MBAs on the Move

Heidi Janssen, custom education coordinator for the Minnesota Society of CPAs, says the students in Metropolitan State’s program gain an advantage by going through class with fellow accountants who deeply understand their workloads and job duties. “They like the group structure and really building relationships with these people,” Janssen says. “They will be lifelong friends and colleagues that they can call on for advice.”

St. Mary’s developed its program in Hutchinson because the school “has a willingness to go places where there are no higher education institutions available or these institutions don’t have their own programs,” says Mirela Miresan, assistant director of St. Mary’s MBA program. “St. Mary’s is a nonprofit organization, and we have a mission of serving communities. This is a wonderful way to do it, because we reach people that otherwise would have a difficult time getting a graduate degree.”

The school started offering its MBA in Hutchinson Technology’s development center in the summer of 2006, after several prospective students employed at the company asked St. Mary’s about locating its program there. The university agreed, as long as there were enough MBA students to make it worthwhile. The program is open to all, not just Hutchinson employees.

With the majority of the class working in one company, students often try to solve work-related challenges, benefiting themselves and the company. However, the students from outside the company bring a diversity of opinion to the classroom, Miresan notes.

A lack of diversity is a risk. If all of the students come from one organization, they may have similar opinions and background knowledge. That’s why the St. Paul–based University of St. Thomas hasn’t rushed into creating a mobile MBA with a particular company.

“We’ve always had the philosophy that diversity in all forms at this level of learning is very important, to include size of organization, a variety of functions represented by the students, type of organization, and expertise,” says Nick Lauer, director of St. Thomas’s executive MBA program. “That kind of connection among different backgrounds of people is invaluable as people get higher up in an organization. They need to be able to appeal across boundaries.”

But St. Thomas would be open to creating a mobile MBA program should the right opportunity arise, notes Dave Brennan, assistant dean of graduate programs. He sees the benefits of an off-site program, such as making graduate school more convenient to students.