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Are Undergraduate Business Programs Too Narrow?

January 29, 2010 By

There’s been a lot of talk and research recently about how to “revitalize the undergraduate business major, which is the nation’s most popular [degree],” reports The Chronicle. These students, who comprise about 20% of all college graduates, don’t seem to be receiving a very well-rounded education, especially when it comes to liberal arts.

The goal, according to William M. Sullivan and Anne Colby, senior scholars at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, is not only to introduce a stronger liberal arts foundation, but to ensure that business students understand that their liberal arts courses are not irrelevant to their business education and to their future career plans.

There is already a move towards liberalizing the MBA education, and a similar move appears imminent in the undergraduate business sphere as well.

NYU Stern’s program provides a model for the integration of liberal arts and business with its course in professional responsibility and leadership. The course provides an integrated syllabus combining business case studies with the study of classic liberal arts texts, including Confucius, Plato, Cicero, Machiavelli, Walt Whitman, and Chekhov.

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  • http://blog.perfectspace.com/2010/03/14/top-undergrad-business-schools/ Nate

    (sorry for the double post.. it messed up the link below)

    I’m all for liberal arts, but I’m against it in a business class. The only reason they are adding liberal arts into business degrees is to see if they can squeeze more money out of the graduates – as if they aren’t paying enough as it is.

    Look at this top list of business schools ( http://blog.perfectspace.com/2010/03/14/top-undergrad-business-schools/ ) for 2010</a> and tell me that those schools aren’t milking the educational dollar for all it’s worth already.

    I see business degrees (in their current form) as probably the most practical degrees for most individuals. It’s definitely "vocational" as it is, and I’d hate to see universities muddy that up with the idea of "well roundedness". Nobody who’s "well rounded" has made an impact in the world. People who are focused do. I vote for excellence, even in just one thing.