S&T’s master of business administration (MBA) program has been approved for STEM designation, which better aligns the program with the mission of Kummer College to be technology focused while benefiting students.
“It allows us to differentiate from other MBA programs across the state,” says Dr. Sarah Stanley, associate professor of business and information technology. “We are planning that this change will really help build our reputation, allow us to stand out in a crowded marketplace and grow enrollment.”
Business and information technology faculty voted to support the status change. For a program to become STEM designated, it must meet the criteria of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
The MBA program achieving this status has many advantages for students. International students who are looking to take Optional Practical Training (OPT), a temporary job training opportunity related to their major of study, will now be eligible for the OPT extension that was only available to STEM degrees. This also allows the program to align the credit hours with other STEM-designated graduate degrees on campus, which means the MBA has dropped from 36 to 30 credit hours.
“Our students will be able to graduate even faster than before, giving us a basis for differentiation and more of a reason to choose S&T for their MBA,” Stanley says. “We have also built in a little more flexibility, so the students will still get a broad base of courses, but will be able to have some choices to pursue their interests.”
Stanley says there’s one thing that won’t change: the fact that most students will generally specialize their MBA with a graduate certificate from the business and information technology department or another S&T department, which gives students the specialization in a particular area in addition to the broad-base knowledge of an MBA.
Learn more about the MBA program at go.mst.edu/mba.