NewsRelease

UNCG’s Bryan School Launches Full-Time MBA
 
GREENSBORO – To better meet the needs of its increasingly diverse student population, the Bryan School of Business and Economics is launching a full-time day MBA program at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro next fall.

An information session will be offered Saturday, Nov. 8, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in room 160 at the Bryan School. Recent college graduates, regardless of undergraduate major, are invited to hear a program overview, take a free GMAT preparation test and get advice on financial aid. Faculty and current students will be on-hand to answer questions about the program and a light lunch will be provided. Those interested in attending should call (336) 334-5390 or e-mail mba@uncg.edu.

Dr. Sheldon Balbirer, director of the Bryan MBA program, said the new program is being offered in response to increasing differences in the needs of the school’s 260 part-time, evening MBA students.

“The evening program is geared toward working adults, who therefore can go to school only part-time. However, we’ve started to attract younger students and international students who want to go to school full-time before entering the job market. The needs of these populations are fundamentally different,” Balbirer said.

The full-time, day program will be geared toward those with limited work experience, whether recent graduates or business people with just a year or two under their belts.

“There’s a change in employer attitudes. After college graduates have worked a year or two, they hit a ceiling and employers tell them to go back and get their MBA,” said Catherine Holderness, associate director of the MBA program.

In addition to better serving its current student population, the Bryan School is courting an unusual new audience – recent graduates from non-business programs. The school is reaching out to students such as English, sociology and foreign language graduates, who wish to increase their marketability by combining their disciplinary expertise with business knowledge.

“We’re providing a significantly different model that says ‘get that traditional arts and sciences degree, then come and get an MBA so you will be attractive to employers,’ ” Holderness said.

Eric Button, president of BioEmerge Partners, a biotechnology consulting firm based in Clemmons, earned his undergraduate degree in science and an MBA at UNCG.

"As the biotechnology community continues to expand in the Triad, there will be a great need for job candidates who have backgrounds in both the life sciences and business.  The full-time MBA program at UNCG will be a great training ground for undergraduates with life science degrees," he said.

The program will make these students competitive with seasoned job applicants by providing summer internships and a required capstone consulting course. The program’s sequential curriculum also will allow students to customize their degree by selecting one quarter of their classes as electives.

Incoming graduate students will first complete a three-day “MBA Boot Camp,” which will sharpen their teambuilding skills and identify their individual management styles. It is followed by an 8-week course that will help students form the basis for a personal leadership development plan.

The first year of the two-year program will be devoted to studying fundamental concepts. During the summer session, students can be active in a local internship or study abroad experience. The capstone of the program will be a required consultancy course in the final semester. Students will pair with local businesses to help them solve a current, real problem.

 When graduates enter the job market, they will not only have the connections they made during their internships, but also access to placement professionals through the Bryan School’s Office of Graduate Career Services. This office will also work with students during their entire length of study. The Bryan School plans to hire a full-time director in the fall of 2004 to lead this operation.
 

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