The WHARTON school has just announced huge changes in its MBA programme design. Coming after a long gap of about 17 years and at a cost of $1 million, these changes are expected to eventually spark off a series of radical changes in business education world over.

Among others, these changes, offer for the first time, an extra-ordinary flexibility to students to make education choices, a new series of global modular courses to be offered in eight countries and a commitment to deliver life-long education to its MBA graduates.

Wharton which has campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco, enrolls about 2000 students jointly for its full-time MBA Programme and its MBA Executive Programme. About 220 expert faculty members and 200 affiliated faculty teach at Wharton and it is they who voted to bring about the new design in the school.

Pagalguy spoke to Whartons dean Thomas S Robertson, Professor G. Richard Shell, Chair of the MBA Review Committee and Jason Wingard, Vice Dean of Executive Education for more information on these radical changes.

Considering that the free education will cost Wharton $ 1 million, will it be a viable option in the long run?

Jason Wingard, Vice Dean of Executive Education: We do not see this as an issue of cost, but rather one of value. Our mission is to design and deliver in-depth learning experiences to our students and executives to create global economic and social value. We urge our executives, and our MBA alumni, to develop a commitment to life-long learning and to take on new personal and professional challenges.

How much time and research went into bringing about these changes? How many people were involved?

Professor G. Richard Shell, Chair of the MBA Review Committee: The last change in architecture was done 17 years ago, though the curriculum has been changed intermittently. In May 2009, Dean Thomas Robertson asked a committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the entire MBA programme, including its curriculum. It was the culmination of a process that began in 2006. A Strategic Planning Committee and an MBA Experience Committee were set up. In addition, a comprehensive faculty survey was conducted in 2008-2009.

Was there a need for so many committees?

The MBA Review Committee surveyed alumni, recruiters and business leaders, consulted with our boards, studied what the peer schools had done in recent years, and formulated ideas on how to enhance the overall MBA programme for Wharton. The committee considered as many as 10-12 different programme designs before settling on the basic design. Students and faculty were consulted again in Spring 2010 and final design ideas gelled in the summer of 2010.

Finally, faculty were re-surveyed in early September 2010, the final design ideas were presented at the end of September, and faculty, departments, and staff were consulted in the fall of 2010 to validate the feasibility of the programme ideas and consider implementation. The proposal was voted on December 3, 2010.

First, both students and faculty told us that they desired for a more flexible, innovative approach to the required curriculum. This had five aspects a slightly smaller total number of required credit units, more courses taught in non-traditional (intensive) week-long formats, more opportunities for students to mix required and elective classes throughout the programme (freeing space to take more electives in the first year), greater degrees of flexibility for faculty to innovate in the required courses, and greater flexibility for departments in adding (and removing) courses to the required set.

So what do these five aspects translate into

They translate, among other things, into somewhat reduction of cohort-based required classes and introduction of the concept of six required Content Areas (as opposed to six required courses) within which students will be able to choose from a short menu of options, the courses that will satisfy the demands of the required curriculum.

Will the new design also allow moving courses outside the curriculum easily? Will faculty have the flexibility to do so?

Yes, Innovation is the new freedom for departments to move existing courses into and out of the required curriculum without having to seek a vote of the entire faculty. Under our proposal, a department may recommend a change to a Content Area (by, for example, moving an existing, well-received elective into the required Content Area) by simply seeking permission to do so from a new school-wide Curriculum Innovation and Review Committee which is charged with reviewing these requests.

The change can go forward with the agreement of this committee. This committee will also be conducting periodic reviews of all courses in the required curriculum and overseeing departmental policies on waivers, majors, and prerequisites to assure that the programme meets the needs of the students in particular and those of the School as a whole.

Where does the stress for analysis fit into the changes

Our recruiters, alumni and faculty were very clear that we needed to maintain the emphasis on the hard, analytical skills for which Wharton is renowned. In this regard, our review suggested to us that there was room for us to expand from requiring 6-week classes in statistics and microeconomics in the first semester to requiring full-semester, 12-week courses in these two foundational areas.

Finally, our recruiters, alumni and existing students told us to expand our emphasis on the soft skills of leadership, teamwork, and communications in a more emphatic way. Our new design thus increases from 6 to 12 classes the amount of oral communication training in the required curriculum and adds a writing requirement for the first time. These classes are taught in very small sub-cohort sections of 10-12 students to allow for individualised coaching and focused practice.

What will be the role of the alumni?

Wharton needed to think more outside the box in structuring its relationship with graduates in the next generation seeking meaningful, ongoing ways to create a knowledge community beyond the usual reunions, alumni clubs, and other traditional alumni activities. Our world-class executive education operation is a natural focus for this and we are looking forward to welcoming many more of our graduates back to campus to re-engage with faculty and with one another in our numerous specialized open-enrollment programmes on topics such as negotiations, leadership, and critical thinking. Executives need different kinds of knowledge at different points in their careers which we think this aspect of the programme design will enable.

Which alumni are eligible? And would they have to cough up any money at all?

We estimate demand for executive education courses to be about 20% per year of total class, or about $1M annually in value to our MBA alums. The marginal costs for Wharton may not be substantial since many of the courses will already be offered as part of our open enrollment executive education program. The average cost for a one week open enrollment course is $7000, exclusive of room and board which will be paid by the alum. MBA alums starting with the Class of 2010 are eligible.

Alumni may take one course seven years after they graduate (Class of 2010 may register in 2017) and then again seven years later. They may register for 3-5 day courses from the open enrolment portfolio of nearly 50 programs, space permitting. Learn more about open enrolment programs here:

Explain Wharton’s international design?

The Dean, Tom Robertson: There will be opportunities for Global Studies. There are new modular courses in eight countries this year including India, China, Israel, UK, Brazil, South Africa. There will also be study abroad and international exchange programmes. There will be the Wharton-INSEAD Alliance, one with Indian School of Business (ISB), Guanghua School of Management and Singapore Management University and China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).