Five stars for Uni's MBA program

Monday, 22 August 2005

Strategic changes to the University of Adelaide's MBA (Advanced) program have resulted in a five-star rating by the Graduate Management Association of Australia.

And Professor Graham Hubbard, Head of the Adelaide Graduate School of Business (AGSB), which oversees the program, said the renewed focus has enabled the school to achieve this status.

"When I assumed my role, we restructured the program to provide more electives - we now offer over 30 electives - increased the length of the program from 11 week courses to 12, increased the quantity and quality of core faculty in terms of their academic qualifications, their publications and their business experience. This meant we had better quality control over our courses," Professor Hubbard said.

He said the MBA (Advanced) received five stars because it comprises 16 courses compared to the standard 12-course MBA, which received four.

"The highest quality MBA programs are over two years. Most students now choose to do a 1-1/2 year course. We offer both, but encourage students to take the longer one as it covers more areas than the standard course.

"The MBA (Advanced) is for the senior manager who truly understands and appreciates the value of the MBA," he said.

Professor Hubbard said the AGSB is focusing on teaching excellence as part of what students want.

"They want a high quality, face-to-face classroom experience, and that is what we aim to provide. We have been focusing on improving the quality of our teaching staff and acting on student feedback.

"Both the program and the AGSB have been reviewed over the last 2-3 years and the changes result from implementing the review recommendations and supporting the AGSB by building its core faculty group," he said.

Another initiative is increasing its links with the business community, which is an important part of making the MBA courses relevant.

"We have introduced the Business Project as a compulsory course for the MBA (Advanced) to demonstrate that our MBAs can add direct and immediate value to organisations by addressing real projects brought to us by organisations.

"The School also has an active MBA Alumni Association, which is a strong network benefit of doing an MBA with us. Our Centre for Executive Education also runs courses for organisations and individuals that can be linked into the MBA program and we are linking our MBA and Executive Education activity together, to get the best of both worlds," he said.

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