Up Close and Personal

Utah’s MBA Programs Offer Real Business World Experience

Utah Business
Nov. 1, 2008
Linda T. Kennedy

With increasing applicants fighting for enrollment in Utah’s MBA programs, getting in the door is harder than ever these days. More professionals are seeking higher degrees and higher incomes partly because as the market trends in other industries falter, people aim to diversify their skills, local university officials say.

THE FINE LINE
But while more education programs become available online, MBA programs in Utah remain a hands-on experience. Technology still can’t replace some of the “real business world” applicants learned only in person-to-person settings, some university officials say. Rather, some universities utilize the Internet only to supplement their unique MBA programs tailored to the working professional.

Westminster College –Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business
• Average student is 31-years-old, works 37 hours per week and studies six credit hours a semester.
• The programs offers graduate certificates in accounting, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, information resource management, international business and marketing.
• Students have access to workshops, seminar and networking events with alumni and business leaders; free access to these events continues upon graduation.

In addition to boasting the largest percentage of women and minority students in the state, Westminster also offers the only extensive Master Track Program, where small groups of students meet once a month for one-on-one executive coaching and corporate mentoring. “One of the groups for the entrepreneurs who are in the process of starting and building their own business,” says Michael Keene, director of the MBA and Technology Management programs at Westminster.

Check out the Nov 2008 edition for more