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This page was last modified on
October 7, 2004
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Program Information
Program Description
Content
Schedule
Is the Program Right for Me?
Penn State provides a high-quality online MBA degree program to people who prefer online learning or whose location limitations and/or professional and personal responsibilities prevent them from participating in an on-campus program. The online MBA degree program is designed for persons who have work experience in fields such as business, engineering, health care, and technology, and who seek to position themselves for growth in the global economic environment. The students can access course content from any place in the world and at any time as long as they have access to the Internet.
Penn State’s online MBA program is unique not only in terms of its online delivery; it is also unique because of its novel approach to MBA curricula. In response to challenges faced by professionals in today’s global economy, the Penn State Graduate School faculty developed an innovative integration of six business themes in order to create a more relevant, yet comprehensive and cross-functional MBA program. While iMBA courses are nested in core business areas, they are designed to help the students develop an understanding across all the business themes. The elimination of functional silos (or specialization) better prepares students for becoming managers, whose positions require the ability to address issues across all functional areas of business. The business themes are derived from the values and concepts found in the “Criteria for Performance Excellence” of the Baldridge National Quality Program and include:
- leadership
- strategic planning
- customer and market
- information and analysis
- human resources
- process management
In addition to the online courses, two one-week face-to-face residency experiences enhance the integrative focus of the online MBA curriculum. They will be the culminating activities for the third- and eighth-term courses. The residency experiences require that the students use their knowledge from all areas of business as they put theory into practice!
Penn State’s online MBA program is designed to be completed in twenty-four months, spanning eight terms. The degree is composed of twenty-two courses, totaling forty-eight credits. Each fall a group of students (a cohort) enter the iMBA program and take the same courses at the same time until the program has been completed. A common schedule with the same peers stimulates better discussion between students and between faculty and students, enhances cohesiveness among peers, and allows better integration of course content within and across terms.
View the Course Schedule for students beginning the iMBA program in fall 2005
"The student cohort and student teams are an important element of the iMBA. You actively interact with people that are all in the same boat: working a lot, dealing with families, and facing the rigors of the iMBA together. You make many friends in this group. These are folks that I can network with for a lifetime. I would not have created these good relationships if I were an isolated individual completing a course online."
--Steve Notarnicola, Senior Project Manager for Capital One
Penn State’s online MBA curriculum design is well suited for people with either business or nonbusiness undergraduate degrees. The first-year courses provide exposure to the fundamentals of business and an integration of functional areas of business within that foundation. In many ways these first year online courses develop and extend the fundamental concepts learned in an undergraduate business program. Subsequent courses provide additional depth in the functional areas and further focus on integration across functional areas. For more information about Penn State’s online MBA program, complete the Information Request Form or contact:
iMBA Program
Phone: 800-252-3592 (in the United States)
814-898-6527 (local and international)
E-mail: iMBA@psu.edu
