CMU Tepper to Launch Online MBA Format
The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University announced yesterday that it will launch a new program model next fall called the FlexMBA, which combines in-person sessions, online classes and self-paced learning to deliver the same coursework, faculty, team interaction, personal leadership coaching and career services found in the school’s full- and part-time MBA programs.
Students participating in the 32-month FlexMBA curriculum will complete two courses each seven-week mini semester, which will begin and end during “Access Weekends,” repeating three-day events that bring the students and faculty in a course together in a single location roughly every seven weeks.
The rest of the course will be delivered via weekly interactive live-video classes, supported by a variety of online self-paced learning activities during the week.
In contrast to current trends that are building increasingly larger online classes, CMU Tepper says the FlexMBA approach delivers the MBA program to focused sections of 20-30 students who will interact frequently with faculty, alumni, school resources, and each other online and in person.
“Maintaining quality and consistency across all our MBA delivery platforms is paramount,” says Michael Trick, senior associate dean for education at the Tepper School. “The flexibility of the FlexMBA format makes it convenient for students anywhere in North America to access our curriculum and faculty.”
Access weekends will offer an action-packed three full days of lectures, testing, group development and presentations, career services, and access to alumni and corporate programs from within the region. CMU Tepper will rotate the location of these Access Weekends to different geographic areas, allowing the program to involve different alumni and industries and to further create a unique and valuable student experience.
The weekly online class for each course will provide the opportunity for students to interact with the faculty to clarify and strengthen their command of the weekly material and apply it to relevant business situations through case discussions.
“Going forward, we plan to maintain an adaptive open architecture for the delivery technologies that the program uses, so that we can take advantage of new online technologies as they are developed,” Trick says. “The integration of new technologies and channels to offer this flexibility in delivering our MBA, while maintaining a high level of interactivity is a credit to a committee of thoughtful faculty members with input from all facets of our school community.”
Admission requirements for the FlexMBA program remain the same as for the Tepper School’s full- and part-time MBA programs. The Tepper School is now accepting applications for the new Flex MBA program.
Additional information is available online at: www.tepper.cmu.edu/flexmba.
