By Brian Bohl

In the cutthroat world of business, a competitive edge is always welcomed. With this sentiment in mind, the University Zarb School of Business has consistently implemented modern and challengingcurriculums that will best benefit the school’s graduate and undergraduate student body.

The University changed the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program in the summer, making it more demanding. The old program required students to complete between 48 and 66 course credits, encompassing many core classes that did not include more advanced work. The new program actually lowers the required credit level to the 41 to 48 credit range, but now requires students to take classes that are denser and more intensive. While it is too soon to accurately gage the effectiveness of the program, there have been signs that the changes are making an impact.

In addition to an increase in standards, the School of Business also will offer more courses to appeal to a diverse range of student interests and two new MBA concentrations will be made available in health services management and in quality management.

“The health services management will entail 33 credits in the business field and 15 credits in health,” Bass said. “We will have North Shore LIJ as a service partner for those students.”

The MBA in quality management will offer participants a wide range of career options.

“The quality management concentration will allow for employment opportunities in both the private and manufactory industry,” Bass said. “The program will give a strong background in the outcome assessment field.”

Students in either the law school or business school also will still have the option of participating in the joint JD/MBA program for both a graduate law and business degree.

“The old program gave students a basic level of understanding, but for the most part the students were spoon fed,” Professor Stuart Bass, director of graduate programs for the School of Business, said, “We’ve taken those core courses and compressed them with the advanced courses. This new system allows professors to cover more material while also training students for real world workforce.”

The plan was trumpeted last summer as a tool that would extract a higher degree of ability and dedication from the students, preparing them for life after graduation. It gave students the chance to take charge of their own education while relying on professorsto make sure they are headed in the right direction.

“Our new MBA program provides students with the sophisticated contemporary business expertise to succeed in their chosen field,” Dr. Herman Berliner, University provost and senior vice presidentfor academic affairs, said.