'Retooling' MBA students on rise at UNR

The way Greg Mosier figures it, one of the most important jobs facing the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno, these days is retention of the region's skilled workforce.

Mosier, dean of UNR's business school, says that's particularly important when rising unemployment in Nevada causes some skilled managers and professionals to look elsewhere for their future.

"We are a resource for people to retool, to build into a greater opportunity," he says. "We can be a part of economic development in northern Nevada."

The strategy is bearing fruit. Enrollment in the UNR master's of business administration program is up 15 percent for the spring semester. That comes on the heels of a 21 percent increase during the fall semester.

Kambiz Raffiee, associate dean and director of the MBA program, says a significant number of the 194 master's degree students in the business school are sharpening their skills in preparation for an economic rebound. (More than 1,900 undergraduates also are enrolled in the business school.)

The graduate program, which offers its full slate of classes during evening hours, won high ratings from BusinessWeek magazine. The publication ranked the UNR program 21st in the nation among part-time MBA programs, and ranked it fifth in the West.

The rankings, based on a survey of students as well as statistical measures of faculty, class sizes and student quality, gave UNR particularly high marks for people who are looking to change jobs.

Raffiee says the program has proven to be a good investment for the 99 percent of its students who graduate after starting their pursuit of an MBA degree.

In-state students pay $14,700 in tuition for an MBA and report an average pay increase of 22 percent after graduation. Ninety percent of MBA students at UNR are working fulltime while they go to school, and they've been working an average of about five years before they return to the classroom. Typically, students complete the program within three years.

Mosier acknowledges that rising enrollments in the MBA program present a challenge at the same time that higher education budgets are cut in the state.

The Board of Regents next month will consider another 8 percent reduction in spending $53.44 million over two years for the higher education system statewide.

"Our resources are declining, and we're creating increased demand," the business dean says.

The business school recently launched an cable TV advertising campaign produced by Charter Communications in Reno, and it's looking to resume the campaign perhaps with testimonials from graduates later this year.

The school also advertises its MBA programs on Yahoo! Finance.

The advertising supports UNR's mission as a land-grant institution a mission of delivering education for working people even though it brings pressure on the business school's resources, Mosier says.

"It's an outreach to our public. If they are thinking of returning to school, they don't have to leave the state," he says.

And Mosier says potential students sometimes need a nudge before they consider an MBA program as a good way to invest their time during an economic slump.

"We're a huge opportunity for them, but it's not always obvious," Mosier says.