Athens, Ga. – The Executive MBA program at the University of Georgia Terry College of Business received its first top 20 national ranking in the program’s 10-year history.
In Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2011 ranking of Executive MBA programs, the Terry College ranked 22nd in the world and 18th in the U.S. Among public business schools, Terry ranked sixth nationally and was the top program in Georgia.
Terry’s Executive MBA is an 18-month degree program geared toward mid- to senior-level professionals, with weekend classes taught once a month at the college’s Executive Education Center in Atlanta. Terry EMBA students reported average work experience of 12.5 years, according to the Businessweek survey.
The Terry EMBA program scored well on measures of student satisfaction, including the graduate survey, in which Terry ranked 17th overall. The program’s ability to fulfill student expectations, its instructional format, and the support services and staff also were highly rated by graduates who were surveyed.
“Nationally prominent Executive MBA programs take a significant investment-$70,000 to $100,000 or more in tuition is not uncommon,” said Robert T. Sumichrast, dean of the Terry College of Business. “As a result, the key measure of student satisfaction is seeing a strong return on that investment. The feedback that we receive from our graduates is that we are meeting and exceeding their expectations.”
The Terry EMBA was the most affordable U.S. program ranked in the Businessweek top 20. According to survey data, tuition at the top 20 programs averaged more than $121,000. Tuition for Terry EMBA students who began the program this fall was $72,000 for Georgia residents and $77,000 for non-residents.
Bloomberg Businessweek methodology for ranking EMBA programs was based on two surveys-one of EMBA graduates and a poll of EMBA program directors. The editors surveyed graduates on teaching quality, careers services, curriculum and other aspects of their educational experience. The results of the 2011 survey were combined with those from two previous surveys (2009 and 2007) and accounted for 65 percent of the final ranking.
EMBA program directors were asked to rank their top 10 peer schools, and a calculation of those point totals accounted for the remaining 35 percent of the ranking.
Terry’s 18-month EMBA program includes two weeklong residencies in Athens, 21 weekend sessions at the college’s Buckhead facility in Atlanta and a 10-day international residency.
“The learning format in the Terry Executive MBA is distinctly different from any other EMBA program,” said Richard Daniels, the college’s director of MBA programs. “The degree program is divided into 10 modules delivered through weekend instruction, distance learning technology and on-site residencies. We deliver more of our instruction by distance learning than any other program that was ranked in the Businessweek top 20.”
To read about Businessweek’s rankings, see http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings. For more information about the Executive MBA program at the Terry College of Business, see http://mba.terry.uga.edu/.