In a December 11 webinar address to the Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA) community, David Gautschi, Ph.D., dean, gave a frank assessment of the school’s standing and its plans for the future.
“This is not your father’s GBA,” Gautschi said of the school, which was traditionally geared toward the part-time MBA student. “That is no longer what we are doing.”
While the MBA remains a core to the curriculum, efforts are underway to redesign the program and eventually “bring it back up and put it in lights.”
The new normal for all business schools in the New York region is that part-time MBA enrollment is dropping. Meanwhile, Master of Science offerings continue to grow at the school.
“We are adapting to the realities of the market as we are encountering them and attempting to anticipate how the market will evolve,” he said.
The dean did not shy away from using blunt business language in laying out plans for the academic institution. Indeed he embraced it, saying business doesn’t operate at an academic pace.
“Businesses change fast, we need to change fast,” he said.
The webinar, which was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, is part of an ongoing effort by the school to use technology to reach its ever-expanding community. Fifty percent of the GBA student body comes from abroad.
“We’re in the early stages of using social media to engage our far flung community,” said Guatschi, adding that response has been positive. “The early returns are good.”
