MBA program reaches two more Montana towns.

• Author: Joyner, Amy
• Position: University of Montana extension courses in Dillon and Havre

Twelve students--six each in Dillon and Havre--have enrolled in the first master of business administration courses ever offered in their towns. Through this extension of The University of Montana's geographic reach, these 12 students are the first "cohort class" of off-campus MBA candidates at UM-Western and UM-Northern.

The cohort model enrolls students as a group, with additional students not eligible for admission for two years, explained Clyde Neu, MBA program director for UM's School of Business.

With the addition of Dillon and Havre, Neu will oversee the delivery of evening and weekend courses on college and university campuses in eight Montana cities, including existing programs in Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Kalispell. For more information on the off-campus MBA program, see "Learning by Remote: Off-campus MBA Program a Hit," in the summer 2002 issue of the Montana Business Quarterly.

"Extending our existing program is economically feasible because we are able to recruit a critical mass of students via the cohort model," Neu said.

In addition to reaching the minimum threshold of six students per town, Neu said the program became more viable when all 12 students agreed to attend an orientation in Missoula this August to interact with instructors and fellow MBA students.

Another condition of enrollment was that any time a UM professor travels to a remote location to present a class, the students also will travel there, saving time and money for the university. Havre students will travel to in-person evening courses in Great Falls at the Montana State University College of Technology; Dillon students will travel to Montana Tech in Butte when a professor from UM-Missoula is on campus for a class.

With the technology available at UM's Gallagher Business Building and the off-campus sites, students can complete course requirements in two to three years. Courses are delivered via two-way...