It’s often about business at American colleges and universities. Most 2007-2008 undergraduate degrees (335,000) were awarded to business majors, while the 156,000 graduate degrees were conferred in business, second only to the number of graduate degrees that went to education majors, National Center for Education Statistics information shows. Working toward a popular business administration degree, students have a variety of options from which to choose, including accounting, finance and marketing.
One university even offers a business administration major with a wine business specialty. That would be an institution in California’s wine country, where courses address issues specific to the wine industry. Business administration degrees can lead to careers in human resources, public relations, banking and more, according to the university’s website. Business degree programs are also becoming innovative.
Still other offerings are being added and changed at college and university business schools throughout the country. Many are incorporating areas such as technology, entrepreneurship, the environment, sustainability and global issues into business curricula. With MBA programs particularly being revamped, and some graduate degree programs online, working professionals who want to change or advance their careers might consider continued education as a means of getting there.
Chalk it up to innovation, something that the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business says drives success in business and society and that business schools are doing a lot to foster. In the report, “Business Schools on an Innovation Mission,” the Tampa-based association recommends revamped curricula as well as promoting interdisciplinary research, conducting outreach initiatives and more. The association, which accredits worldwide business schools and accounting programs, works also to advance management education.
An Indiana university, which offers an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation, in April, announced that it received a $4.8 million gift to create a global business institute. More recently, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in July reported on a changed MBA curriculum at a Pennsylvania university that more greatly emphasizes skills such as entrepreneurship and innovative thinking. Increasing interest in an MBA degree in sustainability is causing enrollment at another Pennsylvania university’s graduate business school to rise, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article noted.
Graduate students interested in technology management, on the other hand, might consider a new online MBA concentration in this area at an Albany college’s business and technology school. Innovation isn’t exclusive to graduate programs, however. An entrepreneurship center that’s part of a Maryland University’s business school is offering undergraduate students classes where they can commercialize the institution’s technology and join business school students in China, learning alongside them and participating with them in a business plan competition.
When it comes to outreach, many colleges and universities overall have turned to social networking. Business school applicants at at least one Ivy League institution for the 2012 academic year can now receive updates via Twitter and Facebook, according to a recent announcement from the institution. The overwhelming majority of college and university admissions offices (95 percent) in 2009 used at least one form of social media, according to a University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth study that was the subject of an August 2010 WebProNews report. Institutions of higher education, the study noted, are outpacing Fortune 500 and fast-growing Inc. 500 companies in terms of social media blogging.
Business schools at colleges and universities are researching areas of technology such as e-commerce and social networking as well. In 2009, a Harvard researcher who studied social networking use found that most people spend time on these sites looking at pictures. MySpace is popular particularly in “hotspots” such as Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Florida, the researcher noted.
With more accredited distance degree programs making distance learning a possibility and, in fact, a more probable way to attend, Online Business Administration Degrees are convenient and even quicker to obtain. It’s becoming clear that any college degree is easier – in terms of time scheduling, managing personal responsibilities, and work – to obtain online.
