Undergraduate college and university students often graduate with business degrees. National Center for Education Statistics information shows that the most undergraduate degrees (335,000) for the 2007-2008 academic year went to business majors, while the 156,000 graduate degrees in business took a backseat only to those in education.
Business administration is one of the more popular majors, with students able to select concentrations such as finance or marketing. At a university in Sonoma County, CA, business administration majors might even opt for a wine business specialty where courses address issues specific to that industry.
Business administration degrees can lead to careers in human resources, public relations, banking and more, according to the university website. Business degree programs are also becoming innovative.
Business schools at colleges and universities are adding new business degree offerings and changing existing courses and programs, in some instances incorporating areas such as technology, entrepreneurship, the environment, sustainability and global issues.
Reports show that MBA programs particularly are being revamped. That could be good news for working professionals who want to change or advance their careers, particularly in instances where they can work toward MBA degrees online.
A Tampa, Florida, based association has actually come out with a report recommending that business schools reinvent curricula. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business's report, "Business Schools on an Innovation Mission," suggests also that business schools promote interdisciplinary research, conduct outreach initiatives and more.
The association accredits business schools and accounting programs throughout the world and works to advance management education. Innovation, according to the report, is a major driver of success in business and society, and business schools are doing a lot to foster it.
At an Indiana university's business school, graduate students can actually enroll in an MBA program in Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation. With help from a $4.8 million gift, the business school plans also to create a global business institute, according to an April announcement.
In Pennsylvania, one university has changed its curriculum to emphasize innovative thinking and entrepreneurial skills, a July report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted. Enrollment at another Pennsylvania university's graduate business school has increased as a result of rising interest in an MBA degree in sustainability, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.
Technology management is a new online MBA concentration at an Albany, NY college's business and technology school, according to an announcement from the institution. Undergraduate programs are seeing innovation as well.
Students at an entrepreneurship center that's part of a Maryland university's business school might expect to commercialize the institution's technology - and travel to China, where they're to share classrooms with business school students from that nation and compete with them in an annual business plan contest.
Social media networks have been among the outreach efforts upon which business schools and other colleges have relied, with an Ivy league institution's business school recently announcing that 2012 applicants can receive admissions updates via Twitter and Facebook.
A recent University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth study reported that 95 percent of college and university admissions offices in 2009 used at least one form of social media, according to an August 2010 WebProNews report. Institutions of higher education, in fact, are outpacing Fortune 500 and fast-growing Inc. 500 companies when it comes to social media blogging, the study reports.
Social networking, along with technological areas such as e-commerce, have also served as research projects at American business schools. A Harvard researcher who studied social networking use in 2009 reported that 70 percent of social networking activity is related to reviewing photographs and profiles.
MySpace, while not as popular at the time as Facebook, does have many users in "hotspots" such as Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Florida, according to the Harvard researcher.
The Internet has made it possible for anyone with access to take an online course or more from a distance and it's the same for those earning online administration degrees as it is for those seeking their associates or their PhD. Getting an online degree has now been made accessible to anyone with web access and the time and dedication to pursue it, the same dedication that will stand by them well in their new career.
- Article Word Count: 606
- |
- Total Views: 9
- |
- permalink