Business schools are quickly working to recruit not just new students, but new degree concentrations.
The Wall Street Journal reports business schools are racing to add STEM degrees to their programs, widening MBA concentration options to include science, technology, engineering and math. The move is reportedly part of an effort to recruit overseas students who want to work in the U.S.
About one-quarter of the 800 U.S. business-school programs tracked by the nonprofit Graduate Management Admission Council last year self-reported as STEM-certified.
Schools making the move include Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, and The University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, which recently reclassified its entire program as STEM.
Concentrations like data analytics or management science are appealing to international students who are looking for work-authorization visas that can extend their time in the U.S. by two additional years over a traditional business degree.
Universities are reportedly using that time extension to shore up international student recruitment, which has declined as a result of changes to U.S. immigration policies. International applications to U.S. business schools fell 14% in 2019, according to the nonprofit Graduate Management Admission Council. Read the full report here.
