Beginning with the class entering in September 1995, the Master's Program at the Sloan School of Management will boost its class size to 340 students. Total enrollment for the two-year program will reach 680 in the fall of 1996, a jump of 33 percent over the current enrollment of 513 for the 1994-95 academic year.
"We have seen a sustained high demand, both from prospective students seeking a Sloan degree and from industry for Sloan master's graduates," said Dean Glen L. Urban. "To meet that demand, we have revamped our curriculum and begun construction on an additional building. Now we are ready to expand the enrollment."
Members of last year's graduating class received an average of 3.5 job offers, and 98 percent had jobs within three months of graduation-the highest employment rate of any business school. Applications this year are up by 30 percent over last year.
Students graduating this spring will be the first to benefit from a major overhaul of the curriculum implemented in the fall of 1993. "Faculty, students, alumni and employers of Sloan graduates all provided critical input to the design," said Lawrence S. Abeln, director of the Master's Program.
"The new curriculum provides students with unprecedented guidance and flexibility in building a practical program that best meets their needs for careers in such areas as financial engineering, financial management, product and venture development, strategic information technology, operations management, and strategic management and consulting," he said.
Sloan's faculty is well known for using the creative thinking and innovative techniques that are a natural part of the practice of engineering and science to give managers a competitive edge. This pioneering approach, which draws on the particular strengths of the MIT environment, has helped Sloan graduates become leaders in implementing innovative changes in a broad spectrum of industries ranging from finance to manufacturing.
"In order to survive in today's fiercely competitive global environment, businesses must innovate continuously in all aspects of their operations, whether it be in marketing, product development, finance or human relations," Dean Urban said. "Sloan's program focuses on giving students the blend of leadership and analytical skills required to turn the challenges of the increasingly complex and dynamic marketplace into opportunities."
Sloan's new building, the Tang Center for Management Education, is scheduled to be completed by September in time to accommodate the influx of new students.
The four-story, 42,000-square-foot center will house a 300-seat auditorium, three 100-seat classrooms, a student activities lounge, a foyer for social gatherings, and 24 smaller rooms to serve as breakout rooms for teams of students to study as well as for corporate recruiters to interview students.
"The new building will give us the added space and facilities we need to maintain the quality of a Sloan education while expanding the class," Mr. Abeln said. "And by keeping enrollment to 680, we will be able to preserve the small class size as well as the spirit of collegiality and teamwork that have long distinguished the Sloan experience."
Independent surveys consistently rank Sloan among the top business schools in the world. In addition to the Master's Program, the Sloan School offers an undergraduate program, a PhD program and a variety of executive programs. More than 100 corporations sponsor nearly $12 million annually in research at Sloan.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 1, 1995.
