College of Business at Illinois, University of Illinois – Urbana, Illinois

The College of Business at Illinois hosts 3,000 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students each year.  The business school is internationally recognised as one of the leading business school’s in the nation in the areas of accountancy, business administration and finance and has an alumni base of over 58,000 members. The College of Business at Illinois provides students with a global experience and 55% of the students study abroad at least once.  A global consultancy trip to Brazil, China, India or South Africa is integrated into the MBA Programme to build global perspectives and develop an understanding of foreign markets.  The business school also focuses on job placement and developing career-building skills in every student throughout the programme. The College of Business at Illinois was one of the first public business schools in the world to earn LEED Platinum certification and their market simulation lab is one of the most utilized labs in the U.S., equipped with state-of-the-art electronic sources of financial and business data. The business school focuses on experiential learning techniques and believes that augmenting classwork with numerous opportunities for additional enrichment will broaden students’ educational experience.  This includes study trips abroad, case competitions and working at one of the world’s largest student-run consultancy agencies.

The MBA Programme is offered in a full-time and part-time format and is focused around experiential learning techniques and offers a fully customisable curriculum.  Students may pursue concentration in marketing, finance, operations or general management and are taught fundamentals that prepare them for the global work place. The first-year core curriculum focuses on the basic essentials to provide students with a solid foundation of knowledge. 40 hours of intense and challenging classes are presented.  Below is the curriculum of the first year, provided by University of Illinois.

The second year focuses offers a range of business and non-business courses.  It is also aimed to further student’s expertise in their chosen field.  Students will take a minimum of 32 hours of courses, 16 hours being business courses and 16 being rom other courses that focus on their concentration.  Here is a list of the areas of concentration offered at the College of Business at Illinois:

• Finance
• Strategic Management
• Marketing
• Human Resources
• Corporate and Social Responsibility
• General Management
• Operations Management
• Healthcare Management
• International Business
• Information Management

The part-time programme is delivered through a module-based, cohort-classroom structure.  Study teams are assembled to confront issues and develop solutions throughout the programme.  Below is the course schedule, provided by University of Illinois.

The Executive MBA Programme is offered at the University of Illinois’ location in downtown Chicago and has a focus of providing executives with a strategic view on leadership and teamwork, as well as providing a strong foundation in the areas of marketing, accounting, economics, finance and management. The curriculum is designed around four essential levels of learning:

1. Leadership and business strategy:  Understanding how the innovative leader depends on business strategy and key leadership concepts that are effective for change.
2. The complexity of businesses:  Discussing what is required to lead organisations in the areas of economics, finance, accounting and marketing.
3. Solution creation:  Developing a more detailed and open-minded view of problems businesses face in today’s global economy.
4. The capstone global experience:  A comprehensive final examination that involves an international team consultancy project.

The programme is 20 months long and begins in September, with sessions occurring every other weekend.  It is comprised of 19 courses that cover all of the major business disciplines.  The courses are presented through ten modules, two courses at a time.

Although Forbes and US News do not rank MBAs globally, they were included for their impact in the US

• Forbes Rank – 56
• Financial Times Rank – 44
• US News and World Report Rank – 47
• Bloomberg Businessweek Rank – 40

According to Bloomberg Businessweek’s International Business School Ranking

• High:  86% job offer three months post-graduation

University of Illinois 620 E John St Urbana, IL 61802 United States t: +1 217-333-0302 w: mba.illinois.edu