The W. P. Carey School of Business will launch its new Master of Science in Management program next fall as part of an effort to make students more marketable to future employers, said the school’s executive dean Amy Hillman.
Geared primarily toward non-business majors, the program’s intent is to develop basic business fundamentals through classes such as business leadership, accounting and marketing, said Louise Nemanich, clinical associate professor of strategic management.
Students will be able to earn a master's degree through the program, but can list the program on their resumes as part of their ASU education.
“(The program) benefits the lawyers, architects, engineers and teachers who otherwise risk entering the market with a poor understanding of how business works,” Nemanich said. “It will serve as a buoy to those non-business types and allow them to develop an added layer of business competency for later use.”
Students spend the end of the program working on a business-consulting capstone exercise, which allows students to aid a real company in assessing business issues.
Hillman was one of the main proponents of the new program.
“Students will be working in teams on real-life business issues,” Hillman said. “For example, if a company is thinking about expanding into new products, they’ll have our students examine the market and determine if they have the ability to move into that product space.”
The nine-month course is taught in four sections, each lasting less than eight weeks.
Associate Dean of International Programs Gerry Keim, one of the program’s architects, said the Master of Science in Management program and W. P. Carey’s Master of Business Administration curriculum have some similarities.
“In both instances, the central idea is to improve overall business performance by preparing a wider range of people to succeed in business,” Keim said. “We can extend to non-business undergraduates many of the core concepts otherwise given to students in our MBA programs.”
Many of the program's creators have been involved for more than three years.
Keim said student attraction to the Master of Science in Management will be high.
“We just recently started openly advertising the arrival of the program, but I think we are on our way to a first year class of around 40 students,” Keim said.
Keim spent a lot of time teaching in Europe and said this type of curriculum is highly popular there, he said.
Hillman said job recruiters will appreciate the combination of a non-business degree with a bit of business “acumen.”
“This added step will allow students to secure better jobs when they hit the market and advance faster in their careers,” Hillman said.
Correction: Because of a reporting error, it was incorrectly stated that students do not earn a master’s degree upon completing the W.P. Carey School of Business’s Master of Science in Management program. It has been updated with the correct information.
Reach the reporter at mjgordo1@asu.edu
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