Proposal for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree Program

EXPEDITED PROGRAM APPROVAL

SUBMITTED TO THE

MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Submission Date: August 17, 2006

FRAMINGHAM STATE COLLEGE

100 STATE STREET

FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS

The proposal for a Master of Business Administration “MBA”) builds upon a concentration in business administration offered through the Framingham State College master’s in administration program and upon the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration undergraduate program that the College has been offering for two decades. The undergraduate business program is the largest program at the College in terms of enrollment and faculty. An MBA program would further draw upon the expertise of the 15 full time tenured and tenure-track faculty in the Department of Economics and Business Administration.

During the 2005 academic year, the Division of Graduate and Continuing Education ("DGCE") and the Department of Economics and Business began to explore the development of an MBA program. A main impetus for such action is the added value that current and prospective students, alumni and employers attach to the degree. In the spring of 2005, the faculty of the Economics and Business Administration Department, with the support of the administration, revised the existing graduate business administration curriculum to meet academic requirements for an MBA program. New courses were developed to ensure that the major functional areas of business are covered: Business and Its Environment, Information Technology in Business, Project Management, and International Business. It is our belief that the curriculum and proposed degree requirements -- expanded from 40 to 48 credit hours -- provide the academic breadth and depth appropriate for an MBA program.

A Letter of Intent dated 15th March, 2006 was submitted to the Board of Higher Education. This letter is reproduced as Appendix A.

The proposal for an MBA program was approved through college governance. The proposal was developed and approved by the Economics and Business Administration Graduate Committee and Department, and was approved by the Graduate Education Council on March 9, 2005. The proposal was then approved by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the President of the College and by the Framingham State College Board of Trustees on March 30, 2006. The minutes of this meeting are included as Appendix B.