Online MBA

The following is the fourth and final part of a discussion with Jerry Trapnell, the executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB).

What’s down the road?

While the current business school waters look murky–tuition up, enrollment down–Trapnell believes these are the times business students step up. Business schools can help their cause by playing to their strengths, focusing and finding their niche. By making their MBA a leader in a specialized field, schools can avoid blending in with every other business program.

Schools need to continue to teach ethics and soft skills arm-in-arm with technical business aspects to create tomorrow’s business leaders.

“I don’t think we need to apologize for being successful and being rewarded for that. Incentives work, but you have to have those balanced and work toward financial goals with great integrity,” said Trapnell. “If ever we need to be more responsive to the needs of business, it is now. We need very competitive graduates who can hit the road running and prepared and we think our schools are focused on those things.

“We’ll have some interesting times ahead of us, but I think business schools will continue to be major players and continue provide very good programming and meeting the needs of business.

– Alanna Stage, @alannatweets

Previous Posts in This Series

• Some Top Business Schools Testing the Online MBA Waters
• Online MBA Programs ‘Not for the Faint of Heart’
• Accreditation and the Online MBA Student