MBA

A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounting, applied statistics, human resources, business communication, business ethics, business law, strategic management, business strategy, finance, managerial economics, management, entrepreneurship, marketing, supply-chain management, and operations management in a manner most relevant to management analysis and strategy. It originated in the United States in the early 20th century when the country industrialized and companies sought scientific management.

Some programs also include elective courses and concentrations for further study in a particular area, for example, accounting, finance, marketing, and human resources, but an MBA is intended to be a generalized program. MBA programs in the United States typically require completing about forty to sixty credits (sixty to ninety in a quarter system), much higher than the thirty credits (thirty-six to forty-five in a quarter system) typically required for degrees that cover some of the same material such as the Master of Economics, Master of Finance, Master of Accountancy, Master of Science in Marketing and Master of Science in Management.

The MBA is a terminal degree, and a professional degree. Accreditation bodies specifically for MBA programs ensure consistency and quality of education. Business schools in many countries offer programs tailored to full-time, part-time, executive (abridged coursework typically occurring on nights or weekends) and distance learning students, many with specialized concentrations.

An "Executive MBA", or EMBA, is a degree program similar to an MBA program that is specifically structured for and targeted towards corporate executives and senior managers who are already in the workforce.

History

The first school of business in the United States was The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton /sup>. In 1900, the Tuck School of Business was founded at Dartmouth College conferring the first advanced degree in business, specifically, a Master of Science in Commerce, the predecessor to the MBA.

The Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration established the first MBA program in 1908, with 15 faculty members, 33 regular students and 47 special students. Its first-year curriculum was based on Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific management. The number of MBA students at Harvard increased quickly, from 80 in 1908, over 300 in 1920, and 1,070 in 1930. At this time, only American universities offered MBAs. Other countries preferred that people learn business on the job.

Other milestones include:
* 1930: First management and leadership education program for executives and mid-career experienced managers (the Sloan Fellows Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
* 1943: First Executive MBA (EMBA) program for working professionals at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Chicago was also the first business school to establish permanent campuses on three continents in Chicago (USA), Barcelona (Europe), and Singapore (Asia). Most business schools today offer a global component to their executive MBA. Since the program was established, the school has moved its campuses and is now based in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong.
* 1946: First MBA focused on global management at Thunderbird School of Global Management.
* 1950: First MBA outside of the United States, in Canada (Ivey Business School at The University of Western Ontario), followed by the University of Pretoria in South Africa in 1951.
* 1953: First MBA offered at an Asian school at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Calcutta.
* 1957: First MBA offered at a European school (INSEAD).
* 1963: First MBA program offered in the Spanish-speaking world by ESAN- Graduate School of Business in Perú (South America), under the direction of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, United States. Sponsored by the USAID- United States Agency for International Development, at the request of former President John F. Kennedy, which organizes the main business schools in the United States to study and explore the possibilities of developing management education projects in Latin America. Thus, on July 25, 1963, la Escuela de Administración de Negocios para Graduados- ESAN was founded, within the framework of an agreement between the governments of Peru and the United States to offer the Master's program in Business Administration for interested applicants from all over Latin America.
* 1963: First MBA offered in Korea by Korea University Business School (KUBS).
* 1986: First MBA program requiring every student to have a laptop computer in the classroom at the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College (Florida). Beginning with the 1992–1993 academic year, Columbia Business School required all incoming students to purchase a laptop computer with standard software, becoming the first business school to do so.
* 1994: First online executive MBA program at Athabasca University