THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:	Committee on Higher Education and Professional Practice
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:	Master Plan Amendment: Monroe College, Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree; M.B.A. in Business Management at its Bronx and New Rochelle Campuses
DATE:	July 29, 2005
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 2 and 4
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Consent Agenda

 

Should the Regents approve an amendment of the master plan of Monroe College to authorize it to award the Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), its first master’s degree, at both its Bronx and New Rochelle campuses and to offer an M.B.A. program in Business Management at those campuses?

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

Required by State regulation.

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the Committee on Higher Education and Professional Practice at its September 2005 meeting.   It then will come before the Full Board for final action on September 9, 2005.

 

Procedural History

 

Master plan amendment is required because this would be the College’s first master’s degree.

 

The Department has determined that the proposed programs, if approved, would meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

 

Background Information

 

Monroe College, Bronx and New Rochelle, was established in 1933 as the Monroe Business Institute.  In 1988, the Regents authorized the Institute to award associate degrees, and in 1990 it changed its name to Monroe College following receipt of Middle States accreditation.  Currently it offers 34 certificate, associate, and baccalaureate degree programs including 9 programs in business management, accounting, computer information systems, hospitality management, health services administration, and general business leading to the Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) degree.

 

Recommendation

 

VOTED, that the master plan of Monroe College be amended, effective September 9, 2005, to authorize the College to award the Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree and to offer an M.B.A. program in Business Management at both its Bronx and New Rochelle campuses.  This amendment will be effective until September 30, 2006, unless the Department registers the program prior to that date, in which case master plan amendment shall be without term.

Information in Support of Recommendation

 

Academic Review

 

Monroe College, Bronx, is a proprietary college with its main campus in the Bronx and a branch campus in New Rochelle, Westchester County.  It was established in 1933 as Monroe Business Institute.  In 1988, the Board of Regents authorized it to award associate degrees and, subsequently, baccalaureate degrees. Upon accreditation by the Middle States Association, Monroe changed its name to Monroe College.  Monroe offers programs leading to the degrees of Associate in Occupational Studies (A.O.S.), Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.), Associate in Science (A.S.), Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.), and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in the disciplinary areas of Business, Education, the Health Professions, the Physical Sciences, and the Social Sciences.  In the fall of 2004, it enrolled 5,151 full-time and 703 part-time students across both campuses.

 

Monroe College’s mission is to offer high quality academic programs in professional areas in a challenging environment that provides personal attention and service to its students.  The proposed program extends that mission to the graduate level, building on the strengths of the College’s associate and baccalaureate programs in the area of business management.

 

The purpose of the proposed program is to provide students with advanced concepts and theories of leadership, pragmatic managerial competencies, an understanding of the role of technology in management, and the global perspectives required for dealing with strategic business issues in a dynamic and international environment.  It also will heighten students’ analytical, creative, and quantitative skills so that they can effectively allocate and utilize resources and make sound business decisions as individuals and as members of management teams.  It is responsive to the expressed interest of students and alumni who wish to pursue an M.B.A. program at Monroe, and of employers of Monroe graduates.

 

A. Curriculum.  For students who have had at least one year of professional business experience, the curriculum requires the completion of 33 credits (27 in core courses and six in electives).  Students who have not had this professional experience will be required to take a three-credit internship, for a total of 36 credits.  In addition, students who have not completed a baccalaureate program in management must complete up to 24 credits of prerequisite courses.

 

          The M.B.A. curriculum is designed to assist students in developing effective written and oral communication competencies that will enable them to make professional presentations and participate as competent team members in their organizations.  Courses will include international and cultural perspectives to assist students in analyzing business issues and developing business solutions in a global economy.  Finally, the program will ensure that the students take into account ethical considerations and technology as they learn how to make sound business decisions.  All of the courses in the program are new.

 

          An essential component of the program is the requirement that students in their final semester participate in a capstone course.  This will be an integrative opportunity to combine knowledge and skills sets from across the curriculum, and apply them to practical and real world business challenges.

 

          B. Students. Students will be admitted to the program if they possess a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university.  In addition, they must have achieved a minimum GPA of 3.0 in their undergraduate work, or a score of 400 on the GMAT if their undergraduate GPA is between 2.5 and 2.9.  Students also must have a personal interview, write an acceptable essay, and submit two letters of recommendation along with official transcripts of all their undergraduate work and any prior graduate courses taken.

 

The projected full-time equivalent enrollment in the program is expected to increase from 40 students in the first year to 195 in the fifth year.  The prospective student body is expected to be virtually identical to the current student body at Monroe’s main campus in the Bronx.  Approximately 61 percent come from the Bronx and approximately 29 percent from upper Manhattan; approximately 72 percent are women; and approximately 52 percent are Hispanic, 41 percent Black, 1 percent White, 1 percent Asian, and 5 percent other.

 

C. Faculty.  Monroe will establish an Office of Graduate Studies under the leadership of a Graduate Dean.  Only faculty with appropriate doctorates and relevant teaching experience will be hired.  The College will hire two new faculty prior to the opening of the program, and will add more faculty as enrollment grows.  There will also be opportunities for current members of Monroe’s undergraduate faculty with the appropriate educational and experience qualifications to teach some graduate-level courses.

 

          D. Resources.  The College has adequate space on both its Bronx and New Rochelle campuses to accommodate the M.B.A. program.  It is in the process of acquiring additional space in the Bronx to allow for growth in this and other programs.

 

The library collection will be expanded, especially with the addition of appropriate electronic databases to support the program, and computer hardware and software will be updated regularly. The space occupied by the library will be expanded to accommodate the students, faculty, and library materials associated with the graduate program.  The College has leased additional space in anticipation of approval of the proposed program.  Monroe College is currently conducting a search for a new head librarian with experience and expertise appropriate to an institution with graduate and undergraduate studies.

 

 

Planning Review

 

E. Need.  The New York State Department of Labor projects the number of management jobs in New York City to grow by 26,710 (11.9 percent) between 2002 and 2012, from 224,920 to 251,630.  The average number of openings each year is projected to be 6,840, with about two-thirds of the openings for replacements of managers who left the workforce through retirement, death, job change, or relocation.

 

F. Effect on Other Institutions.  In New York City and the Mid-Hudson region, the following 22 institutions offer M.B.A. programs in management: SUC New Paltz, CUNY Baruch College, College of Mount Saint Vincent, Columbia University, Fordham University, Iona College (both campuses), Long Island University (Brooklyn, Rockland, and Westchester campuses), Manhattan College, Marist College, Mercy College, Metropolitan College of New York, Mount Saint Mary College, New York Institute of Technology, New York University, Pace University (all campuses), Saint John’s University, Saint Joseph’s College, Saint Thomas Aquinas College, Touro College, Wagner College, and the Keller Graduate School of Management.

 

Twelve institutions responded to the canvass of institutions in the New York City and Mid-Hudson regions.  Five institutions wrote in support of the proposal: Sullivan County Community College, The King’s College, Globe Institute of Technology, New York Career Institute, and Plaza College.  Both Sullivan County Community College and Globe Institute of Technology saw Monroe’s proposed master’s degree program as providing opportunities for their graduates who go on to baccalaureate degrees and subsequently seek graduate study.  Six institutions stated that they had no objection to the proposed program: Fashion Institute of Technology, CUNY Hunter College, CUNY College of Staten Island, The College of New Rochelle, The College of Westchester, and Laboratory Institute of Merchandising.  One institution, Iona College, raised concerns about the potential effect of a program at Monroe on enrollments in its own M.B.A. programs.

 

Iona indicated that its M.B.A. program in management was similar to the program Monroe proposes.  It also indicated that, “Annually we receive several hundred inquiries for the MBA program, of which the majority come from the metropolitan New York area and from the five boroughs of New York City.  Our MBA enrollments are typically from these areas.  Therefore, we think that the proposed program by Monroe College may have an impact on Iona’s enrollments in its MBA programs.  We think that Iona College and other neighboring institutions more than fill the need for students seeking to enroll in the MBA programs . . . ”

 

Iona College offers five M.B.A. programs at both its main campus in New Rochelle and its branch campus in Orangeburg, Rockland County.  The five programs are in Financial Management, Management, Marketing, Human Resource Management, and Information and Decision Technology Management.  Iona’s main campus is about 10.5 miles from Monroe’s main campus in the Bronx and about 1.5 miles from Monroe’s New Rochelle branch campus.  Iona’s branch campus in Orangeburg is over 21 miles from Monroe’s main campus and nearly 30 miles from its New Rochelle branch, as well as being across the Hudson River from them.

 

In response to Iona’s concern, Monroe noted that the profile of the student body it anticipates is different from that now served by existing M.B.A. programs in the area.  As noted above, it projects that the students will be virtually identical to the current student body at Monroe’s main campus in the Bronx, where about 61 percent come from the Bronx and about 29 percent from upper Manhattan; about 72 percent are women; and about 93 percent are either Hispanic or Black.  Monroe also reported that, historically, a negligible number of its baccalaureate graduates have entered one of Iona’s M.B.A. programs.

 

Last fall, Iona enrolled 169 full-time and 735 part-time graduate students across all programs at both its campuses.  The Department collects enrollment data by level of study, not by program.  In addition to its 5 M.B.A. programs, Iona offers 50 other master’s degree programs at its main campus and 31 at its Rockland campus.  Last fall, Monroe and Iona reported the following distribution of students by geographic origin:

 

Geographic Origin of Iona College Graduate Students and Monroe College Undergraduates, Fall 2004
	Iona College Graduate Students		Monroe College Undergraduates
	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
New York City	23.1%	16.1%	78.8%	76.1%
Westchester County	38.5%	44.1%	13.7%	18.6%
Rockland County	6.5%	12.9%	0.5%	0.7%
Other New York State	18.9%	15.6%	0.2%	0.6%
Outside NY State	13.0%	11.3%	6.8%	4.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

 

While 23.1 percent of Iona’s full-time graduate students, and 16.1 percent of its part-time graduate students come from New York City, 78.8 percent of Monroe’s full-time students and 76.1 percent of its part-time students come from New York City.  Nearly 40 percent of Iona’s full-time graduate students, and 44.1 percent of its part-time graduate students come from Westchester County.  Only 13.7 percent of Monroe’s full-time students and 18.6 percent of its part-time students come from Westchester. 

 

The most recent data on enrollment by racial/ethnic category and gender of student the Department has is for the fall of 2002.  That fall, across both campuses and all graduate programs, Iona reported the following racial/ethnic and gender distribution of graduate students:

 

 

 

 

 

In comparison to Monroe’s projection that 94 percent of its graduate students will be Black or Hispanic, 16.4 percent of Iona’s full-time graduate students, and 20.6 percent of its part-time graduate students were Black or Hispanic in the fall of 2002.  Monroe projects that 72 percent of its graduate students will be women.  In the fall of 2002, 48.5 percent of Iona’s full-time graduate students and 60.6 percent of its part-time graduate students were women.

 

          Given the different geographic origins of Iona’s and Monroe’s student bodies and their different racial/ethnic and gender distributions, and Monroe’s report that negligible numbers of its baccalaureate graduates have entered Iona’s M.B.A. program, the effect of Monroe’s proposed program on enrollment in Iona’s M.B.A. program in management is likely to be minimal.