The MBA course of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology may lose its practical orientation and sheen following the guidelines issued by the university, observe a few worried faculty members.

It is pertinent to know the old one before examining the new issued by the university.
Earlier, the students were subjected to a stricter pedagogic rigour. Under the old guidelines the four parameters for evaluation of the student were project work, quiz, mid term and end term examination.

These basic components in a trimester evaluation system were in practice till the last academic session, 2005-06.

Source : thestatesman.net

MBA hiring, pay soaring

For the second year in a row, recruiters are flocking to B-schools. In fact, 98% of 60 schools polled in a recent survey say theyre seeing a big increase in job offers to MBA students, and 70% report a jump in starting salaries and signing bonuses.

Much of the demand is coming from those traditional stalwarts of MBA hiring - consulting, financial services, and consumer goods companies.

But recruiters arent hiring indiscriminately, says Greg Ruf, CEO of MBA Focus , which maintains a database on more than 20,000 MBAs that it uses to help about 1,800 U.S. employers find job candidates from around the world.

Indeed, 42% of U.S. schools report that theyre playing host to more and more recruiters who are there to find students from other countries, and to woo them for overseas jobs either in their own home countries or elsewhere, according to the MBA Career Services Council, a trade group for B-school career counselors and corporate recruiters, which conducted the survey.

More: money.cnn.com

University of Phoenix to Offer Next-Generation MBA

As the Midwest emerges from the dark, cold days of winter, now is the time of year when many employees are looking to switch jobs. In fact, according to a nationwide online survey of working adults by University of Phoenix, more than two-thirds (67 percent) are looking for a job on some level. As the number of people searching for jobs grows, employers are increasingly looking for candidates with advanced degrees.

In response to feedback from some of Americas top corporations, University of Phoenix is launching a new MBA program throughout the Midwest, which applies proven teaching and learning methodologies to help working professionals solve real-world business problems.

Next-Generation MBA focuses on significant management, growth opportunity and leadership challenges based on business scenarios validated by Fortune 1000 companies. Several simulations are woven into the curriculum to support the learning necessary to solve the problems embedded in the scenarios. They allow students to make real-time decisions, just as they would in the workplace.

More: marketwire.com

Benedictine College Offers Comprehensive Executive Education Course

Benedictine College is now offering an intensive business leadership development course entitled Planning with Vision; Executing with Precision. The 4-day seminar, with dates available in May, July, and August, is geared to benefit senior level managers with experience in one or two functional areas, middle level managers with high potential, and small business owners. The course includes subjects such as finance, marketing and production management and it will be led by Dr. Joseph L. Brickner, a member of the Executive MBA faculty at Benedictine College and former Assistant Treasurer at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (now known as AT&T).

The course is designed to allow participants to discover how disparate business functions must work together. Brickner uses a computer business simulation program (Capstone Business Strategy Simulation) that bridges the gap between theoretical class work and the real world. The simulation allows his students to run a business using the tools required in the real world while not encountering the risks.

The Capstone Business Simulation makes learning fun while the student gets to test management theories in a surprisingly real life simulation, said Jeff Caudle, Vice President of Bank of Atchison and a former student. Seeing how the cumulative effects of multiple decisions result in positive, or negative, bottom line outcomes is invaluable.

More: benedictine.edu

Hong Kong team wins WFU elevator competition

Students from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology took top honors in Wake Forest University’s annual MBA Elevator Competition for their plan for a device that distinguishes between acute bacterial or viral infections.

The Hong Kong team is the first international competitor to enter the seven-year-old event, during which budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to judges in a two-minute elevator ride meant to simulate the need to be clear and concise when dealing with investors.

A team from Wake Forest University also made the finals with its pitch for AudioFusion, which has a technology to retrain the brain to tune out tinnitus through a combination of sound therapy and directive counseling. Other finalists were from Harvard University and the University of Georgia.

More: bizjournals.com

UW venture capitalist team wins national competition

It looks as if the University of Washington may have some budding venture capitalists walking the halls.
For the second time in the past three years, a team from the UWs MBA program won the national Venture Capital Investment Competition.

People are pretty excited around here today, considering who we beat, UW business school spokeswoman Nancy Gardner said.

Other schools that participated included MIT, Harvard and Michigan. The competition, hosted by the University of North Carolina allows students to emulate the job of venture capitalists. As part of the competition, the teams evaluate a pitch from an entrepreneur and then put together terms for financing. They are judged by real-world venture capitalists.

More: seattlepi.nwsource.com

B-schools just teach ‘theory’

In today’s rapidly changing global economy, upper management in most companies are becoming increasingly dependent on junior managers to take “complete ownership” in their areas of activity.

In fact, asking them to function more or less as entrepreneurs themselves! That can be exciting. But are most of our MBA graduates ready?

A tremendous amount of learning happens both inside and outside the classroom. While the breadth of material covered does not leave room for as much depth, the degree definitely leaves the graduating student confident of the theoretical exposure that he has acquired, coupled with the urge to try it out in practice.

But B-schools seldom provide the intermediary layer between theory and practice, especially in the context of running a business unit as a whole - as an entrepreneur.

I felt this strongly when I faced the first major crisis in my company and the core team of MBA’s that we had were unable to step up.

More: inhome.rediff.com

The Health Information Technology Symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Health Affairs and the Harvard Health Policy Review in conjunction with the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation and Center for eBusiness announced today the scheduling of the Health Information Technology Symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (HIT Symposium at MIT), July 17 - 20, 2006, in Cambridge, Mass.

The HIT Symposium is the only in depth executive education event on health information technology in the United States. The Symposium will bring together leading technologists; federal, state, and local officials and regulators; academic and foundation experts; employer and health plan representatives, healthcare providers, including hospital leaders and physicians; community leaders; and technology vendors. The Symposium will address a range of issues from national HIT policy to practical approaches to RHIO formation and EHR implementation.

Symposium sessions will be held at MIT’s Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences, home to the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Designed by renowned architect Frank O. Gehry, Stata is meant to create an innovative and serendipitous spirit, and to foster interaction and collaboration across many disciplines. Lunches will be held at the MIT Faculty Club which overlooks the Charles River and scenic Boston skyline. The Symposium reception will be held at the MIT Museum.

More: genengnews.com

OSU gets creative with housing plan

A proposal to build $26 million in housing for MBA students at Ohio State University has turned into a scholarship plan that puts construction of the housing on the shoulders of private developers.

Fisher College of Business administrators will unveil for university trustees April 7 a plan that calls for the university to lease 4.5 acres to Edwards Communities Development Co. LLC for a 120-unit apartment complex with 144 bedrooms.

Soure: msnbc.msn.com

UNM students pocket $25,000 in University-wide Technology Business Plan Competition

After months of sweating the details and false starts – and despite the heavy load of classes associated with being full-time students, 17 teams presented plans at the University of New Mexico’s first Technology Business Plan Competition held recently.

A who’s who of New Mexico venture capitalists, including VSpring’s Paul Ahlstrom, Verge’s Ray Rasosevich, and New Mexico Community Capital’s Jarratt Applewhite, whittled the group of 17 down to six finalist teams and then awarded first, second and third place prizes worth more than $40,000 to the top three teams.

Satyrne Biotechnologies, a company focused on cranio maxillofacial surgery products and simulation software, took home the Michael Gallegos Prize for Entrepreneurship, totaling $25,000 and accompanied by $2,500 in services from accounting firm Grant Thornton. Team members Ryan Smith and Scott Lovald are graduate students at UNM, Smith in management at the Anderson Schools and Lovald in manufacturing engineering.

The Mirror Image Technologies project, which provides a business plan for organocatalyst pharmaceutical production, won the Technology Venture Corporation/Lockheed Martin-sponsored second

More: unm.edu