Why You Should Consider Taking STEM Courses As An MBA

Want to get ahead with your MBA? You may want to consider taking a few STEM-related courses.

Arlene Weintraub, a contributor for US News, recently reported how a number of b-schools are expanding their curricula to include STEM courses and how integrating STEM into your background can help you once you graduate.

STEM Making Its Way Into MBAs

Last August, we reported how The University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business became the first U.S. business school to gain full STEM designation for its full-time MBA program.

A number of b-schools have pushed to integrate STEM into their offerings for MBAs. One of those schools is Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Russ Morgan, senior associate dean for full-time programs at Fuqua, tells US News “the goal of the MBA program is to offer students the bread-and-butter management training, and then give them a lot of latitude to choose electives that focus on specialty areas.”

In 2017, Fuqua officials announced a new certificate for Daytime MBAs in “Management Science and Technology Management.” According to Fuqua’s website, the certificate program will help students develop leadership and managerial skills for roles in healthcare, consulting, technology, and more.

At the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, the full-time MBA has been phased out with greater focus on alternative degree programs, such as the STEM-related master’s degrees in business analytics and finance, US News reports.

The Growing Demand of STEM

STEM-knowledge is quickly growing in demand, even in the business world.

At Mastercard, 70% of the company’s new 2018 hires had “hot skills,” such as blockchain, cybersecurity, and AI, according to US News.

“Our entire workforce is focused on figuring out how to embed technology in everything we do, and how to make sense of the tsunami of data we have,” Sarah Gretczko, senior vice president for organizational development and people insights at Mastercard, tells US News.

Wendy Moe, associate dean of master’s programs at the University of Maryland—College Park Smith School of Business, says STEM graduates are filling a widening skill gap.

“There’s definitely a skill gap right now in the economy,” Moe tells US News. “You have people with good business and leadership skills, and then you have people with the technology skills. They speak different languages.”

Sources: US News, Poets & Quants