and
organizational behavior, business strategy and corporate social responsibility.
Elective
courses will be offered in areas such as finance, natural resources management,
operations management, entrepreneurship and human resources management. There should be flexibility for a
student-selected concentration. At least 6
credit hours must be taken in the
The
MBA will follow Plan D which is a coursework option.
5. New Course
Descriptions
None
are proposed at this time.
6. Additional
Resources Required.
Two
new faculty positions have already been allocated for the MSBA program; these
positions will be used to staff the MBA program. SBE graduate faculty are
already teaching core graduate courses listed above in the MSBA program. A
challenge grant to support graduate programs currently has a balance of
$500,000 in the Michigan Tech Fund; an additional $250,000 is pledged. These funds can be used for fellowships,
graduate research, library expenditure, computing, and other resources as
needed. No additional resource needs are
anticipated at this time.
7. Accreditation
requirements.
AACSB
will review the MBA program for accreditation in 2010, the next scheduled
review date. The MBA will be considered
accredited as soon as it is offered.
8. Planned
implementation date: September 2006.
Attachment to
MBA Proposal regarding Course Offerings for 2006/7:
If
the MBA is approved in time to offer it in Fall 2006,
the SBE would be in a transitional year in 2006/7 in which new graduate
students could elect either the MSBA or MBA curriculum. Therefore, the SBE will offer core courses
that can be utilized for either degree, along with courses that could be used
either as MBA electives or for designated MSBA specializations.
The
sequencing of fall and spring courses is designed to have students complete the
business basics of accounting, finance and operations, as well as a strategic
overview of business in the fall, before taking the spring roster of
courses. Summer courses for 2007/8 have
not been scheduled, but we would offer several core courses as well as electives.
In
2008/9, the SBE will consider a revised MBA curriculum that takes advantage of
innovations being offered in other fast-track one-year MBAs at technological
universities.
The
following is a model set of courses which would allow students to complete the
MBA in one calendar year (three semesters).
MBA
Prerequisites (completed prior to enrollment):
MBA
Core Classes
Fall BA5300 Accounting (3credits)
Fall BA5400 Finance (3 credits)
Fall BA5610 Operations & Quality Management (3 credits)
Fall BA5790 Corporate Social Responsibility (1 credit)
Fall BA5710 Business Strategy (3 credits)
Spring BA5200 Information
Systems (3 credits)
Spring BA5700 Management
& Organizational Behavior (3 credits)
Spring BA5800 Marketing
(3 credits)
Spring EC5300 Managerial
Economics (2 credits)
MBA Electives
Spring BA5650 Project
Management (3 credits)
Summer BA5670 Business
Process Simulation (3 credits)
Summer BA5720 Entrepreneurship
I (3 credits)
Summer BA5640 Global
Operations & Logistics (3 credits)
Adopted by Senate: 22 March 2006
Approved by Administration: 6 April 2006
Approved by BOC: 22 June 2006