Articles

A Brief History Of The MBA Degree In The United States

2010-07-30

The Master's of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in the United States is highly regarded by businesses. MBAs provide an in-depth education in Accounting, Human Resources, Management and Finance; the foundations of business. The MBA history in the United States has its roots in the American Industrial Revolution, and has evolved over the past century. MBA programs in the United States arose as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800's, the U.S. workforce consisted primarily of manual labor, required for building and operations.

Machines and factories replaced production of materials by hand, creating the need for employees skilled in management of the machines to organize the factories and labor. The origin of MBAs began in 1881 with the founding of the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the country's first business school, and the first business school in the world. The Tuck School of Business was the first management school, founded in 1900 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The Executive MBA was founded in 1940 at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. This program most closely resembles the MBA program still taught in the United States today.

In addition to the Industrial Revolution, the Information Revolution has had a significant impact on the MBA history. Computers and the rise of the Internet have revolutionized how people can get an MBA education through Distance Learning online. The way MBAs are taught has evolved more recently, as well, to meet the needs of students in many different ways. The options of earning MBAs have expanded from the original two year, full time degree.

Accelerated MBA programs have a higher course load to complete the program in less than two years. The Part-Time MBA is designed around the hours of a student working full time. The Executive MBA degree is a variation of the Part-Time MBA, typically offering classes on the weekend to enable a student working full time to complete the degree within a two year time frame.

While the MBA history has evolved into the modern program it is today, and the means of achieving the degree have evolved, the reasons for earning an MBA degree have changed and grown as well. Many people today pursue an MBA degree to advance a current career, to earn a higher salary, and to increase job security. MBAs earned in the United States are viewed as a coveted and very valuable degree. MBA degrees have also become recognized as applicable and useful among a wide variety of industries and businesses.