BusinessWeek rankings

Lerner College part-time MBA jumps 17 spots

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4:04 p.m., Dec. 9, 2011--The part-time MBA program in the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics now ranks fifth in the Mid Atlantic region and 21st nationally, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s 2011 rankings.

Based on its placement within the top 25 programs in the country, the Lerner College is featured in the top part-time MBA programs of 2011 slideshow on the Bloomberg BusinessWeek website. It also is featured in the print magazine, which due to space constraints features just 30 of all ranked programs.

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This is the second time the Lerner College MBA program has been recognized in the annual rankings. Published in November in odd-numbered years, the last ranking in 2009 placed the program sixth in the Mid Atlantic region and 38th nationally.

Rated best in 2011 for job changers, the Lerner College part-time MBA program also received outstanding A+ grades for curriculum, caliber of classmates and teaching quality.

“The latest ranking is a testament to the hard work of the faculty, staff and students, whose everyday efforts make the Lerner College part-time MBA program one of the best in the nation,” said Jack Baroudi, associate dean for graduate and executive programs. 

An interactive graph also charts the school’s position relative to others on everything from program cost per credit hour to average class size and tenured faculty.

Part-time programs at Carnegie Mellon, Villanova, Lehigh and Richmond received the other top spots in the Mid Atlantic region. In total, 76 programs were ranked in the top part-time MBA programs of 2011.

Determining eligibility

BusinessWeek extends Invitations to hundreds of AACSB-accredited programs throughout the six geographic regions of the United States. 

Programs must then submit information on completion rates, GMAT scores, work experience, selectivity and tenured faculty. Based on those five quality measures, BusinessWeek then calculates averages for each measure and identifies those above average. 

Only schools whose programs measure above average on three of the five qualities – or two if one was GMAT scores – are then allowed to participate.

Ranking methodology

Still considered the newest of the BusinessWeek rankings, the methodologies used for the part-time MBA program rankings are the most complex in comparison to those for executive MBA and non-degree executive-education programs. They are based on separate measures of student satisfaction, academic quality and post-graduation outcomes.

For the student satisfaction measure, BusinessWeek surveys part-time MBA students who have recently graduated or are nearing graduation about all aspects of their academic experience, ranging from teaching to course content to career outcomes.

To determine the top programs in terms of academic quality, the ranking combines six equally weighted measures submitted by the schools themselves: average GMAT score, average student work experience, percentage of teachers who are tenured, average class size in core business classes, the number of business electives available to part-time students and the completion rate.

Post-graduation outcomes are calculated based on the percentage of student survey respondents who say their part-time MBA program was “completely” important in achieving their goals. These range from “career advancers” who stay with their current employers, “job switchers” who are seeking a new employer, and “career changers” who want to change careers entirely.

The student survey contributes 40 percent of the final ranking, with academic quality and post-MBA outcomes contributing 30 percent each.

About Lerner College

The Lerner College was first accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) at the baccalaureate level in 1966. Graduate accreditation was received in 1982, and accounting accreditation was earned in 1984. All accreditations were reaffirmed in 2011.

Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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