Southern Methodist Launches Major New MBA Curriculum

SMU Cox photo

The Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business announced today (August 3) a curriculum redesign for full-time MBAs entering this fall semester. The NextGen Cox Curriculum is set to begin when MBAs begin classes in a couple of weeks.

“The faculty has worked hard in identifying skills and content areas that will set our graduates apart,” Cox School Senior Associate Dean Bill Dillon said in a prepared announcement from the school.

“Expanded and enriched, the NextGen Cox Curriculum is designed to ensure that Cox MBA graduates are both ‘job ready’ when they enter the job market, and ‘future-prepared’ as 21st-century leaders for jobs to come later in an ever-changing world.”

SOUTHERN METHODIST’S NEW MBA CURRICULUM BASED ON THREE PILLARS

Cox’s new curriculum will rest on three pillars: leadership, analytics, and experiential learning. It was created by a committee of senior faculty and administrators.

For leadership, the school says it has increased the number of leadership courses available, which are provided by the Cox Business Leadership Center. The change will include required leadership courses focused on addressing the “changing business environment,” the school said in the announcement.

Likewise for analytics, a change will result in more required courses, including increased credit hours of analytics in foundation courses. “MBAs will learn how best to harness data, technology, and analytical frameworks and tools to draw accurate conclusions from that data to inform better decision-making,” the school said in its announcement.

Activities focused on experiential learning, the final of the three pillars the Cox School has based its new curriculum around, will be integrated into core courses and the school’s Global Leadership Program.

CREATING LEADERS FOR A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

While the school has been working on the curriculum redesign for a couple of years now, it says the changes will also help train leaders to handle a post-Covid-19 world.

“If months of dealing with the uncertainty of Covid-19 has taught us anything, it is that strong, flexible, visionary leadership is critical,” Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Executive Education Shane Goodwin said in the school’s release.

“The Cox curriculum restructuring process actually began two years ago, long before Covid-19, prompted by our corporate partners. They expressed a need for future leaders who embrace innovation, adaptability, and critical thinking, as well as moral character, vision, and tenacity,” Goodwin said. “Cox graduates typically possess these qualities, but to maximize knowledge and strength, we’ve grounded the NextGen Cox Curriculum in three foundational pillars: leadership, analytics, and experiential learning.”

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