Fuqua Announces Program Changes, Including New Accelerated MBA
Want to turn a Master in Management into an MBA without starting a two-year degree from scratch? Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business has announced a new Accelerated MBA program that’ll let you fast-track your way to an MBA in one year.
The new program comes as part of a series of changes that Fuqua is making to its programs. With the new Accelerated MBA, students holding a Master of Management Studies from Duke or a similar degree from other schools will be exempt from some of the two-year MBA’s core courses.
Fuqua’s senior associate dean, Russ Morgan, cautions that this program won’t be the right option for all such students. He says that some might still “opt for the two-year experience because they want to spend more time with their cohort and they want the ability to intern over the summer.”
But others, he says, “believe repeating core coursework in the two-year program is inefficient, and for these graduates, the accelerated option will be a better fit.”
The Accelerated MBA’s first cohort will arrive on campus next summer. Fuqua says that when students apply with Master’s in Management degrees from non-Duke programs, those programs “will be evaluated for their comparability to the content and rigor of a Fuqua MMS degree.”
Speaking of the MMS, Fuqua also announced that it is adding a new technology track to the curriculum, which the school is referring to as Management Science and Technology Management – or MSTeM if don’t want to have to say the word “management” that many times in quick succession.
The MMS MSTeM track doesn’t just allow students to pursue tech-focused coursework. Because it carries a STEM designation from the US government, it allows international students to work in the US an additional two years, or three years total, on their student visas.
The program “gives our students a clearer path to employment in the US if that is their goal,” explained Fuqua dean Bill Boulding. And it “gives employers assurance they can invest in hiring our students without having to immediately win the visa lottery.”
Fuqua MMS students can opt for the MSTeM track starting with this year’s cohort.
Finally, Fuqua announced three areas of thematic emphasis selected by the faculty for the school’s Daytime MBA program. These include tech-driven transformation, entrepreneurship, and finding common purpose.
Implementing these themes, the school says, will mean reviewing some of its course offerings and the structure of existing courses, with changes taking effect for the class arriving on campus in 2020.
For applicants, the Accelerated MBA and MSTeM MMS are the most significant changes to note. The former offers a new path to a Fuqua MBA for those with a Master in Management, and the MSTeM program is an option to consider for those early in their careers with an interest in tech.
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