Graduate Business AssociationGBA Review Survey and Recommendations

Hamed BeytollahJune 2, 2009

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A New GBA

• Graduate Business AssociationO Main student organization for MBA/MSBA students.

Networking, social and professional events, and building a community.

• Changing of the guard.O New 1st year students.O New goals and responsibilities.

• Students Bring ConcernsO The GBA became very aware of serious issues going on

within the College of Business Graduate Programs.

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Low Student Sentiment

“I just completed my fifth semester and to be honest with you, the program is getting worse every year.”

“The MBA and MSBA students are not happy at all and who can we turn to? I am so disappointed with this program and how poorly managed it is.”

“I am generally very disappointed with my experience in the program. I can’t wait to finish the program. The program needs a lot of work and perhaps a fundamental restructuring.”

“I used to recommend the school, but I don’t anymore.”

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Survey

• To quantify the sentiment of students and the issues on campus.

• Survey consisted of 100 students (about 20-25%) of students. We believe the sample fairly represents the student population.

O Multiple choice ratings, yes and no, and one open ended response.

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Objective and Presentation

• Objective:O The objective of this survey is to bring immediate

incremental changes that will improve the program as well as pave the way for future long term improvements. Students recognize that their degree will follow them for the rest of their lives. All future improvements will look favorably on Alumni as well as current students.

• Presentation:O This presentation is a condensed summary of the full

report.O Please read the report in its entirety.

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Most Immediate Issues

• Career Services

• Advising and Class Schedule

• Better Quality of Students

• Brand Name Recognition

• Having a Well Rounded Program

Note: These are fundamentals of a graduate business school program.

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Solution: Student-Admin Partnership

• The GBA is recommending a student-administration partnership to solve the many issues of the program. The GBA believes that a partnership, rather than just receiving from the administration, will build leadership and growth qualities that are essential in business and management. The partnership will also provide more contact between students, students and faculty, and students and administration that will increase networking skill and satisfaction in the program.

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Career Services

“There is a clear lack of career opportunities.”

“There needs to be more career-oriented events. A career fair is not helpful enough, especially for international students.”

“The career/internship fair was not very impressive. I realize it may be hard to arrange, but I would expect more than a small room of potential employers- even in this economy.”

“Please provide more career-oriented services to students.”

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Career Services

76% of students have not any internship or job offers relating to their future career goals.

63% of students rate the programs career services Below Average or Poor.

77% of students would prefer company information session rather than a career fair.

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Career Services

• Bring back career workshops and have one career development day per semester.

• Discontinue the career fair. Replace with company information sessions.

• Have continuous peer to peer workshops.

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Advising & Class Schedule

“The advisor program is awful.”

“It is difficult to have a major and finish within a reasonable time since classes overlap and aren’t offered all the time.”

“It is absurd that for most administrative issues the solution is for 500 students to jockey to speak with one person. This system is more akin to a rural village than a graduate and professional school.”

“Counseling is marginal as well.”

“I couldn’t have an emphasis because I had no class to enroll in.”

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Advising & Class Schedule

• 64% of students would take a class scheduled between 10am-1pm.

• 74% of students have had their planned graduation date affected because of scheduling conflicts.

O Many students are abandoning having an emphasis.

• Fall 2009: All of these 700 level classes are offered on Tuesday at 6:30781, 782, 784, 787, 788.

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Advising & Class Schedule

• Albert Koo cannot be the answer for everything; an unreasonable expectation.

O Change the informal advising that currently takes place between faculty and students, and change it to a more formal structure.

• Have students in their 3rd semester or higher available for peer to peer advising.

• Emphasis information sessions. Get to know classes before you take them. Online descriptions are poor.

• Offer one or two foundation level classes (700) between 10am-1pm.

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Better Quality of Students

“Raise the bar for prospective applicants and incoming students. It is too easy to get accepted into this program. Though I understand there are non-native English speaking students in the program, their communication and writing skills are not on par with the expectations of a master’s program. They have valuable comments and experience to share with classmates but the lack of English competency keeps them from doing so. We are missing out on their insights because of the language gap.”

“Another big improvement is to raise the standard for prospective students in their work experience. I am surprised to meet so many students fresh from undergrad. If SFSU’s MBA program is to improve it is necessary for students to come in with at least two or three years full time work experience. This will improve the quality of discussions in class, as well as increased networking opportunities for the program.”

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Better Quality of Students

• 80% of students would like the TOEFL score raised.

• 65% of students would like the GMAT average raised to 600.

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Better Quality of Students

• Raise the minimum TOEFL requirements and verify students for conversational English.

O Be innovative with technology.

• Have a goal to admit students with an average of three years work experience.

• Peer to Peer networking that encourages foreign students to be comfortable in speaking in class.

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Brand Name Recognition

• “More school exposure in the business community.”

• “Do some marketing for the program, nobody knows about it.”

• 48% of students rate the programs brand name recognition as Below Average or Poor.

• 92% of students want the name of the program changed.

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Brand Name Recognition

• Change the name of the programO College of Business, Graduate Programs, at San

Francisco State UniversityO SF State Graduate School of Business

• Encourage students to join professional organizations outside of school

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Have a Well Rounded Program

• “Have more guest speakers from prestigious companies.”

• “More advanced guest speakers. We need more inside views instead of just talking , which we can learn from a book without tutoring.”

• “The administration has been supportive of events that organizations have put together, but they should be taking more responsibility to organize these.”

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Have a Well Rounded Program

• 84% of student would like to see, and would attend, more guest speakers.

• 73% of students thought the rated the adequacy of discussion of the financial crises in class as neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree.

• Jack Welch: CEO of GE (1981-2001), professor MIT School of Business

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Have a Well Rounded Program

• Bring more quality guest speakers.O Student Organizations/Administration

• Panel Discussions.

• Peer Tutoring.

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Conclusion

• The GBA review will conclude with the request that meetings every month or quarter occur between the GBA and administration to track the progress of improvements and to address more issues.

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Final Thoughts

• Fee increase

• Effort. Heart. Generosity. Determination.Success.

• Crises vs. Opportunity

• Thank you. Questions.