Oakland U. Begins Online MBA Program for Students in Lebanon

By DAVID COHEN

Oakland University this month began an online M.B.A. program for students in Lebanon. Officials at the Michigan college say the program is the first online M.B.A. to be offered by an American institution in any Middle Eastern nation other than Israel.

Oakland is located just north of Detroit, which is home to an estimated 300,000 Arab-Americans -- a majority of whom are said to trace their family roots to Lebanon. The university was founded as a branch of Michigan State University, but became an independent state institution in 1970.

Its proximity to the United States' largest Lebanese community was "one of the critical components" in the decision to start the new program, says John C. Gardner, the dean of the university's School of Business Education.

Oakland County, where the university is situated, is by some estimates the third-wealthiest county in the United States, one in which 179 of the Fortune 500 companies are now based. "If business executives from abroad wish to learn a little bit more about rich America, then this is the place to find it," says Mr. Gardner.

Mr. Gardner said he expects that the program will eventually attract applicants from beyond Lebanon, especially from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and from the territories administered by the Palestinian Authority.

The M.B.A. program will combine distance courses with Beirut-based seminars. Students will travel to Michigan for the last portion of the program, in which they will meet their instructors and with local business leaders.

In a recent article in Beirut's Daily Star newspaper, Suhail Najjar, head of a Lebanese-American human-resources company called Brainpower, said that Lebanon is in dire need of well-trained managers. Mr. Najjar told the newspaper that executives could expect to double or triple their salaries after earning the right internationally recognized M.B.A.

The American University of Beirut, Lebanon's oldest and most prestigious university, currently enrolls 830 students in its business programs. University officials say they expect that number to grow by more than 50 percent after the college opens a $40-million business school in 2005.

"Outsiders often tend to forget that before its civil war, Lebanon was the Paris of the Middle East, an epicenter for traders and entrepreneurs," says Mr. Gardner. "The war quelled all of that, but today, with programs such as these, we see the old culture re-emerging."

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