The School of Business at UNC Pembroke began offering an accelerated version of its online MBA program in 2017, allowing students to complete the program in one year.
Since that time, UNCP has experienced a surge in enrollment, from 134 students to nearly 1,100 students today. The jump represents an unprecedented 700% increase making it one of the nation’s fastest-growing programs. The online MBA program is not only attracting some of the top distance learners in the business environment, the nation’s experts are also taking notice. In its most recent publication, College Consensus ranked UNCP among the best one-year, online MBA programs in the country for 2021. The report can be viewed here.
College Consensus, a unique college ratings website that aggregates publisher rankings and student reviews, combined information from five leading MBA ranking systems: Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Financial Times, U.S. News and World Report, and The Economist. Each MBA’s ranking was converted to a score on a 100-point scale, weighted equally, and then averaged to reveal a consensus score.
“I think it is impressive,” said Christine Bell, MBA program director. “It shows the strength of the faculty in our AACSB-accredited program. This accreditation is earned by the top business schools in the world. We have introduced several new concentrations which have attracted top students in fields such as health care administration and forensic accounting fields.”
The program has enhanced concentration offerings in high-demand fields including supply chain, analytics and finance.
Since moving from a traditional online program to an accelerated format, UNCP has attracted a unique pool of candidates, including doctors, lawyers and other individuals who decided to seek an MBA from one of the most affordable programs in the South. According to Bell, the fact that students are given the option to complete the program in one year has spurred recent growth.
Enrolled students are exposed to all significant business aspects, including marketing, accounting, finance and economics. Graduate students develop their interpersonal and management skills and examine the nature of human behavior. Other course topics include organizational behavior, the essential elements of international business and business strategy.
“Our online MBA is one of the most versatile professional degree programs. It is flexible and affordable and allows students to advance in their current company or start their own,” Bell said.
Another factor driving the program’s steady growth is the soon-to-be-completed $38 million James A. Thomas Hall, which will house the Thomas School of Business. The state-of-the-art facility will include 14 classrooms, a career services center, a 300-seat auditorium, an interactive market-style trading room, a video conference room, small and large group discussion areas, a food court and a multimedia resource room.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in our undergraduate business programs with the introduction of NC Promise and the excitement surrounding the new building. We anticipate many of our graduates will decide to continue their education with the Accelerated MBA program,” Bell added. “We definitely have a good thing going on right now.”
In addition to the online accelerated MBA program, UNCP offers a face-to-face MBA option and undergraduate business programs both face-to-face and online.