Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University is overhauling its curriculum which will roll out in the Class of 2016.
In recent years The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Harvard Business School and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management have all revised their core curriculums.
Cornell's changes are designed to place greater emphasis on collaboration, leadership and analytical skills. The curriculum redesign is the culmination of a comprehensive two-year review process the school launched in 2011. Through student and alumni focus groups, peer benchmarking and surveys of students, alumni, corporate recruiters, faculty and staff, the review process reached more than 1,000 participants from the last 12 MBA class years and identified three priority areas for redesigned coursework and programming.
Modeling and Decision Analysis: An enhanced required course, Data Analytics and Modeling, takes students beyond statistics, to data modeling and Big Data techniques and strategies. Modeling is woven into other courses to help students develop the analytical skills needed in all areas of business.
Personal and Leadership Skills: Every Johnson student progresses through a targeted curriculum in leadership consisting of the proprietary Johnson 360° Leadership Assessment, coursework, case exercises, teamwork, hands-on leadership experience, coaching, and customized programming. The personalized program begins in the pre-term, with individual assessment and feedback, and continues through the first year, with the Leading Teams Practicum, and second year with Principled Leadership. Marquee leadership instructors teach intensives on leadership topics. These classes are enriched with a menu of Leadership Skills workshops and Leadership Expeditions that span the entire program.
Integrative and Critical Thinking Skills: In their first semester of MBA study, students learn and practice critical thinking skills, with a focus on analyzing, integrating, and synthesizing information for optimal decision making, in the face of challenges, such as incomplete, inaccurate, or ambiguous information.
Among the innovative elective courses being introduced:
The Art of Innovation: A Design Thinking Immersion and Making Design Thinking Work. These hands-on courses prepare MBAs to be future innovators by teaching them the human-centered design methodology known as Design Thinking.
Core Leadership Skills for a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) World, with retired U.S. Army General George Casey. This course builds on the skills acquired in earlier components of the leadership program, through discussion and interaction with an experienced practitioner and former leader of the United States Army.
Johnson’s FinTech Trek and Hackathon. Students convene at Cornell Tech in New York City to learn about disruptive technologies facing the financial industry and develop relevant solutions. The experience culminates in a hackathon, in which participants have about 24 hours to develop financial products or services that meet a real business need. Similar classes are planned, each focusing on a different industry.
For more information, please see MBA Students Embrace New Curriculum, Now in Place at Johnson at Cornell University
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