Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Overview
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree is a 16-month full-time programme with a strong focus on managerial relevance, practical application, and personal development. The MBA curriculum is structured to provide a broad foundation across all aspects of the external business environment, which is then built upon through courses in the functional areas of management and strategy, progressing from the external to the internal environment. Critical thinking and decision-making tools and techniques are developed and applied throughout. Wide use is made of practitioners and leaders from within the business community for both teaching and mentoring. The small class size (25 maximum) ensures a large degree of personal mentoring and guidance from staff.
The style of learning is highly interactive, and participants learn as much from one another as from the course leader or facilitator. Students are assigned to teams, which reflect the diversity of professional and educational backgrounds, demographics and work style preferences. These teams work together on projects, presentations, and assignments and learn to understand better their own and other team members' strengths and weaknesses as well as honing skills such as conflict resolution and problem solving.
Regulations for the Degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)
1 Admission to the Programme
(a) Admission to the programme shall be subject to the approval of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Commerce).
(b) Every applicant must either
(i) be a graduate, or
(ii) hold an acceptable professional qualification, or
(iii) have experience in management or administration acceptable to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Commerce).
(c) Applicants will be expected to have first obtained a satisfactory result in the Graduate Management Admission Test.
(d) Applicants who are candidates for the Diploma in Business Administration will be exempted from the provisions of regulation 1(c) if they have an average grade of at least B+ in the papers taken for the diploma.
2 Structure of the Programme
(a) The programme of study consists of papers from Modules 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, as set down in the MBA Schedule.
(b) A candidate must pass all required papers in one Module of the programme before proceeding to the next Module.
(c) A candidate with insufficient grounding in Accounting, Mathematics and the use of computers may be required either
(i) to attend short programmes of instruction, or
(ii) to carry out prescribed reading and study.
A formal examination may be required.
(d) Before commencing the investigation undertaken for the purposes of the project report, a candidate shall seek the approval of the Director of Graduate Programmes in Business for the topic, the supervisor(s) and the proposed course of the investigation.
(e) A candidate may not present a project report which has previously been accepted for another degree.
3 Duration of the Programme
A full-time candidate must complete the requirements of the degree within 21 months, and a part-time candidate within 48 months, of commencing the programme.
4 Examination
(a) On the recommendation of the examiners, the Director of Graduate Programmes in Business may permit a candidate to sit a special examination in not more than one paper in each of Modules 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the degree.
(b) The project report shall be assessed by at least two examiners. If the project report is assessed as unsatisfactory on first submission, the examiners may recommend to the Director of Graduate Programmes in Business that it be revised and resubmitted by a specified date.
(c) Where the examiners cannot agree on a result for the project report, the Director of Graduate Programmes in Business should so inform the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Commerce) who shall reach a decision after consulting a referee.
5 Credits
A candidate who has been awarded the Diploma in Business Administration to a standard acceptable to the Director of Graduate Programmes in Business may be granted exemption from the equivalent papers in the degree.
6 Variations
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Commerce) may in exceptional circumstances approve a course of study which does not comply with these regulations.
Note: An application for admission to the programme is required; this is separate from the enrolment process.
MBA Schedule
Papers for the Degree
| Module | Papers |
|---|---|
| Module 1 | BUSI 501 Legal Environment of Management BUSI 502 Integrating Management 1 BUSI 503 Organisational Behaviour BUSI 504 Statistics and Quantitative Methods BUSI 505 Economics 1 BUSI 506 Management Information Systems BUSI 507 Financial Accounting |
| Module 2 | BUSI 521 Integrating Management 2 BUSI 523 Management Accounting and Control BUSI 525 Marketing Management BUSI 526 Operations Research BUSI 528 Economics 2 |
| Module 3 | BUSI 522 Finance BUSI 524 Human Resource Management BUSI 527 Operations Management |
| Module 4 | BUSI 551 Business Policy A BUSI 552 Business Policy B BUSI 553 International Business |
| Module 5 | BUSI 540 Consulting Project and Research Essay |
Subject to the direction and approval of the Director of the programme, Special Topic papers BUSI 508, BUSI 529, BUSI 530 may be substituted for papers of equal points value in Module 1, 2, 3 or 4. |
Subject Area
Applications
The course commences each year in early January. The deadline for applications is October for international students, and December for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.
Application forms are available from the MBA Admissions Office, School of Business, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. Tel 64 3 479 8046, email mbainfo@business.otago.ac.nz
