by Mari Gallucci
The Westerville school this week said starting September 2009, its degree-granting program will slim down its course requirements, saving students around $3,500 on tuition. Students also will be able specialize in fields such as nonprofit leadership, human-resources management, finance, fraud examination and forensic accounting.
“The MBA has become a generic credential,” said Shah Hasan, director of Otterbein’s MBA program. “The concentrations are a way to tailor MBAs to meet students’ certain needs.”
Next year’s program will require students to take 12 courses, or 48 quarterly credit hours, down from 16 required courses. With reduced hours, tuition next year is set to cost students $17,040.
The program’s eight core classes will remain the same, and students can structure three required electives and a capstone course to form their concentrations. The restructuring will help the 12-year-old program fulfill its vision of responding to students’ needs and aspirations, Hasan said. Otterbein’s MBA students come in with established careers, and niche specializations help them either widen responsibilities or move into new areas of business, he said.
Accreditation programs set standards in terms of subject matter, not hours, so scaling back on credit hours will not affect Otterbein’s accreditation, Hasan said.
Hasan said the college also will offer concentration certificates, eliminating core classes for students looking to deepen their knowledge without earning a master’s degree.
Otterbein’s MBA program enrolls under 100 students and will enroll about the same next year, Hasan said. The program employs 12 full-time faculty members and about six adjunct professors. The program will remain non-cohort, meaning students aren’t required to take classes in a certain order with the same group of peers.
