University of the Pacific Eberhardt School of Business

MBA, Accelerated Full Time (1 year)

• Topschoolsintheusa: Discover the top ranked full-time MBA programs in Washington. Check this link to find average GMAT scores, acceptance rate, and average starting salary and bonus as well as tuition and fee information of all best business schools in Washington.

INTERVIEW ON THE MBA SCHEDULE: "A 60-HOUR WEEK IS MORE THE NORM"

Business creativity, intercultural skills or strategy - these are just a few of the topics that MBA students are concerned with. Franka Storzer, program manager at the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, explains in an interview what other challenges await her during her studies.

Compulsory courses, elective courses, specializations - what is on the schedule of an MBA student?

The MBA curriculum covers a wide range of management areas. It starts with topics like strategy, marketing and logistics. It continues with leadership-oriented courses on negotiation techniques or soft skills and extends to current topics such as social networking and intercultural awareness. Electives open up topics such as business creativity, managing public relations, corporate responsibility or entrepreneurship to students.

That sounds like a lot of work ...
An MBA student has to be flexible. In addition to the tasks that result from current and upcoming courses, company workshops, student advisory projects, participation in conferences and competitions await you. In addition, the internship or job search. Many students also take part in student initiatives. So a 60-hour week is more the norm.

What should MBA students absolutely learn?
The tools of the trade include sound management knowledge paired with interpersonal, i.e. interpersonal, skills. This includes, for example, communication, team and project management, but also negotiation.

In the past, MBA programs were often criticized for being too practical. Which recipes work against gray theory?
Practical projects and internships are particularly helpful. They are firmly anchored in the curriculum and take place in cooperation with companies. For example, the participants analyze specific questions of a company and develop proposals for solutions.

Practical content within the courses is also provided by numerous guest lecturers. In many places, they can bring in concrete experiences from day-to-day business.

But our professors also show the MBA students the practical experience themselves during company visits or with guest speakers.

The global challenges are also part of practice. How are MBA students prepared for this?
Almost every course offers an international perspective, be it through the wealth of experience of international participants and visiting professors or through the processing of case studies by international companies.

And how important are stays abroad?
We recommend our MBA students to stay abroad. However, it does not necessarily make sense for everyone. An international MBA participant is already abroad. Basically everyone is free to study or work in another country for a certain time.

Intercultural competence is one thing - at the moment, the topics ethics and social responsibility are very important in MBA programs. Do such offers really make sense?

Yes, I think it's almost indispensable. A course on corporate responsibility is integrated into our study program. Issues such as ethics and social responsibility are also woven into numerous other courses. There we use the know-how of our ethics professor in a targeted manner through co-teaching approaches.