Administrative Board of the Graduate School. MBA Graduate Faculty. SUBJECT: Curriculum changes proposed for fall DATE: February 22, 2016

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1 TO: FROM: Administrative Board of the Graduate School MBA Graduate Faculty SUBJECT: Curriculum changes proposed for fall 2016 DATE: February 22, 2016 The MBA Curriculum Committee has developed a mold-breaking set of proposals for improving the curriculum for evening, online and full-time students. The MBA Graduate Faculty approved these changes on December 10; the Poole College of Management Graduate Studies Committee approved them on January 26. This document lays out the rationale for the changes and explains them in considerable detail. Background The NC State Jenkins MBA program has received significant external recognition in the last three years. It has been recognized as a top ten Online MBA by US News, a top 20 Part-time MBA by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and a top 30 Fulltime MBA by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The program has two tracks: the Professional MBA (which includes evening and online students) and the Full-time MBA. Since 2003 the graduation requirements for the two tracks have been different, with the Professional MBA now requiring 39 hours and the Full-time MBA requiring 55 hours. The credit hour requirements vary because Full-time MBAs plan to change their career path and need the extra credit hours to be able to do this. In addition to the extra credit hours, Full-time MBAs are required to complete a 12-hour concentration. Why change? When the credit hours were reduced from 45 to 39 for Professional MBAs entering in fall 2013, there was an unforeseen and unintended consequence: students started shifting many of their elective credit hours from semester-long three and four hour courses to one hour weekend courses. As a result, enrollments in advanced electives have declined significantly, especially in entrepreneurship, finance, and supply chain. This hurts our students and our faculty. The students no longer are getting the benefit of developing advanced skills in the concentration courses and they graduate without a focal area of emphasis. The flip side: extremely capable faculty are being underutilized. To rebalance the mix of required and elective courses, the faculty recommends reducing the credit hours allocated to core, required courses. By shrinking the core the NC State Jenkins MBA will be positioning itself well ahead of other 1

2 professional MBA programs. As free training in the basics of management becomes more widely available (MOOCs, Kahn Academy), students will question the value of general knowledge MBA courses. With 24 hours of core in a 39- hour degree program, our professional MBA is very exposed to this type of disruption. In addition to the depth issue, the committee concluded that training in certain areas of the program was insufficient. These gaps are reflected in the committee s recommendations for curriculum change: Depth requirement: All evening and online students should have an area of emphasis consisting of two or more courses. They can choose from the existing concentration areas. Full-time students should continue to take a 12-hour concentration. Practicum requirement: All students should take a practicum. This is a requirement for evening students but not for other platforms. The main challenge will be designing practicum options for online students. The committee felt that this was such an essential feature of the program that we must find a way to make this happen. Training in critical thinking and written and verbal communication: This is currently required in MBA 500 for full-time students; online students take a one-hour course in critical thinking and get some training in verbal communication at the Raleigh residency. Investments need to be made to expand this training to all students. Advanced coursework in quantitative skills: Although all students take a course in applied statistics (MBA 504), it is possible to complete the degree without taking a more advanced course dealing with how quantitative skills can be applied to make business decisions. The committee proposes that all students take at least one advanced course in this area. This would require the development of a list of courses from the concentrations and electives, each of which involves some quantitative rigor. Chosen carefully, students could use this requirement to re-enforce the depth requirement. Training in leadership and ethics: This is analogous to the quantitative analysis requirement above; students need applied training that builds upon the core OB/HR course. Most well regarded programs have done this both for the full-time and working professional populations. The approach would be experiential as opposed to traditional lecture/discussion format. These changes need to be implemented in fall 2016 to take advantage of key opportunities and to avoid some looming risks: Opportunity -- become visionary leader in management education; be the disruptor! 2

3 Opportunity -- train students better than other programs because of the handson, experiential training they receive in our most advanced courses Risk -- 60%+ of program is generic general management MBA that can be obtained at lower cost through other venues; without change we will be the disruptees Risk -- Faculty will be reassigned to other classes because electives and concentration course enrollment is well below current capacity Risk -- Students will see talk-walk gap between positioning of program (innovation, experiential learning, MBA for STEMs) versus program we actually deliver Risk -- Hiring managers emphasize analytical skills, communication, critical thinking, leadership, and problem solving ability NOT surveys of management disciplines 3

4 What the Professional MBA program will look like 1. EXPECTATIONS AT ADMISSION Currently the MBA program requires either a course in calculus or a course in statistics as a prerequisite before enrolling. The committee recommends that this be changed to a statistics prerequisite. Students without a statistics course would be counseled to take the equivalent to BUS 350 at NC State. In addition all students will undergo an assessment of their statistical knowledge (and, if needed, a plan for improvement) before enrolling in core classes that require 350-level competency. The program will develop a list of topics/concepts that students must be familiar with, to be distributed before students enroll in classes. This will include topics in accounting, economics, finance, and statistics, as well as Excel skills. The student is ultimately responsible for seeing that they have the required competencies. To help in this regard, we wilt provide an in house or commercial product that allows students to test their knowledge and direct them to sources needed if they need extra help. 2. CORE CURRICULUM (19 HOURS) Core to be broken into three blocks; six hours in finance and markets (accounting, economics, and finance), six hours in analyzing the value chain (marketing, supply chain and statistics), and six hours in managing the organization (strategy, technology, organizational behavior, human resources, verbal communicaton and leadership). Evening students do not receive any training in managerial communication (critical thinking, writing, presentations). This gap in the curriculum will be addressed by (1) adding verbal communication to the MIE portion of the core (to be partially delivered in residencies) and (2) adding a one hour course in critical thinking and written communication that all students (full-time, evening and online) would take at the start of the program. This new one-hour course would incorporate ethics and sustainability in critical thinking assignments, as well as develop students written communication skills. Details: See Table DEPTH REQUIREMENTS: (12 HOURS) Depth requirement: two courses for six hours or more in same area (currently biosciences, entrepreneurship, finance, innovation, marketing, operations) Practicum requirement: in addition to the depth requirement; use existing list of practicum courses as starting point: MBA 519 (ERM), 4

5 524 (Finance), 549 (Supply Chain), 555 (Product Innovation), 569 (Consumer Innovation), 570 (Entrepreneurship), 576 (TEC 1), 577 (TEC 2), 590 (Biosciences), and MBA 590 (Value Creation). Analytics requirement: advanced course in tools or their application (could be met by one course in the depth requirement). Official list to be developed by curriculum committee; likely candidates include MBA 521 (Corporate Finance), 523 (Investments), 524 (Valuation), 542 (Logistics), 543 (Planning and Control), 545 (Decision Analysis), 553 (Process Analysis), 562 (Marketing Research), and 590 (Statistics for Analytics). An analytics course will be allowed to be part of the depth requirement. Students who select this option will be able to complete the depth requirement in nine hours and will have 12 hours of electives. 4. ELECTIVES (9 HOURS) MBA electives can be any course with an MBA prefix. Upon approval of their advisor, MBA students also can enroll in 500 level (or higher) courses offered by other graduate programs provided they meet prerequisites and space is available. Faculty have raised concerns about one-hour MBA courses. Effective spring 2016, one-hour electives will be graded. Also department heads will be much more heavily involved in future scheduling, effective for No further limits on one-hour courses are being considered at this time. 5

6 TABLE 1. PROPOSED PROFESSIONAL MBA CURRICULUM Before enrollment Statistics prerequisite Accounting/Economics/Finance/Statistics/Excel assessment and review Online orientation Term One (students matriculate in fall and spring) MBA 502 Strategy/innovation/Entrepreneurship (3 hours semester long) First OB/HR/Leadership with residency during fall/spring break (1 hour semester long) MBA 508 Financial accounting (1 hour, five weeks) paired with MBA 520 Finance (2 hours, 10 weeks) Writing/critical thinking/sustainability/ethics (1 hour) Term Two MBA 506 Pre-regression statistics (1 hour, five weeks) paired with MBA 560 Marketing (2 hours, 10 weeks) MBA 505 Economics (2 hours) paired with MBA 509 Managerial Accounting (1 hour); MBA 505 runs for 10 weeks followed by MBA 509 for the last five weeks Term Three MBA 507 Regression statistics (1 hour, 5 weeks) paired with MBA 540 Operations/Supply Chain (2 hours, 10 weeks) Depth course #1 (3) Remaining terms Second OB/HR/Leadership residency (2) All remaining depth and elective courses, including an analytics course and a practicum (18) Total credit hours: 40 Core hours: 19 Depth requirements and electives: 21 6

7 TABLE 2. COMPARISON OF EXISTING AND PROPOSED PROFESSIONAL MBA CURRICULUM Subject Current Proposed CORE COURSES Accounting MBA hours MBA hour paired with new MBA 520; MBA hour paired with new MBA 505 Economics MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 502 Finance MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 501 Marketing MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 506 Operations/supply chain MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 507 Organizational behavior MBA hours MBA hours to be delivered online and in a week-long residency and MBA hour to be delivered online and in a three day residency. Statistics MBA hours MBA hour paired with new MBA 560; MBA hour paired with new MBA 540 Strategy MBA 550 or hours MBA hours Writing and critical None MBA hour thinking Core hours Core as percentage of total hours DEPTH AREA Area of emphasis None 6 hours Analytics or quantitative None 3 hours course Practicum 3 hours 3 hours Depth hours 3 12 MBA electives 12 hours 9 hours Depth and elective hours Total hours

8 What the Full-time MBA curriculum will look like 1. BEFORE ENROLLMENT Statistics prerequisite (same as for Professional MBA) All students assessed on knowledge of accounting/economics/finance/statistics/excel; review opportunities provided (same as for Professional MBA) Career counseling and guidance by phone and online Orientation for one week or more 2. CORE CURRICULUM (20 HOURS) Same academic requirements as for Professional MBAs (19 hours) Career preparation course (1 hour) 3. CONCENTRATION REQUIREMENT (12 HOURS) No change from existing requirement for full-time students Includes a practicum in the concentration area Analytics requirement may be met as part of concentration 4. ELECTIVES (24 HOURS) 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Curriculum committee will take more of an in-depth look at the second year of the full-time program this coming spring. Concentrations: Also need to be reviewed and updated. Need to get core approved now so that we can get entering students in fall 2016 enrolled; otherwise we end up with a mixed system of old three hour core in the day and new core in the evening and online. Any additional changes will be subject to faculty approval. 8

9 TABLE 3. PROPOSED FULL-TIME MBA CURRICULUM SUMMER AND ORIENTATION (1) Career prep Statistics/Excel assessment and review Orientation FALL, YEAR ONE (16) MBA 502 Strategy/innovation/Entrepreneurship (3 hours semester long) MBA 508 Financial accounting (1 hour, five weeks) paired with MBA 520 Finance (2 hours, 10 weeks) MBA 505 Economics (2 hours) paired with MBA 509 Managerial Accounting (1 hour); MBA 505 runs for 10 weeks followed by MBA 509 for the last five weeks MBA 506 Pre-regression statistics (1 hour, five weeks) paired with MBA 560 Marketing (2 hours, 10 weeks) Concentration course #1 (3) Writing/critical thinking/sustainability/ethics (1 hour) Career prep (1) SPRING, YEAR ONE (15) MBA 530 People Management (3 hours, semester long but delivered in day-long sessions distributed through the semester) MBA 507 Regression statistics (1 hour, 5 weeks) paired with MBA 540 Operations/Supply Chain (2 hours, 10 weeks) Concentration course #2 (3) Elective (3) Elective (3) SUMMER INTERNSHIP FALL, YEAR TWO (12) Analytics (3) Concentration course #3 (3) 2 electives (3 each) SPRING, YEAR TWO (12) Practicum (3) Concentration course #4 (3) 2 electives (3 each) 9

10 TABLE 4. COMPARISON OF EXISTING AND PROPOSED FULL-TIME MBA CURRICULUM Subject Current Proposed CORE COURSES Accounting MBA hours MBA hour paired with new MBA 520; MBA hour paired with new MBA 505 Communication Included in MBA 500 fall Part of MBA hour 1 st semester 2 hours Economics MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 502 Finance MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 501 Marketing MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 506 Operations/supply chain MBA hours MBA hours paired with MBA 507 Organizational behavior MBA hours MBA hours Statistics MBA hours MBA hour paired with new MBA 560; MBA hour paired with new MBA 540 Strategy MBA hours MBA hours Technology and MBA hours Innovation Writing and critical Included in MBA 500 fall MBA hour thinking 1 st semester 2 hours Career preparation Orientation and voluntary seminars Core hours Orientation and MBA hour ELECTIVES Concentration 12 hours 12 hours Analytics or quantitative course None 3 hours, can be part of concentration Practicum None 3 hours, can be part of concentration MBA electives Elective hours Total hours

11 IMPACT ON DUAL DEGREE PROGRAMS The Jenkins Full-time MBA has dual degree programs with Master of Microbial Biotechnology, Master of Industrial Engineering, and the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at NC State, as well as an agreement regarding the Juris Doctor at Campbell University. Upon approval of the new degree requirements, the MBA program will meet with each dual degree program to determine changes needed in the plan of study. The MBA program anticipates that the impact on dual degree programs will be the same as on the Professional MBA and Full-time MBA: more choice and flexibility. This should make it easier to develop dual degree requirements in the future. 11