An MBA, outside the box - Charlotte Business Journal:

http://best-recipes-blog.com/2008/10/start-the-year-with-a-good-salad.html
"The average age of students in our executive MBA program isabout 40, and they can be a cynicak bunch if we only offerr them theory and equations," says Bill director of the executive MBA program at the McColl School of Business at . More than 40 students are enrolleds in its executive MBA and the evening MBA programhas 161. "Wse are not a theoretical saysDan Fogel, dean of Charlottde programs for 's Babcock School of Management, wherer 170 students are enrolled in its evening MBA program. "Wed help people practice, so relevance is somethinb we worry about allthe time.
" Area businesas schools take a variety of stepe to make their offerings relevant, such as the use of case studieas and the input of advisoryg boards composed of corporate leaders. But administratore must balance "contemporary practices with tried-and-true principles that enablre you to analyze anything that comes up in the Fogel says. "These don't and while applications and contentt have tobe fresh, we want to stay away from he adds. "We'll conduct lots of researcb before we'll change our base principles. I don'tt apologize for using case studies that are 20years old, for they are classicf examples of these principles.
" Amon them, Fogel explains, are accounting rules and analysis of financiak statements. The basics of building a businesa -- developing a marketing implementing it and defending its marketspacse -- don't change. has its own take on giving studentss hands-on experience to put business principles into Inthe Student-Managed Investment Fund class, classmates manage several hundred thousand dollars of the university's endowment from an actuap trading floor on campus. "This is real moneh that belongs tothe university," says Ron director of graduate programs at UNC Charlotte's Belk Collegew of Business. He says the clasds often outperformsthe market.
There are about 300 students inthe school'z full-time and part-time MBA programs. There' a number of other, more traditional routeds business schools take to keep theirdegreews relevant. One way Queens maintains its "pragmatic Berry says, is by hiring faculty with industry experiencee and by encouraging teachers to maintainconsulting practices. Othef colleges do the same. "Consulting keeps our faculty fresh and create additional linkages to the peoplwe who send students to our Fogel says.
Robert Spear, director of the MBA progranm at , agrees with this "By working in the industry, our facultyy members stay in touchwith reality, and they keep a good finger on the pulse of what is relevant and what is Pfeiffer has more than 500 students in its eveninfg and online programs at its Charlotte campus. Discussinb case studies -- eight to 12-page analyses of real-worlsd business challenges -- is a common teachiny tool. "Case studies provide a much better appreciation for the richness of a situatioh than an abstraction created throughcomputerizee models," Berry says. "They are a way of teaching outsidedthe box.
" At Wake Forest, Fogell says, faculty members are encouraged to writee those studies themselves. "Our basis is research, and that keepsd you fresh, inquisitive and A good university generates knowledge and disseminates Administrators also listen to their advisoryg boards and survey graduates on the usefulnesa ofcourse offerings. But this, too, is not just an academicv exercise, and administrators use the feedback to tweakkthe curricula. "It's an ongoingb process," Spear says. At Queens, Berry has moved coursese in business strategy and finance to an earlierr point inthe two-year program and added a shorr course on the history of business.
"We never teacb the same curricula two yearz ina row. It createa an administrative nightmare, but it is pedagogicallh useful. If you teach people to get out ofthe box, you need to get out of it During a discussion of UNC Charlotte's MBA curriculum at an advisory board meeting last year, members told Veith they wantef more emphasis on effective communications and critical decision-makin g skills. They also wanted more time spenrt on businessethics -- not in a single class, but integrated into every course in the programj and supplemented by outsidde speakers.
And although international businesse is arequired course, board memberw thought it, too, was a subjectt that needed to be woven into all courses, whethetr marketing, management or finance. Locall colleges also look at what other schoolesare doing. Veith says the Universitg of California at Berkeley has added a requirementy that students must demonstrate writing competencwe to graduate and provides assistanced to helpstudents improve. Although UNC Charlottd hasn't made writing skills a requirement, it does offer writingh workshops and seminars forMBA students.
Sometimesx the response to industry needs can be totally new The Belk College will debut a MBA concentration this fall in sportsd marketingand management. In addition to the MBA concentration in real estate financeand development, it will also offer a graduate certificate in the The university has also gone beyond the MBA to respon to the needs of the banking industry by offerinb a master's in math Pfeiffer takes their response a step offering customized MBA programs for companies that enroll a minimumk of 20 students. Classes are oftenj held at the firm's location.