B-School Bulletin

M.I.T. Meets Turkey

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management has found a partner in the Middle East.

After looking at several schools in the region, M.I.T. selected Sabanci School of Management in Turkey for a partner program that involves joint research and will also connect M.I.T students with local internships, says S.P. Kothari, deputy dean at Sloan.

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Sabanci University

M.I.T.'s Sloan School is teaming up with Sabanci in Turkey.

In addition, roughly 50 executive M.B.A. Sabanci students will travel to M.I.T.'s Cambridge campus for two weeks to attend lectures, and M.I.T professors will conduct research on the Turkey campus.

Such partnerships are more cost-effective than building campuses or buildings in other regions, he says. (The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business has a campus in Singapore, for example.) M.I.T. has similar partnerships in Russia, Portugal and South Korea, among others. The agreement will last five years.

Berkeley Tries Freebies

Just a few weeks after University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School announced a free executive education program for graduates, the University of California-Berkeley's Haas School of Business is following suit. Haas plans on offering graduates from 2011 onward two days of free executive education classes within five years of graduation.

Haas alumni will have their choice of open-enrollment classes, including courses in negotiation and project management, says Whitney Hischier, assistant dean of executive education.

Since only 6% of the students who take Haas executive education courses are alumni, the school considers it an expense that will pay off if students elect to return for more instruction, she says. Spaces in the classes will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, she says.

On the timing of the announcement, so soon after Wharton's, Ms. Hischier says: "We were a little bummed that Wharton beat us to an announcement."

Loyola Tweaks Weekends

After students complained that their work schedules hampered their studies, Loyola University Maryland's Sellinger School of Business changed the format of its executive M.B.A. program.

For years, the program met on alternating Fridays or Saturdays each week. Starting in the fall, students will be in class all-day on Friday and Saturday on alternating weekends. The new format will allow the school to expand out of the Washington, D.C. area, says Dean Karyl Leggio.

"We don't attract students from more than 90 miles away as much as we could," Ms. Leggio says. "We're hoping that with an overnight component, it will be more of an incentive to drive in from six hours away."

The 21-month program will be aimed at more seasoned executives with 12 years or more of work experience who typically opt for a slower program that takes more than three years to complete.

Rochester in Manhattan

The University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business is coming to Manhattan. In March, the New York school is kicking off a new 13-month program aimed at working professionals who have finance-related jobs but not a lot of finance training, says Mark Zupan, dean of the school.

The curriculum is identical to its full-time program on campus, but with two week-long residencies in Rochester and Zurich. Students will be in class on alternating weekends from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., he says. The faculty will be a combination of professors flown down from Rochester and practitioners, Mr. Zupan says.

"The full-time program gives students more down time to network," Mr. Zupan says. "But for people who don't want to give up their career, this program has its advantages."

The program is aimed at people in their 20s, he says. Upon completion, graduates can elect to transfer their credits to the Rochester campus and complete an M.B.A. in an additional year.

Tuition for the weekend program is $49,000.

Case by Virtual Case

Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business has created its first virtual case competition. The contest is open to anyone, with a grand prize of a $10,000 scholarship to Notre Dame's M.B.A. program.

The school hopes the contest—in which all submissions will be done entirely online—will attract aspiring M.B.A.s who aren't familiar with the program, says Brian Lohr, director of admissions for the school.

Entrants are tasked with creating social responsibility-focused branding for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a Vermont-based coffee company. The deadline for submissions ends Friday.

Green Mountain says it hopes to glean some good ideas, like how to develop a clean-water marketing plan, according to Michael Dupee, vice president of corporate responsibility for the coffee maker.