A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular area but an MBA is normally intended to be a general program. It originated in the United States in the early 20th century when the country industrialized and companies sought scientific management.
MBA programs in the United States typically require completing about forty to sixty semester credit hours, much higher than the thirty semester credit hours typically required for other US master's degrees that cover some of the same material. The UK-based Association of MBAs accreditation requires "the equivalent of at least 1,800 hours of learning effort", equivalent to 45 US semester credit hours or 90 European ECTS credits, the same as a standard UK master's degree. Accreditation bodies for business schools and MBA programs ensure consistency and quality of education. Business schools in many countries offer programs tailored to full-time, part-time, executive (abridged coursework typically occurring on nights or weekends) and distance learning students, many with specialized concentrations.
An "Executive MBA", or EMBA, is a degree program similar to an MBA program that is specifically structured for and targeted towards corporate executives and senior managers who are already in the workforce.
History In 1900, the Tuck School of Business was founded at Dartmouth College offering the first advanced degree in business: the Master of Science in Commerce, a predecessor of the MBA. The first MBA was launched eight years later, at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, with 15 faculty members, 33 regular students and 47 special students. Its first-year curriculum was based on Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theory of scientific management. The number of MBA students at Harvard increased quickly, from 80 in 1908, over 300 in 1920, and 1,070 in 1930. At this time, only American universities offered MBAs, although business schools offering other qualifications had existed in Europe since the 18th century.
Other milestones include: 1943: First Executive MBA (EMBA) program for working professionals at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.Key Facts | The University of Chicago Booth School of Business . Chicagobooth.edu. Retrieved on 26 July 2013. 1950: First MBA outside of the United States, in Canada (Ivey Business School at The University of Western Ontario),Richard Ivey School of Business page showing awarding of first MBA in 1950, one year ahead of the University of Pretoria's claim followed by the University of Pretoria in South Africa in 1951.University of Pretoria page claiming to have awarded the first MBA outside of America 1953: First MBA offered at an Asian school at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Calcutta. 1957: First MBA in Europe, and the first one-year MBA, offered by INSEAD. 1963: First MBA program offered in the Spanish-speaking world by ESAN Graduate School of Business in Peru, South America, under the direction of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, United States. Sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), at the request of former President John F. Kennedy, which organizes the main business schools in the United States to study and explore the possibilities of developing management education projects in Latin America. Thus, on July 25, 1963, la Escuela de Administración de Negocios para Graduados-ESAN was founded, within the framework of an agreement between the governments of Peru and the United States to offer the master's program in Business Administration for interested applicants from all over Latin America. 1963: First MBA offered in Korea by Korea University Business School (KUBS). 1987: First online MBA offered by Aspen University. This is also claimed by Athabasca University in 1994.
Accreditation Globally, the three most important accreditations of MBA programs and business schools are the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), Association of MBAs (AMBA), and the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), with holding all three of these being known as triple accreditation. Of these, AMBA offers programmatic accreditation for MBAs and other graduate degrees, while the others take a broader view, offering accreditation of the school rather than the MBA program (EFMD also offers programmatic accreditation, separately from EQUIS).
United States Business school or MBA program accreditation by external agencies provides students and employers with an independent view of the school or program's quality, as well as whether the curriculum meets specific quality standards. Currently the three major accrediting bodies in the United States are: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE)
All of these groups also accredit schools outside the U.S. The ACBSP and the IACBE are themselves recognized in the United States by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Retrieved 23 July 2018 MBA programs with specializations for students pursuing careers in healthcare management also eligible for accreditation by the Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).
U.S. MBA programs may also be accredited at the institutional level. Bodies that accredit institutions as a whole include: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA) New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
United States Programs Full-time MBA programs normally take place over two academic years (i.e. approximately 18 months of term time). For example, in the Northern Hemisphere, they often begin in late August or early September of year one and continue until May or June of year two, with a three to four-month summer break in between years one and two. Students enter with a reasonable amount of prior real-world work experience and take classes during weekdays like other university students. A typical full-time, accelerated, part-time, or modular MBA requires 60 credits (600 class hours) of graduate work.
Accelerated MBA programs are a variation of the two-year programs. They involve a higher course load with more intense class and examination schedules and are usually condensed into one year. They usually have less downtime during the program and between semesters. For example, there is no three to four-month summer break, and between semesters there might be seven to ten days off rather than three to five weeks vacation. Accelerated programs typically have a lower cost than full-time two-year programs.
Part-time MBA programs normally hold classes on weekday evenings after normal working hours, or on weekends. Part-time programs normally last three years or more. The students in these programs typically consist of working professionals, who take a light course load for a longer period of time until the graduation requirements are met.
Evening (second shift) MBA programs are full-time programs that normally hold classes on weekday evenings, after normal working hours, or on weekends for a duration of two years. The students in these programs typically consist of working professionals, who can not leave their work to pursue a full-time regular shift MBA. Most second shift programs are offered at universities in India.
Modular MBA programs are similar to part-time programs, although typically employing a lock-step curriculum with classes packaged together in blocks lasting from one to three weeks.
Executive (part-time) MBA (EMBA) programs developed to meet the educational needs of managers and executives, allowing students to earn an MBA (or another business-related graduate degree) in two years or less while working full-time. Participants come from every type and size of organization – profit, nonprofit, government – representing a variety of industries. EMBA students typically have a higher level of work experience, often 10 years or more, compared to other MBA students. In response to the increasing number of EMBA programs offered, The Executive MBA Council was formed in 1981 to advance executive education.
Full-time executive MBA programs are a new category of full-time one year MBA programs aimed at professionals with approximately five years or more. They are primarily offered in countries like India where the two-year MBA program is targeted at fresh graduates with no experience or minimal experience. These full-time executive MBA programs are similar to one year MBA programs offered by schools like Insead and IMD.
Distance learning MBA programs hold classes off-campus. These programs can be offered in a number of different formats: correspondence courses by postal mail or email, non-interactive broadcast video, pre-recorded video, live teleconference or videoconference, offline or online computer courses. Many schools offer these programs.
Blended learning programs combine distance learning with face-to-face instruction. These programs typically target working professionals who are unable to attend traditional part-time programs.
MBA dual degree programs combine an MBA with others (such as an MS, MA, MEng, or a JD, etc.) to let students cut costs (dual programs usually cost less than pursuing two degrees separately), save time on education and to tailor the business education courses to their needs. This is generally achieved by allowing core courses of one program to count as electives in the other. Some business schools offer programs in which students can earn both a bachelor's degree in business administration and an MBA in five years.
Mini-MBA is a term used by many non-profit and for-profit institutions to describe a training regimen focused on the fundamentals of business. In the past, Mini-MBA programs have typically been offered as non-credit bearing courses that require less than 100 hours of total learning. However, due to the criticisms of these certificates, many schools have now shifted their programs to offer courses for full credit so that they may be applied towards a complete traditional MBA degree. This is to allow students to verify business-related coursework for employment purposes and still allow the option to complete a full-time MBA degree program at a later period if they elect to do so.
Admissions criteria Many programs base their admission decisions on a combination of undergraduate grade point average, academic transcripts, entrance exam scores (for example, the GMAT or the GRE test score), a résumé containing significant work experience, essays, letters of recommendation, group discussions, and personal interviews. Some schools are also interested in extracurricular activities, community service activities, or volunteer work and how the student can improve the school's diversity and contribute to the student body as a whole.