Crash course: executives find they need more education.

• Author: Clouse, Caroline
• Position: Continuing education - Advertisement

Depending upon whom one asks, the necessity of obtaining a master's in business administration ranks anywhere from "growing," as argued in a May Financial Times piece, to "obsolete," recently suggested in U.S. News & World Report. Many of the arguments are based on financial outcomes. However, Bill Berry, director of Queens University's McColl Graduate School of Business, offers a simple but sensible argument in favor of MBAs, regardless of the effect on the paycheck: personal growth and development.

As it turns out, the decision to get an MBA may be easier than choosing where to pursue it. But at least one element is clear: If a student has the time and money, North Carolina schools offer a variety of competitive programs, and nearly all are accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs.

Among the most flexible is Wake Forest University's Babcock Graduate School of Business. Wake's newest campus in Charlotte teams with its main campus in Winston-Salem to offer five ways to get an MBA. Full-time, fast-track executive and evening programs are available in Winston-Salem, while the Queen City offers evening and Saturday options.

The evening MBAs are nearly identical in both cities, with six semesters of school, classes two nights a week and the same emphasis: broad-based integrated management with a strategic and global focus. Babcock also offers executives a nondegree certificate program titled Business Essentials, launched last year at the university's Charlotte campus. The program allows participants to examine fundamental business practices without the long-term commitment that a full-time MBA requires.

The fast-track executive program, the first of its kind in the Southeast, stresses widespread integrated management with competency in finance, marketing, operations management, information technology, consulting and entrepreneurship. Classes are held every other weekend, and the program lasts four semesters. A summer international-management study tour, designed to enhance understanding of global business practices, is part of the program. Past tours have included Japan, China, Russia, Scandinavia and Latin America.

A recent article in the Winston-Salem Journal states that Wake's full-time MBA graduates are performing especially well: 73% of its 2005 class have been offered jobs. The Wall Street Journal ranks Babcock 17th in its regional lineup, U.S. News & World Report has Babcock 42nd nationally, and BusinessWeek places it in the top 50 in the nation.

It may be best known as an online program, but that doesn't mean students at Strayer University, which has campuses in Charlotte, the Triangle and Greensboro, never set eyes on one another. Strayer is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and students may choose either online or on-campus courses. With the option of an executive graduate certificate in business administration, designed for mid- and senior-level managers, individuals seeking career changes or increased job opportunities will gain the skills needed. A graduate-certificate recipient may later apply the credits toward an MBA degree with the same emphasis, which may be in human-resource management, marketing, management, marketing, acquisitions or supply-chain management.

Strayer's MBA program targets working professionals. The program offers a choice of concentrations and emphasizes the latest concepts, practices and skills. The school tries to accommodate all schedules with what it calls synchronous and asynchronous online courses.

In a synchronous online course, students and...