Going global: GSB to offer International M.B.A. degree

The new degree, which will be offered beginning in June 1995, joins the M.B.A. and the Ph.D. to become the third type of degree given by the school.

"Our market research indicates that employers who hire our graduates for careers in international business want people with substantial knowledge of the culture, society and language of a foreign country," said Robert Hamada, the Edward Eagle Brown Distinguished Service Professor and Dean of the GSB.

"The new International M.B.A. degree was created to provide truly global management skills to those students who will be admitted into this new program. It is much more intense than simply a concentration in international business, which is still available as an option to our students," he said.

A maximum of 50 students will be accepted into the International M.B.A. program, which combines traditional M.B.A. courses with special courses on issues facing companies doing business internationally.

Students must complete at least six courses in international business, including two courses in the culture, history, politics or social structure of a foreign country, and they must demonstrate mastery of at least one foreign language, Hamada said.

The program also requires that students spend at least six months studying and working in a foreign country.

"Students who receive our new International M.B.A. degree will have a firm grounding in the fundamentals of business, plus the skills and exposure needed to excel in a multicultural business environment," Hamada said.

The GSB's other international efforts include the international executive M.B.A. program in Barcelona, which began meeting for classes in July. This part-time program, which allows participants to continue working while studying for the M.B.A., is intended for international business executives with at least 10 years of work experience.

The GSB recently established a Center for International Business Education & Research, which sponsors courses in global business, and the school operates 20 international business exchange programs that allow students to study and live in other cultures.

In addition, the GSB, in conjunction with the Social Sciences Division, offers several internationally oriented joint-degree programs. Students in these programs may earn both an M.B.A. and a master's degree in international relations, East Asian studies, South Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies or Latin American and Caribbean studies.