Anderson ranked No. 1

By Paul Feinberg

BusinessWeek, whose biannual business/management school rankings are considered among the most influential in the country, recently selected UCLA Anderson as the No. 1 part-time management program in the nation. Anderson's Executive MBA program (EMBA) was ranked eighth internationally in the same issue of the magazine.

The rankings were based on a student survey, an "academic quality score" and a calculation of post-MBA outcomes based "on the percentage of survey respondents who say their program was 'completely' responsible for them achieving their goals," according to the magazine. In the poll results, Anderson excelled in three areas, earning an A for curriculum and a pair of A-pluses for teaching quality and caliber of classmates. The EMBA program also received an A-plus for teaching quality.

The part-time management program (called FEMBA at Anderson, for Fully Employed MBA) also earned the ranking's No. 1 position in student satisfaction. Dylan Stafford, Anderson's FEMBA director of admissions, believes that much of that achievement is due to its Global Access Program (GAP), a required, international field-study project that is a major draw for students.

"GAP is a huge difference maker," Stafford said. "Most schools offer some international experience, amounting to a couple of weeks abroad visiting foreign companies. FEMBA students put in up to 500 hours on their GAP projects, including several trips abroad."

BusinessWeek's rankings come at a time when part-time programs are growing in popularity. Applications to Anderson's FEMBA program rose from 450 in 2004 to 720 this year.

"A successful part-time program works best in a diverse, urban community, and (Los Angeles) has both," Stafford said. "You need the local economy to generate the student population."

Although the majority of FEMBA students come from Southern California, some students fly in from distant cities each week for classes — from the Bay Area, Las Vegas and Phoenix. One participant even crosses the international border while driving in from Mexicali.

"The FEMBA program offers the same rigorous coursework, the same faculty and the same degree as the full-time program," Stafford said. "The difference is that what you learn in a FEMBA class on Saturday, you put into practice on Monday."