Â鶹¹ÙÍø

Go Beyond What’s Expected

Business Administration, MBA

We need people like you to be the business leaders of tomorrow. Accelerate your career, pursue your passion.

Take your career to the next level with Â鶹¹ÙÍø's ACBSP-accredited, 36-credit hour MBA program, which provides exceptional opportunities for professional development and advancement in a wide range of areas in business, commerce, and organizational leadership.

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Take the next step toward completing your MBA degree at Â鶹¹ÙÍø.

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Take the next step toward completing your MBA degree at Â鶹¹ÙÍø.

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Designed for Working Professionals

Balance work and life on the path to completing your MBA degree. Take classes at your own pace and on your terms—full-time, part-time, on-campus, online or hybrid.

You may begin program studies any semester—summer, fall, or spring term. The MBA program is offered at Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s Hickory campus and online through synchronous course delivery. Full-time students generally can finish their degree in four semesters. Any practicum experiences can be completed close to home at your convenience.

Information Sessions

Join the MBA program for an online information session with the program coordinator and graduate admission counselors. During the session, you will have an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the admission process, financial aid and program requirements.

Choose from Multiple MBA Concentrations

All MBA students complete a thorough core in business, including coursework in accounting, management, marketing, organizational behavior, supply chain operations, communication, and managerial economics.

You can choose to complete a general MBA or specialize in a specific area of interest that matches your career goals and aspirations.

  • Accounting

    This concentration exposes students to coursework in several areas of accounting, which allows them to broaden their perspectives of accounting theory and application. Students who complete the Accounting concentration will be eligible to sit for the CPA and Certified Management Accounting examinations upon graduation.

  • Business Analytics and Information Technology

    With the increasing importance of data analysis and information technology in the business world, this concentration trains students in the technology and quantitative skills needed for the ever-growing and constantly-converging fields of Business Analytics and Information Technology. Emphasis is placed on data analysis, project management, and business systems. Students who complete the BAIT concentration will be eligible to sit for the PMP® examination upon graduation.

  • Entrepreneurship

    This concentration is designed to provide students with the tools and experience necessary to facilitate development not only as leaders, but also as an innovators, in their chosen business fields. Students will immerse themselves in a curriculum tailored to enrich their learning and cultivate both an entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindset. 

  • Executive Management

    A concentration designed for mid-level managers with prior business or military experience, the Executive Management program is focused on growing careers. This concentration offers flexible courses taught by expert faculty and includes learning and networking opportunities from leading business executives.

  • Healthcare Administration

    In a fast-paced industry that has growing demand for competent, well-qualified managers, the Healthcare Administration concentration will teach students to distinguish, understand, and differentiate key concepts which serve as the underlying foundation to be productive in the healthcare arena. Students will earn expertise and competencies grounded in strong, select Healthcare Administration courses that are essential in building robust applications in the healthcare landscape.

Alston Robinson

The business administration major attracted me because it included a great mix of classes that lined up with my future goals and aspirations.

Alston Robinson '20, MBA'22

Why Choose Â鶹¹ÙÍø

  • Student-Centered Approach
    The MBA program takes a student-centered approach by focusing on application-based instruction that directly relates to your areas of interest and future career goals. The program is designed to provide you with direct contact and a close professional relationship with faculty members who bring real-world experience to the classroom setting.
  • Relevant to Today's Business Needs
    Learn decision-making skills and tools. Faculty are professionals with work experience in their field. Class simulations take you from the classroom to real business projects. Work with your professors on projects with local businesses and organizations, including conducting audits of businesses under the supervision of your professor.
  • Start Your MBA as an Undergrad
    The Accelerated Master's Degrees program provides an opportunity for Â鶹¹ÙÍø undergraduates to seamlessly matriculate into graduate programs by beginning coursework toward their master’s degree during their senior year, earning their master’s degree in a shorter period of time and saving money.

Program Philosophy & Emphasis

The MBA program features a managerial orientation with a focus on decision-making and not mere analysis, an emphasis on individual creative problem-solving skills, a global business perspective, and an emphasis on ethical conduct in management.

The MBA program focuses on five core beliefs that constitute the program's educational emphasis.

  • Managerial Emphasis
    Provide you with lessons and applications that help you manage people and resources to achieve results.
  • Decision-making Orientation
    In an environment of imperfect and incomplete information, you must be prepared to understand the risks and rewards of decision-making and to be responsible for the consequences that ensue.
  • Creative Problem-Solving
    Business leaders must engage individual creativity and innovation; more importantly, they must be able to develop the creative abilities of those in their employment.
  • Global Perspective
    As the world's economies grow ever more closely linked, thinking globally enhances opportunity and confronts competitive realities.
  • Ethical Leadership
    Quality decision-making requires that business leaders always consider the ethical components for all stakeholders, cultivated by means of a reflective and thoroughly considered set of moral principles.

The College of Business and Economics is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). 

Program Accreditation

Â鶹¹ÙÍø is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. 

The Master of Business Administration degree is also accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), a leading specialized accreditation association for business education supporting, celebrating and rewarding teaching excellence. ACBSP accredits business, accounting and business-related programs at the associate, baccalaureate, master and doctorate degree levels worldwide.

View ACBSP Accreditation

Program Requirements

Offered in Hickory and online

The goal of Â鶹¹ÙÍø's MBA program is to offer people who are currently in the workplace a graduate business education which will enhance and expand their career opportunities. In fulfilling this goal, the MBA program offers an education which features a managerial orientation, a focus on decision-making and not mere analysis, an emphasis on individual creative problem-solving skills, a global business perspective, and an emphasis on ethical conduct in management. The College of Business & Economics is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

Program Admission Requirements

Visit Graduate Admission for the most current

MBA Competency Requirements Policy

To enroll in the MBA courses ACC 501 (Accounting Competency), BUS 511 (Finance Competency), ECO 502 (Microeconomics Competency), BUS 519 (Statistics Competency), and BUS 536 (Statistics Competency), students must demonstrate basic competency in the areas of accounting, finance, microeconomics, and statistics.Ìý

Competency can be demonstrated through the completion of relevant coursework at an accredited institution, achieving a minimum scale score of 50 on the CLEP examination, or obtaining a passing score of at least 70% on Peregrine correspondence courses.

All prerequisite courses must be approved by the MBA director.Ìý

MBA Load Policy

Students may enroll in up to 12 credit hours per semester with a max of 6 hours in a mini term; overloads may be granted by approval (min 3.7 GPA);Ìý

MBA Concentrations

Offered in Hickory and onlineÌý

Graduate students in business may chooseÌýto focus at least twelve (12) hours of electiveÌýcourses in a concentration. It is important to note that some concentrations have certain electives that are mandatory. If students opt for two concentrations, they can only count one course for both, except for BUS 585, a project-based course that must differ for each concentration. The following MBA concentrations require the general MBA core and degree electives from the approved list as follows:Ìý

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News & Events

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Pulitzer Prize-Winning author Tim Egan to deliver inaugural Huffman Lecture at Â鶹¹ÙÍø

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Tim Egan will visit Â鶹¹ÙÍø in March 2027 to deliver the inaugural Huffman Lecture on Social Justice, focused on democracy and civic responsibility.

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The First Arrival

After immigrating from Korea to Hawaii, Agnes Park crossed a continent to attend Â鶹¹ÙÍø. She graduated in 1924, and in 2025, her granddaughter traced the journey of one of the first international Bears.

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