A commitment to lifelong learning for MBA grads is just part of the curriculum overhaul planned for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School to be partially rolled out in Fall 2011 and fully executed in Fall 2012. The school plans to offer an executive education course free of charge to MBA graduates once every seven years as a sign of a commitment to students beyond their two years in business school ends. The new curriculum will also give students more flexibility in course choices, more global experiences and increased expertise in areas such as ethics and analytics. The curriculum will place greater emphasis on “soft” skills such as oral and written communication, and all students will participate in a two-year leadership coaching program to focus on self-evaluation. It seems this overhaul may be a trend – several top business schools have either recently updated their curricula or have plans to in the future. In 2006, Stanford changed its curriculum to allow students to tailor the program according to their education, work experience and career goals, and in the same year, Yale introduced a new MBA curriculum focusing on multidisciplinary courses. As recently as May, Haas revamped its curriculum to focus on analytical thinking, flexibility and creativity. Darden has started to make changes to its first-year courses after reviewing its full-time program over the past 18 months. Time will tell if other MBA programs follow suit.
Read the full article: MBA News: Wharton Unveils Major Curriculum Change