Academics
Widely considered “one of the top institutions to study international business,” the Darla Moore School of Business at University of South Carolina offers an “alternative program to traditional business school” through its flagship international MBA (IMBA) program (although it does offer a professional MBA and a one-year MBA as well). The IMBA program exposes Moore’s students to a combination of “international work experience, education, and opportunity to learn a new language while completing [an] MBA.” The program’s required core classes make lead to “well-rounded” students. In the IMBA program, “the first seven months are spent doing a year ’s worth of core classes. Students are very tightly woven to provide each other academic, mental, and social support. The next three (or ten) months are spent overseas learning another language…then a five to seven-month internship, internationally or domestically, followed by a year of electives (in Columbia or abroad).”
Supporting the unique structure of the program are the school’s “extremely talented” and “stellar” professors who “truly bring a wealth of international experience into the classroom.” These professors “teach worldwide and use cases, simulations, and other situations to help us get a better understanding of how our decisions interact instead of just reading text.” They make “the most abstract material understandable.” As a result, students develop “a deep understanding of business fundamentals.” Particularly noteworthy is the Global Supply Chain and Operations Management department which “prepares students to manage supply chains in a global environment, and provides students with operations management knowledge and practical training that puts them at the same level [as] engineers currently working at Fortune 500 companies.”
While generally pleased with the quality of their professors, students are a bit more critical of the business school’s administration which “is new and has some kinks to work out.” On a more positive note, students feel that the administration is “open to working with the students to improve the school community, which makes up for a lack of organization and gives students a chance to gain valuable leadership skills.” One recent development that is generating a lot of excitement among the students is the new “green” “multimillion dollar business school building” which was designed with “input from everyone,” including “undergrads, master ’s [students], PhD [students], [and] staff” and which all hope will “bring unbelievable opportunities for future students.”
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