No matter what else has happened to Minnesota's higher and lower educational enterprises in this decade, one trend line has kept climbing: The numbers of Masters in Business Administration programs in the Twin Cities and seekers of MBA degrees has been steadily increasing.
The latest: Hamline University in St. Paul, the state's oldest post-secondary school, will launch its MBA program in January. By its count, it will bring the number of such programs available in the Twin Cities to 13.
Success breeds scrutiny -- and criticism. That, too, has been on the uptick in business education around the country. Perceived deficiencies in graduate business programs have been assailed as contributors to corporate failings ranging from the Enron collapse to the subprime mortgage crisis. The programs are faulted as insufficiently attentive to global realities, ethical imperatives and leadership that goes beyond the bottom line.
Those critics may have a point -- somewhere else. In Minnesota, the leading MBA programs have made significant strides in this decade in precisely those directions. It may be that competition for students among the University of Minnesota, the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota State University, Mankato and the rest has given this state's programs a push in the direction of relevant, ethical, global business education.
The new Hamline MBA program represents another step in that positive progression.
"Lack of integration is the major challenge to MBA programs," said Dean Julian Schuster. Hamline proposes to meet that challenge by blending the usual components of business education into four 16-week modules, plus one 16-week specializaton session. Finance, accounting, marketing and operations are all still in the curriculum, but they will be taught in connection with one another and with leadership development, strategic analysis and ethical practices. Student cohorts will be assembled to proceed through the 21-month program in unison, so that the relationships students build can enhance learning.
The aim, said Hamline President Linda Hanson, is business education "that also reflects the best traits of a liberal arts education. We want Hamline MBAs to have the critical thinking skills of a well-educated person."
Venerable Hamline's 153-year history is a long story of serving this state by identifying its post-secondary education needs and creatively meeting them. Its entry into graduate business education signals Hamline's assessment that the local market for MBAs remains bullish, and that filling the MBA demand with a quality program is important to to Minnesota's future.
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