The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
and
The School of Graduate Engineering and Applied Science

Program Objective

Positions of leadership in firms pursuing technologically-based competitive strategies call for managers (graduates) who have been thoroughly grounded in the technical practices of an engineering field and in the social, political, and organizational practices of the field of business administration. Graduates of the MBA/ME program will be prepared to face both the managerial and technological challenges associated with innovation and technical activities throughout the business firm. The MBA/ME joint-degree program creates an opportunity for graduate students to acquire breadth of understanding and added flexibility needed to operate effectively at the interface between the commercial and technical units of modern industry and society.

Administration

The MBA/ME program is administered by the MBA/ME Program Committee. This is a two-person appointed committee, with one member from the Darden faculty and one member from the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) faculty. This committee is responsible for reviewing applications, helping to coordinate the curricula for the students, and resolving problems that might arise.

Admission

A student must apply and be admitted to both the Darden and SEAS schools as degree applicants through each school's normal admissions process. A joint-degree program application is not considered at this point. Once admission is secured to both schools, a separate application is then made to the MBA/ME Program Committee for admission to the MBA/ME program. Admission to both schools does not guarantee admission to the MBA/ME program.

Degree Requirements
Program Hours and the Directed Study

Students in the MBA/ME program are required to complete 24 hours of course work for the Master of Engineering degree in SEAS and 69 hours of course work for the Master of Business Administration degree in the Darden School. Normally, the ME degree requires 30 course hours and the MBA requires 78 course hours. The requirements are compared with regular degree requirements in Table 1.

Overall, the schools anticipate that the joint degree will be obtained in approximately one semester less than the time required for the two degrees separately. If a student drops out of either part of the joint-degree program, he/she will be required to complete the normal degree requirements to obtain a single degree in either SEAS or Darden. Two typical MBA/ME programs of credit hours are given in Table 2 for illustration.

MBA students in the joint-degree program are expected to use their elective courses to provide depth in the areas that reflect their joint-degree educational objectives and career interests. For example, MBA students might select electives in international business, marketing, operations/technology, quantitative analysis, and organizational behavior. The Darden Directed Study (3 credit hours) will normally be combined with the SEAS course requirement of a 3-credit-hour project in the ME program. This combined 6-hours requirement will be jointly supervised by a Darden and a SEAS faculty member. Exceptions to a joint project have to be approved by the MBA/ME Program Committee.

Of the 24 hours in SEAS, 21 hours will be normal course work and 3 hours will be a project course taken in an appropriately numbered course. A minimum of 12 hours of course work must be taken in the major department, with a maximum of 6 hours at the 500 level. None of the 24 hours may include a course taken in the Darden School. The project must have one advisor from SEAS and another from the Darden School.

MBA / ME Program Benefits

MBA/ME candidates are encouraged to take the initiative to design a program that fits their interests and needs. Three specific program structures are in place to enhance the educational experience of the MBA/ME Program beyond that achievable with two independently pursued degrees in business and engineering.

1. Program-of-Study Approval

Each student must submit a program of study to the MBA/ME Program Committee that outlines how the degree requirements of each school will be met. The student must also present a rationale regarding how the student's joint-degree educational objective will be achieved with the planned set of courses and their particular sequence. A coordinated set of courses developed and justified on the basis of specific educational objectives for each joint-degree applicant can be expected to produce a more meaningful educational experience for highly motivated students than would two separate, sequential programs.

2. Joint Direct Study/Research Project Requirement

The jointly supervised, directed research project (3 credit hours in each program) should be designed to place the student into a technologically intensive setting to carry out a project that could not normally be approached and effectively completed by a student enrolled and pursuing non-coordinated, independent projects in the two schools.

3. Classroom Teaching Opportunities

MBA/ME candidates should inform the instructors of their courses of their enrollment in the joint program. Faculty are encouraged to use opportunities in the classroom to draw on these specialized student interests and resources.

Sample Engineering School Focus Areas

As an example, students interested in the joint-degree program might focus their engineering studies in Systems and Information Engineering. Students interested in focusing their engineering studies in a different department should consult the graduate program director in that department.
The Department of Systems and Information Engineering offers the Master of Engineering degree for students interested in:

- the development of mathematical models and computer-based systems such as intelligent decision systems, decision-aiding systems, decision-support systems, and expert systems;

- systems, decision and risk analyses of large-scale complex problems involving multiple decision-makers, conflicting objectives, and strategic implications; and

- engineering management.

Opportunities for specialization exist in areas of concentration, such as:

- intelligent decision systems
- telecommunications
- environmental systems
- systems management

MBA / ME Joint Degree: Educational Emphasis and Synergies

Educational synergies will be created in three areas by a coordinated set of courses:

1. Communications/Persuasion Abilities

Interfunctional communications and persuasion skills are critical at the interfaces of marketing, research and development, engineering, and manufacturing - particularly for carrying out successful innovation. The program fosters these skills by requiring students to operate back and forth across the boundaries of the engineering/business schools' student bodies and faculties. The program will more rapidly and effectively develop students' abilities to communicate and argue persuasively with the distinctive sets of professionals and managers in the technical and nontechnical (commercial) areas of business.

2. Flexibility and Responsiveness

Requiring students in the program to participate in a jointly supervised project requires a student to develop and exercise a set of learning and project-management skills that take into account the different problem-solving skills and perspectives of two faculties and two disciplines simultaneously - an important skill in technology management.

In addition to these overall educational synergies arising from the joint-degree experience, each student will be influenced by specific course linkages across the courses in the two schools. Example programs of study are shown in the following tables in order to display the types of pedagogical course structures that could be created within the joint-program framework.

For more information regarding graduate studies at UVa, please see the UVa Graduate Record / catalog.