MBA Celebrates Changes and Students
The Old Dominion University Strome College of Business announced curricular refresh of its program for Master of Business Administration, or MBA. The curriculum had not undergone a full refresh in 7 years.
In 2019, the MBA program administrators and curricular review committee set out to ensure that the MBA was meeting the needs of the business community. Input was gathered from business leaders, human resource managers, alumni, students and faculty. Data from various skills gaps reports such as the World Economic Forum Future Skills reports was paired with the data gathered from stake holders to make decisions on the needed updates to the MBA curriculum.
The following are recommendations from the data collection process: Students asked for flexibility what, how and when courses were offered. Businesses wanted a good mix of decision making skills with soft skills. HR leaders indicated a need for better managers of people, information and things. The future skills report data pointed to needs for all of the above and more.
The result is a 43 credit hour, AACSB-accredited program that students may pursue full-time or part-time; online (synchronously or asynchronously), on-campus or both as life demands. To enhance their MBA degree, students may elect to pursue a concentration or additional credential such as a graduate certificate or a complementing graduate degree.
Not only do students have choice in completion schedules and modes of delivery; but they also have increased choice among a variety elective coursework options. Students may elect to focus in any one of 6 high impact concentrations areas such as: Business Analytics, Economic Analytics, Maritime and Port Management, Project Management, Public Procurement & Contract Management, or Supply Chain Management.
The Strome College of Business welcomes applicants to the MBA program who have earned bachelor's degrees from regionally accredited institutions. Admission to the program is competitive and is granted only to those who show high ability and likelihood of success in graduate business study; evidence of ability means that successful applicants will stand well above average in most criteria used to measure candidate potential.
Criteria used for admission include the candidate's score on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT, preferred) or Graduate Record Examination (GRE), undergraduate grade point average and the trend of the grades during undergraduate coursework, letters of reference, a goals statement, and work experience. GMAT / GRE waivers may be available to eligible, well-qualified applicants.
