Drury revamps MBA program

Photo provided by Drury University

Robin Soster will lead Drury's revamped MBA program.

Drury University is launching a fresh take on its Master of Business Administration degree in August.

The two-year MBA Ventures program focuses on leadership skills in year one and case study development and practical application in year two, said Robin Soster, associate dean of the Breech School of Business and MBA program director.

“Schools have only recently realized that your father’s MBA is not what we need today,” Soster said. “We are focused on development.”

Each cohort also will have an international trip in the summer between academic years, although the trip for summer 2021 is on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. Soster said instead, students would connect with a local company that does business internationally.

She said revamping curriculum began in fall 2018. It focused around developing a program that would challenge students to think beyond numbers into strategic thinking, market analysis and meaningfully measuring business performance.

“Data is data,” she said. “If I don’t know what I’m looking for and how to use it when I get it, it’s meaningless.”

The program will cost just under $30,000 for courses, fees and travel, she said. The classes also will all be offered via synchronous learning via Zoom. Previous courses have been available in an online format, but this is the first time all courses will be offered this way.

“We’re setting it up as a room in which seated and synchronous students can be in the same class,” Soster said.

The program comprises 30 credit hours across 10 integrated courses, emphasizing small group sessions and strategic leadership, according to a news release. Students will join Venture Teams based on personality assessments.

“For the right student, it’s the perfect program,” Soster said. “It’s conducive to someone who has a real life and not just check a box and add a degree, but someone that has enough self awareness, I need to get better at this, I need to learn more about it.”

In the current academic year, she said there are 18 students in Drury’s MBA program. Ten students are already enrolled for the fall, and she anticipates 20-25 students in total.