UNC Kenan-Flagler Launches Online MBA Format
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School has announced the launch of MBA@UNC, a new online MBA format designed for working professionals around the world.
MBA@UNC meets the unmet demand by high-potential professionals who want to earn an MBA from a top school but might have personal or professional commitments that require a program with greater flexibility.
Susan Cates, executive director of the program, calls MBA@UNC a new model of online learning and very different from existing self-paced programs. “We are developing a student-focused program that is superior to anything that exists today,” says Cates.
UNC Kenan-Flagler professors will design every course and collaborate with online curriculum specialists to maximize the impact of the new format. Students will master course materials on their own timetables and interact with faculty and classmates in live, online sessions and face-to-face immersions.
Designed to blend the flexibility of an online program with the rigor and quality of an on-campus program, MBA@UNC will operate under the following conditions:
- Students will meet the same selective admissions criteria required by the existing MBA programs.
- Courses will be based on the rigorous curriculum of the residential MBA program.
- UNC Kenan-Flagler professors will design and teach the courses.
- Professors will teach classes in both asynchronous and live sessions using a technology platform designed for graduate education and focused on interactive communication.
- Face-to-face global immersions will serve as capstone experiences.
UNC Kenan-Flagler is accepting applications for its first class, which will be limited to 50 students and will start in July 2011. Tuition will be $89,000 for the two-year program and will include books, texts, student fees and lodging and food costs for four weekend immersions.
Fellowships will be offered to highly qualified students in economically depressed areas, whether in the United States or other countries.
“The new MBA@UNC program will continue our tradition of excellence based on the quality of the students, faculty and curriculum,” says James W. Dean Jr., dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler. “What will be radically different is how we deliver the program. This exciting new approach will transform UNC Kenan-Flagler as we define the direction of global business education.”
