Page 22 - BusinessWest April 3, 2023
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COLLEGES WITH MBA PROGRAMS RANKED BY ENROLLMENT
 INSTITUTION
ENROLLMENT
CONTACT
ONLINE CURRICULUM
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
     1,688
 190
 78
 76
 75
 36
 30
   Isenberg school of management at UMass
1 121 Presidents Dr., Amherst, MA 01003
(413) 545-5608
www.umass.edu; www.isenberg.umass.edu/mba
2 WESTERN NEW ENGLAND UNIVERSITY
1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield, MA 01119 (413) 782-1231; www.wne.edu
3 AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE 1000 State St., Springfield, MA 01109 (413) 205-3700; www.aic.edu
4 BAY PATH University
588 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow, MA 01106 (413) 565-1000; www.baypath.edu
5 ELMS COLLEGE
291 Springfield St., Chicopee, MA 01013 (413) 265-2572; www.elms.edu/mba
6 MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS 375 Church St., North Adams, MA 01247
(413) 662-5000; www.mcla.edu
7 SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
253 Alden St., Springfield, MA 01109 (413) 748-3352; www.springfield.edu
Continued from page 20
Jenn Meunier
Sharianne Walker
Hannah Hartzsch
Anastasia Spremulli
Nancy Davis
Paul Pelritis
Mark Suazo
Full-time on-campus, completely online, or online with an option to take courses in Boston or Shrewsbury
Online with optional on-campus
On-campus, blended
Online or on-campus
Hybrid, blended, online and on campus
Mandatory on-campus or blended/hybrid classes
Mandatory on-campus
Rigorous, AACSB-accredited program with a strong emphasis on experiential, collaborative learning; on-campus or online options available; focus areas include business analytics, entrepreneurship, finance, healthcare administration, marketing, and sports management; other options include MS in accounting, MS in sports management, MBA/MS dual degrees, MS in business & analytics, and master of finance
AACSB International-accredited College of Business offers MBA, MS in accounting, MS in organizational leadership, and MS in sport leadership and coaching programs; working professionals can complete a degree fully online with optional in-class sessions offered for most programs; degrees can be earned in as few as 15-18 months studying part-time with accelerated, 11-week terms; MBA offers concentrations in accounting, business law, leadership, and public relations; MSA offers a concentration in forensic accounting and fraud investigation; certificates available in leadership and sport leadership
IACBE-accredited business programs; one-year MBA: 12-course, 36-credit, cohort-based, blended-format program meeting two evenings per week on campus; two-year MBA: 36-credit, cohort-based, blended-format program meeting one evening per week on campus; specialized MBA in resort and casino management: 12-course, 36-credit, cohort-based, blended program meeting one evening per week on campus, completed in two years; MS in accounting and taxation: 10-course, 30-credit, individually paced program meeting evenings during the traditional semester, can be completed in as little as one calendar year
Designed for working professionals, the Bay Path MBA in Entrepreneurial Thinking & Innovative Practices prepares students for leadership roles in corporations, nonprofits, small businesses, or their own business; accelerated eight- week format can be taken full-time (two courses at a time) or part-time (one course at a time), and students usually complete the degree in 1-2 years; classes start every February, June, and October
IACBE-accredited; courses in six MBA tracks: management, accounting, financial planning, healthcare leadership, healthcare innovation, and lean entrepreneurship; master of science in accounting and financial planning; development beyond the classroom: Pathways to Leadership program; graduate-level certificates in financial planning and advanced accounting available; program has shifted from 11-week to eight-week classes running five semesters per calendar year, shortening time to complete degree
Both 30- and 45-credit options for working adults structured around classroom experience, online instruction, and hands-on field work in small student teams
Springfield College MBA program is specifically designed for recent college graduates; this ‘future leaders’ program is tailored to prepare young professionals for business careers; while the 30-credit MBA program has been designed such that students may complete the requirements in one academic year, students may elect to pursue the degree on a part-time basis
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Reconnect
the college to the number earning better wages, and more, this model has proven successful,” she said. “Those schools recognize that these are students they wouldn’t have otherwise.”
As he assesses MassReconnect and the broad con- cept of free community college, Sullivan said there will be a broad trickle-down resulting from making these schools more accessible.
For starters, the community colleges themselves will benefit, he said, noting they have been hit hard by sharp declines in enrollment over the past decade, a trend only exacerbated by the pandemic.
Cook qualified this decline by pointing out that STCC’s enrollment — just over 3,600 — is down a full 50% from the school’s peak in 2012 of roughly 7,000, numbers that reflect everything from smaller high- school graduating classes to a still-robust economy featuring low unemployment — the conditions that don’t spur enrollment at community colleges.
But enrollent has become a challenge at most all public and private institutions, Sullivan noted, adding that, over time, this concept of free community col- lege could provide a boost for the large and important ‘Eds’ component of the region’s economy.
“Western Mass. is really lucky ... obviously, we have four community colleges [STCC, HCC, Greenfield Community College, and Berkshire Community Col-
lege] that are well-respected and do a great job,” he said. “But they are also feeders into our four-year col- leges and universities, and we’re fortunate that we’ve got such a high-end cohort of four-year and commu- nity colleges in this region, and it is an important part of our economy.
“Most all of these schools are looking to bring in more students to be able to grow,” he went on. “So it shouldn’t be lost on people that, in many cases, the community colleges are the start of the training and retraining of that workforce.”
Elaborating, he said that while the higher-ed sector will benefit from free community college, the broader impact will be on the region’s employers, which have been struggling with workforce issues, to one degree or another, for the past several years.
“Workforce is the issue that every single employer is facing right now, and it’s probably the biggest bar- rier to growth; it doesn’t matter what sector you’re in,” Sullivan said. “This opportunity to bring it back — or, to use the governor’s phrase, ‘reconnect’ — is a good one for our region.”
Cook agreed, and noted that while sectors — and college programs — may not be greatly impacted by MassReconnect (many healthcare programs, such as nursing, already boast strong enrollment), there are others that will, because the assistance from the state
might act to remove a barrier to exploring certain fields.
He mentioned manufacturing as one of them, not- ing that, while this sector features well-paying jobs and attractive opportunities, it still manages to elude the attention of many job seekers.
“I would love for us to continue to demystify manu- facturing, to see people realize it’s very much a high- tech, high-end, laboratory type of setting for so many of the professionals working in this field,” he said, adding that MassReconnect, if it becomes reality (and it has the support of many in the State House), could help achieve that.
Bottom Line
Overall, and combining MassReconnect with the elimination of COVID vaccine requirements and pro- posed fee-stabilization initiatives, Cook can envision a lift in enrollment for this fall’s semester — perhaps a 2%, 3%, or 4% gain, this on top of a 4% improvement registered this spring.
Just how big a lift remains to be seen, obviously, but any improvement would be a step in the right direction, he said, and hopefully the first of many such steps. BW
22 APRIL 3, 2023
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