MBA program revised to stay competitive

Nicholls State University’s College of Business Administra-tion has revised its curriculum to better position its graduates to compete in today’s workplace.

Beginning this fall, the Nicholls’ Business Administration program will phase in “Leadership, Ethics and Accountability,” “Perform-ance and Planning” and “Value-Based Management” courses.

Dr. Chuck Viosca, associate professor of marketing and MBA director, said Nicholls’ main goal is to ensure the MBA program is competitive. “The goal of these course changes is to produce MBA graduates with more of a big picture view of the business firm, allowing students to see how a change in one area affects the entire enterprise,” he said.

Enrollees in the graduate program will also receive a course sequence for their coursework. The MBA program will still require 11 courses or 33 hours, Viosca said.

“In the past, students have been required to take accounting and statistics before taking finance,” he said. “Then, they were required to complete finance, economics, management and marketing before taking the capstone course in business strategy.”

The new sequence will allow the core business discipline of accounting, economics, finance, management and marketing to tie in concepts from several other disciplines. Viosca said the change should yield new case studies, projects and presentations.

The MBA program has also augmented its prerequisite offerings in order to allow faster entry into the graduate program. Viosca said it is the university’s hope to attract businesspeople looking to advance in the workplace with a managerial degree.

Beginning in this summer, MBA applicants will have the option to enroll in “Pre-MBA Foundation Modules” – self-study courses with accompanying competency exams.

“For students, who do not have an undergraduate degree in business or who may need refresher courses, the modules will provide prerequisite knowledge needed to begin graduate courses,” Viosca said. “Students can take the self-study courses at their convenience, decreasing the time to complete their graduate degree.”