Wednesday, February 20, 2002

SUNY-Buffalo Drops Online M.B.A. Program By KATHERINE S. MANGAN The State University of New York at Buffalo's School of Management pulled the plug on its 18-month-old Web-based M.B.A. program last week. The business school joins a growing list of institutions that have concluded that online programs aren't worth the expense and hassle. Only 35 students signed up for the two pilot courses offered in the fall of 2001. Buffalo had hoped to expand its course offerings and enroll 1,000 students by January of this year. However, administrators decided not to market the program aggressively when it became clear that they didn't have the money to sustain it. "Each course has to have an instructor, a graduate assistant, technical people to be there in case the connection breaks down, as well as someone to design the course," said Howard G. Foster, associate dean for academic programs at the business school. "We've found these courses to be very labor-intensive." In order to recoup its costs, the business school would have had to charge around $23,000 for the two-year program. While that's far less than many private schools charge, it is more than double the in-state tuition for Buffalo's traditional M.B.A. program. Many faculty members resisted teaching in the program, either doubting that online courses were as effective as classroom-based instruction, or worrying that teaching the courses would take too much time. Professors who teach online often report that getting up to speed on the technology can be frustrating and time-consuming, and that students expect them to be available around the clock. Like several other business schools whose efforts to expand online have been derailed, Buffalo was burned by an outside partner that failed to live up to its promises. (See an article from The Chronicle, October 5, 2001.) The Albany-based Institute for Entrepreneurship, which ran into financial and management problems, gave the school only about $65,000 of the $200,000 it had promised, Mr. Foster said. No one at the institute was immediately available for comment. Mr. Foster said he hasn't given up on the idea that the program might be resurrected, but he said it wouldn't be easy. "I'm convinced there's a market out there," he said. "The challenge is covering the costs, deploying the faculty, and getting these courses developed." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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