MBA class offering a real-world edge

Date published: 7/5/2008

By VICKI LEE PARKER

McCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

RALEIGH, N.C.--

These new biologists, psychologists and art majors added the business course to their resumes before stepping out into the real world. Many think it will give them a competitive edge in the workplace. Some think such skills are necessary if they want to one day run their own businesses. And others want the confidence of knowing how to manage personal finances.

UNC's Friday Center has offered a 41/2-week business boot camp to non-business students for 16 years. The intense course covers basic business practices including marketing, accounting, finance and operations management.

Its latest class graduated in June.

Among them was Shaw, who received a bachelor's degree in biology at UNC--Chapel Hill.

Shaw said that, in addition to helping with his personal budget, the class gave him the skills to one day manage his own medical practice. "Running a clinic is a business," he said. "You have to know what to pay people and how to buy equipment and machines."

Other schools across the nation offer similar programs, including the Tuck Business Bridge program at Dartmouth College and the Summer Institute for General Management at Stanford University.

At North Carolina State University, nonbusiness students are offered four business minors, in accounting, business administration, economics and entrepreneurship, said Steve Barr, a professor who heads the department of management, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Demand for the $2,500 UNC program continues to grow, said Annette Madden, associate director for conferences and institutes, so much so that the school has considered offering it twice a year. "The word has spread, and we have gotten a lot of participation from students at other schools," Madden said. "We always have more participants apply than we can accept."

Follow us on

Date published: 7/5/2008