Today, I’d like to illustrate how the course goes and show you some of the stuff that we use in International MBA programs of Globis University. I believe this stuff will give you a clear picture of student life at Globis.
Before I start, let me introduce a little bit about myself. I am a Japanese female, one of the first students of the IMBA program. I started as a Pre-IMBA student and it has been almost a year. I have taken 6 fundamental courses and 3 applied courses so far.
Globis University is known for using the “case study method,” and Globis uses cases that originate from Harvard Business School. Each course is made up of 6 classes over 3 months. The school year is divided up into 4 terms, each of which is 3 months. It might sound these courses are not so tough, but the case method forces us to prepare for each class for 6 to 8 hours, or even more! Many of the students take 2 or 3 courses, meaning they have to spare about 6 to 9 hours a week after they finish work or on weekends.
We have to read the case 2-3 times; perform qualitative analysis (such as the five forces); and also quantitative analysis of, for example, the market share, the cost structure, or the financial statement, in order to formulate action plans. The volume of the pages required varies each time, but some classes require 20 to 30 pages!! This is quite a heavy workload for non-native English speaker who works full-time! The subjects which require intensive quantitative analysis, such as Finance or Accounting, tend to have fewer pages but require work on spreadsheets for a couple of hours. Every time, the students have to submit a one- or two-page assignment about the questions in the syllabus.
There is already such a heavy workload, that I sometimes find out that I have no knowledge to answer the questions. So I have to read some reference books which are recommended by the lecturer.
The students have lots of materials to read, so sometimes they come to class with red eyes and fatigued faces due to lack of sleep!
The pictures below are: A case study and syllabus, and reference books.
In the class, we generally have a brief lecture or recap of the previous class and 2 to 3 group discussions. Then, one or two groups give a presentation followed by a class discussion facilitated by the lecturer. During the three-hour class, students have many chances to speak up. The class participation consists of about 50% of the grading, meaning I cannot pass the course if I stay silent in class.
The grade consists of 3 components: class participation, assignments, and a report. Class participation is evaluated with the number of the comments that the students addressed in the class discussion, and the quality of the comments. The lecturer evaluates them each class and post them on our individual pages of the students’ website.
Also, we have to hand in a report in the fourth class. Its grade and feedback are posted on the website. The lecturer gives a long and comprehensive feedback to the class, such as in the pictures, that includes the grading criteria, some important points to cover, and the proper thinking process. I like the feedback because I can check where I missed and absorb the insights from the lecturers. As our University places a high importance on logical thinking rather than just leaning knowledge, the feedback includes the thinking process. This is very precious because I learn how to make decisions from the lecturers who have practical experience in the business.
As I described, the program is pretty tough for part-time students. One thing that I enjoy while I study is a Social Networking Service (SNS) which is created exclusively for Globis students and alumni. I post some blogs now and then, and some of the Japanese students post some comments on mine. There are schools in Nagoya and Osaka, so that I make friends with them on the website!
All in all, I am very satisfied with the program and services. The school received the highest score in student satisfaction among Japanese business schools both in the 2009 and 2010 editions of Nikkei Career Magazine. I believe this learning environment is one of the key competitive advantages of Globis University.
Nanae Obara
Nanae Obara blogs on behalf of Globis University. To find out more about Globis University and education in japan visit the GaijinPot in Education pages.
