According to a letter sent to all newly admitted Harvard Business School (HBS) students, HBS plans to make some “important enhancements” to its MBA program. After collecting input from its faculty, alumni, recruiters and students, HBS will be creating a new course in its required curriculum called FIELD (“Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development”), which will focus on developing small-group learning experiences throughout the first year and will consist of modules on leadership, globalization and continuous learning. The school also plans on “modularizing” its calendar to allow for greater flexibility and creativity in the elective curriculum. According to Dean Nitin Nohria and Senior Associate Dean Youngme Moon, further details about these developments will be revealed at Admitted Students Weekend on February 25, and we anticipate even more changes are to come.
These alterations follow the announcement of a curriculum overhaul at Wharton, in addition to recent MBA program changes at Stanford, Yale, UC Berkeley Haas and Darden. Which school will be next? And what other changes will take place at HBS? Most importantly, why are these changes occurring, and what do they say about management education?
