CBS Launches New Core Curriculum
Spurred by student feedback from surveys and focus groups, Columbia Business School has announced a refashioning of its core curriculum for fall 2008 that will allow increased flexibility while still providing a strong foundation in business fundamentals. The upcoming changes, in tune with the school’s mandate to reevaluate its curriculum every seven to eight years, feature a new core that will be divided into required and flexible segments.
According to a press release announcing the changes, students will need to complete each unit of the required core, which will be comprised of 6.5 functional courses in areas such as finance, accounting, economics, strategy and leadership and will be spread across the first two semesters.
The flexible component, which has been built into the second semester, will allow students to gain greater depth in each of three designated areas: organizations, performance and markets. Students will choose one course in each area from the following menu:
- Organizations: Organizational Change; Power and Influence; or Social Capital
- Performance: Operations Strategy or Performance Measurement
- Markets: Game Theory; Global Economic Environment II: Business Cycles and Financial Markets; or Strategy, Structure and Incentives.
The GMAT Club Journal notes that the changes will allow students one more elective course during their two years in the Columbia MBA program, and reveals that Columbia will soon launch its own blog with contributions from guest bloggers, including alumni, students, faculty and admissions representatives.
