A New, Tech-Focused Online MBA Launches In A Major U.S. Market

The Belk College of Business at UNC-Charlotte is launching a new 36-credit-hour online MBA; the first classes will begin in August

The Carolinas already have one of the top online MBA programs in the world: the MBA@UNC, ranked sixth in Poets&Quants‘ 2022 ranking. Now the University of North Carolina system is adding another online MBA option, this time from its Charlotte campus — and at less than half the price.

The Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte will launch a fully online MBA starting in August with three high-tech concentrations: business analytics, digital marketing, and financial technology. Applications to the program will be open beginning April 1.

“Charlotte’s new online MBA is designed to help business professionals advance their careers by harnessing the power of technology,” Belk College Dean Jennifer Troyer says.

‘HIGH QUALITY AT A COMPETITIVE PRICE’

The Belk College’s 36-hour program is designed for “professionals who are seeking to advance or shift their careers into exciting new tech-focused concentrations,” says Janaki Gooty, director of the Belk MBA program. “As with Charlotte’s Professional MBA, the online program will offer high quality at a competitive price, as our faculty are internationally recognized in their domains.”

Jennifer Troyer, dean of the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte

The new program will include core business courses and concentration courses that focus on many emerging areas, with a particular emphasis on three:

• Business analytics: Decision modeling; recency, frequency, monetary value (RFM) analysis and data mining (SAS and Python).
• Fintech: Cryptocurrency, block chain and fintech regulation.
• Digital marketing: Social media analytics, search engine optimization (SEO) and product strategy.

Courses will be seven and a half weeks long. The courses will be offered through Canvas, including discussion forums, on-demand lecture presentations, streaming video and group collaboration software.

Core business courses for the Belk online MBA will begin in August, with the concentration in business analytics available in January 2023. Digital marketing and fintech concentrations will begin as early as fall 2023. The school says in a news release that part-time students will typically earn an MBA in two to three years.

MBA PROGRAM WITH ‘MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY’

The online MBA is one of several new programs the Belk College has planned, according to the school’s announcement. In August, the college will begin offering an undergraduate certificate in entrepreneurship, which will be available to students regardless of major. A new fintech concentration in the Master of Science in Mathematical Finance also is in development.

UNC Charlotte has the largest — and oldest — MBA program in the Charlotte region, with more than 500 students enrolled last fall, up 57% over the past five years and up 14% since fall 2020. There are more than 4,000 Charlotte MBA alumni, according to the school, with the majority living and working in the Charlotte region.

The Belk College has offered blended MBA courses since 2016 — but this will be the first time the college will offer a fully online MBA program.

“Through meetings with our industry partners and an analysis of employment data, we know that the skills offered through this unique program are in high demand in the Charlotte region and beyond,” Dean Troyer says. “As this program offers maximum flexibility, we expect strong interest, not only in Charlotte but across the Southeast.”

Learn more at onlinemba.charlotte.edu.

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