UA Dean Makes Case For Non-Traditional MBAs

By Heather van Blokland
Published: Thursday, February 23, 2017 - 4:57pm

Does getting an MBA, a Master in Business Administration, ensure your career will succeed? The University of Arizona’s business school is answering that question by tailoring programs to working adults in Phoenix.

Paulo Goes is the dean of the Eller College of Management.

“The generalistic MBA, sometimes people don’t think it’s worth it. And what we are doing in Phoenix is to have MBAs and graduate programs that are more focused,” Goes said.

He said traditional full-time programs are not flexible enough.

“At the end, some people think it’s not worth it because the business world is moving very fast, right. If you are out for two years and you come back you might not have the right knowledge, the right skill set,” Goes said.

MBA programs are ranked, in part, by how quickly the degree leads to a job.

At Eller, placement is about 65 percent at graduation and goes up to 90 percent after the first three months, which is higher than national average of 84 percent.

Business