In the August 3, 2001, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Below
are EXCERPTS. The full article is available to CHE subscribers at:
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i47/47a02901.htm
Unconventional Business School Is in Turmoil Over Creation of an MBA Program
By KATHERINE S. MANGAN
....
Faced with a sagging enrollment and a budget deficit, Thunderbird: The
American Graduate School of International Management is cutting back its
faculty, eliminating academic departments, and reducing the scope of its
foreign-language programs.
But it is what the school is adding -- a one-year
master-of-business-administration degree -- that's prompting most of the
protests. Some critics worry that it will dilute, and eventually supplant,
the existing degree, the master of international management. The M.I.M., the
critics argue, is richer than a traditional M.B.A. because it immerses
students in the language and culture of the region in which they hope to
work. It takes 15 months to complete and requires proficiency in a foreign
language.
It's also the degree that, until now, has set Thunderbird apart from the
competition.
"I don't think there is another program like ours," says Leon F. Kenman, an
associate professor of English and business communication. "Giving up on
that niche, the way the administration apparently wants to do, makes no
sense at all."
Administrators insist they're doing no such thing. Adding another degree,
they say, is part of a strategy to give Thunderbird the flexibility to
weather the changes in the economy, student demand, and the needs of
corporate recruiters.
.....
"Show me a single president or dean who does not say that they have a global
program," says Thunderbird's president, Roy A. Herberger. "How do you
distinguish yourself in a market that has accepted that globalization is a
necessity today?"
Applications to Thunderbird were down 27 percent for last fall, and have
remained flat this year. Meanwhile, the proportion of American students at
Thunderbird has dropped from 50 percent three years ago to about 35 percent
this year.
.....
The institution is eliminating its foreign-languages departments and
replacing them with a language institute, which will emphasize Spanish,
English, and "cross-cultural communications," courses in how to conduct
business with people from other cultures. The institute will have about 16
professors, half as many as had previously worked in the languages
departments.
In the past, Thunderbird has offered eight non-English languages and
required all students to be proficient in at least one foreign language
before they graduate. (The new M.B.A. won't require students to study a
foreign language.)
.....
Marshall Geer, who served as chief academic officer at Thunderbird from 1974
to 1989, charged that the current administration is destroying "what was a
well recognized and viable alternative to the M.B.A.
....
The traditional Thunderbird applicant wants to devote his or her career to
working in a specific region of the world, and needs to learn the language,
culture, and business practices of that region. The new M.B.A. might appeal
to someone who plans a few overseas stints in different locations, or
someone who wants to handle global issues from a base in the United States.
Why the change? Thunderbird administrators believe that fewer students today
are willing to spend time learning another language, and fewer plan to
devote their careers to working overseas in a particular region. That's
partly because more overseas companies are hiring native workers to staff
their home offices, they say.
......
But critics say the administration should be doing a better job selling the
business world on Thunderbird's brand of business education. "If the
business world didn't get it, the administration should have been doing a
better job marketing the degree and explaining what makes it unique," Mr.
Kenman says. "You can get an M.B.A. anywhere."