Considering Specialty Masters at Broad with Vallabh “Samba” Sambamurthy
Education is no longer one-and-done
When Vallabh “Samba” Sambamurthy, the associate dean of professional master’s programs for the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, earned his MBA a quarter-century or so ago, one may have figured they were taking their last step in education. In today’s climate of rapid change, that’s not even close to being the case.
Take business analytics, said Sambamurthy, as late as six years ago, who would have thought it would become such a hot skill? Yet today, the skill is almost a requirement and hardly optional.
There is a growing sense – and the Broad College has embraced the notion – that business schools should be a hub of life-long learning, Sambamurthy said. Any undergraduate student coming out of the Broad College program or any MBA school today is looking at a half-life of knowledge which is about five or six years.
If you think about their productive professional lifetime in excess of two decades, they’re going to have four different needs for re-skilling or up-skilling themselves. So the question to Sambamurthy is, how does a master’s program position itself in a student’s journey, as they are finding new roles or growing into the needs of an economy today, and tomorrow?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach. For different students with different backgrounds, there are different options that can best position them to take their next career steps.
One tool, of course, is the traditional MBA program. It is mostly focused on general management skills, with some depth, Sambamurthy said. At the Broad College there are five concentrations in its MBA program: supply chain management, finance, marketing, human resources, and business analytics.
But the specialty master’s programs are essentially flipped: they have great depth in one specialty topic, with a little bit of general management. For example, the Broad College’s highly-ranked program in marketing research.
Sambamurthy said for a prospective student, the question really is, where are they in their career cycle, and what are they trying to do?
For a pre-experienced student, perhaps it’s too early to get an MBA, but they need to find ways to position themselves for this rapidly-changing economy. That’s where one of the specialty master’s programs is valuable, Sambamurthy said.
Then, there are many students who come out of liberal arts or math backgrounds, and they are looking for a better return on investment by moving into management. A specialty master’s program is a great way to enhance their skills and suddenly double or triple their salary.
Regardless of approach, leaning on degrees from the past won’t cut it. A continual evolution in skills will ensure the worker of today is still prospering tomorrow.
Vallabh “Samba” Sambamurthy is the associate dean for MBA and professional master's programs for the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. He previously served as associate dean of outreach and engagement, and chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at the Broad College, and helped launch its MS in Business Analytics program.
