Yale MBA Is Now STEM-Designated
Credit: Enzo Figueres / Contributor / Moment Mobile / Getty Images- The Yale School of Management announced its full MBA program is now STEM-designated.
- The designation reflects the STEM curriculum in the program’s core offerings, as well as electives for students.
- A federal STEM designation allows eligible people who attend programs with a student visa to apply for a 24-month extension of their optional practical training.
- Yale joins a growing number of business schools with STEM-designated MBA programs.
Another top business school landed a federal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) designation for its master of business administration (MBA) program.
The Yale School of Management (SOM) is the latest major business school to earn the designation, according to a press release. The STEM designation both recognizes the school’s curriculum and qualifies international students to extend their stay in the U.S. after graduation.
A federal STEM designation allows eligible people who attend programs with a student visa to apply for a 24-month extension of their optional practical training.
Anjani Jain, the deputy dean for academic programs and a professor in the practice of management at Yale, said the MBA program features high-demand STEM instruction in data and other fast-growing fields.
“This change in classification recognizes the widespread application of management science in our MBA core curriculum,” Jain said in the release.
“All of our MBA students gain facility with statistics, operations management, mathematical modeling, optimization, game theory, and other important concepts of management science. Indeed, these skills are foundational for leaders who want to have impact across industries, regions, and sectors.”
In addition to built-in data and organizational skills in its core curriculum, SOM also offers electives in STEM areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs), business analytics, quantitative investing, and more.
More MBA Programs Earn STEM Designations
Yale joins a growing number of business schools with STEM-designated MBAs.
Harvard likewise announced a STEM designation for its MBA program in 2023, reflecting new offerings for students in areas like AI and science.
“What the world’s businesses need from their leaders evolves,” Harvard Business School Senior Associate Dean and MBA Program Chair Matt Weinzierl, who is the Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling professor of business administration, said in a press release at the time.
“Increasingly, those leaders are being asked to utilize management science when making tough decisions. Our faculty recognized this evolution and have created and integrated into their teaching cutting-edge, compelling content to ensure that our students are equipped to lead with these new tools. The formal STEM designation is in acknowledgement of this fundamental shift and opens up new avenues for our graduates.”
Missouri State University launched a STEM MBA earlier this year. That program combines STEM electives in fast-growing areas like cybersecurity and data analytics with traditional MBA courses.
“This degree will offer additional career opportunities for our students and complement our recruiting efforts,” Elizabeth Rozell, Missouri State MBA program director and associate dean, said in a release at the time.
Other business schools with recently launched STEM MBAs include the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Cameron School of Business, Binghamton University’s School of Management, and the University of Texas at Arlington’s College of Business.