Haas, Krannert Revise Their Curricula

Two business schools have approved changes in the curriculum.

Faculty at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley approved a set of curricular changes proposed by the school’s dean, Rich Lyons. The revised approach provides students with a stronger general management framework, more rounded knowledge of and training in leadership, and more international experience. Among other changes, faculty will teach the school’s MBA core leadership course at the beginning of the first year. This move will help ground students early on in Haas’s approach to general management. Expanding a concept that has already proven successful, Haas will also focus on providing experiential learning—“applied innovation” experiences enabling students to synthesize knowledge they have gained throughout their time at Haas. The school will also expand its international focus: It’s doubling the size of its International Business Development Program that sends students around the world to help solve business problems for both private and nonprofit clients. Future plans include expecting all Haas students to fulfill a substantive international requirement. The reforms are part of a strategy to define Haas as a training ground for deep-thinking leaders and savvy general managers who drive innovation and growth in organizations.

The Krannert School of Management at Purdue University is revising the curriculum for its two-year MBA and one-year MSIA programs. The changes provide students a more tailored curriculum, more experiential learning, more time to collaborate with colleagues and faculty in small groups, greater exposure to diverse teaching methods, and increased opportunities for global study trips. A reduction in total core course credit hour requirements affords students greater opportunity to tailor their plans of study. The reform was also structured to give students better opportunities to develop skills for working across functional boundaries in today’s flatter organizations. Each student in the MBA and MSIA programs will take part in an active learning opportunity through consulting projects or projects connected with global study trips. In a statement, Richard Cosier, dean of the Krannert School and Leeds Professor of Management there, said that “giving students the opportunity to get more of a hands-on experience, receive more mentoring, and learn outside the classroom, both here and around the world, will make them more prepared for future business challenges.”

New Survey Looks at US Grad School Response to Bologna Reforms

A survey of US doctoral-granting universities offers insights into how US schools view European education reform under the Bologna Process. Specifically, how are three-year undergraduate Bologna-compliant credentials viewed for admission to US graduate study?

Among other findings, more than half of respondents said their institutions had an official policy regarding admissions for those with three-year Bologna-compliant degrees. Within this group, a third tended to view three-year Bologna-compliant degrees as equivalent to US four-year degrees: Another third decided equivalency on a case-by-case basis. The study shows that relatively few applicants to US graduate schools currently hold the three-year credential. But it also indicates that graduate school professionals are closely monitoring the evolution of the Bologna Process. And it reveals, in addition, that the reforms in the European Higher Education Area have created an opportunity on some campuses for larger discussions about how international credentials are perceived and evaluated.

Results of the survey, conducted this past fall, are collected in the paper, “Three-Year Bologna-Compliant Degrees: Responses from U.S. Graduate Schools,” newly published by the Institute of International Education. (Download the paper at www.iie.org/briefingpapers). Survey respondents represented 167 programs at 120 US institutions.

The Bologna Process now has 46 signatory countries, encompassing all of Europe except Belarus. Collectively these countries represent nearly 25 percent of the world’s nations, and have nearly 4,000 higher education institutions.