navigate: home: magazine: fall 2001: article

Penn State World Campus launches on-line MBA
	The Penn State Board of Trustees approved an on-line MBA degree at its summer meeting. The Penn State Intercollege Master’s in Business Administration (iMBA) represents a collaboration among business faculty from four Penn State colleges: Penn State Erie, The Behrend College; Penn State Great Valley, The School of Professional Studies; Penn State Harrisburg; and The Mary Jean and Frank P. Smeal College of Business Administration, Penn State University Park.   Approved earlier this year by the Graduate Council, iMBA courses are designed and taught by faculty from the four collaborating colleges, and classes will be delivered through the distance education technology of Penn State’s World Campus.   Dr. John Fizel, professor of economics at Penn State Erie and interim iMBA chair, noted, “The collaboration of the four Penn State graduate business programs provides greater access to the University’s expertise. The iMBA will serve U.S. students who otherwise could not participate in residential instruction programs and who desire a quality on-line program, as well as international working professionals who express considerable interest in U.S.-based MBA degrees and indicate a desire for on-line solutions to their needs.”   The iMBA curriculum reflects innovative program planning based in marketing research and feedback from companies and business professionals about their management education priorities. The result is a signature program that stresses organizational strategies and the global economy.   “The iMBA World Campus program was developed to respond to the needs of business,” said Dr. Peter A. Rubba, director of academic programs for the World Campus. “The program will focus on six business themes derived from values and concepts found in high-performance organizations: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market, information and analysis, human resources, and process management.”   The new curriculum addresses industry-based criticisms of conventional programs as too focused on disciplines instead of organizations and not focused enough on strategy and the global economy. The integrative design of the iMBA curriculum responds to that criticism. iMBA courses will include four core business areas: domestic and global economic environments; human behavior in organizations; creation and distribution of goods and services; and financial reporting, analysis and markets.   World Campus student services and educational technology will also provide students with opportunities to develop networks and form collegial relationships. Students will enter the program in class cohorts and participate in the on-line learning community of the iMBA CyberForum. In the CyberForum, students will engage in discussions of business and management issues with faculty, worldwide business leaders and classmates in the iMBA and the resident MBA programs of all four collaborating colleges.   Two short residential experiences are also planned, serving as culminating learning and networking activities for courses taken on-line.   The first class cohort will be admitted to the iMBA program to begin studies on-line in January 2002. For more information, visit the World Campus at http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/iMBA.