More impact, more difference: World-changing business degrees in 2023

Social injustice, climate change and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have upended many lives worldwide. With turmoil, however, came ingenuity and solutions to some of the greatest challenges mankind is facing. And more often than not, these brilliance and creativity are coming from business leaders.

The sixth most powerful woman in the world Melinda Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private charitable foundation that has donated US$7 billion to various causes. Indra Nooyi pushed PepsiCo as its CEO to create healthier foods with less sugar. Tim Cook turned Apple into a brand that valued sustainability. They all have one thing in common — they graduated with business degrees.

This proves a transformative business degree can equip graduates with the knowledge, skills, and expertise to develop solutions that can change the future. If this has piqued your interest, here are four universities shaping graduates into exemplary business leaders:

Rutgers Business School

Rutgers Business School stands out for many reasons – its academic excellence, diverse student body, world-class faculty, and strong graduate network are a few reasons why this school is the place to be for aspiring leaders.

The school offers a range of MBA programmes, including the Executive MBA, Full-Time MBA,  Part-Time MBA with an online option, and the 14-month MBA in Professional Accounting. There are two locations for undergraduate programmes which lead to Bachelor of Science degrees – Newark offers programmes in Accounting, Marketing, Management Information Systems, and more while New Brunswick offers programmes in Finance,  Supply Chain Management, Business Analytics and Information Technology, and others.

Even better are its “Road to Success” programmes, where students develop skills and intuition that will help transform them into valuable assets to any company they join.

Students explore the programmes through curriculum, mentoring, career coaching and guidance. Pick from the Road to Wall Street, Road to CPA, Road to Silicon Valley, Road to Consulting or Road to Supply Chain Leadership.

Interested in a master’s programme? Many choose the Master of Quantitative Finance and Master of Information Technology and Analytics because of the breadth of the curriculum offered that lead to meaningful careers on Wall Street and at technology companies. The 10 other specialised programmes are equally appealing and lead to vast employment opportunities. Students go on to work at companies like Amazon, KPMG, Tesla, and others.

Others join the PhD programme or Doctor of Business Administration, which is the first of its kind in New Jersey. “The DBA programme provides the perfect amount of knowledge you can use today in your current position and knowledge to remake yourself into an enlightened leader,” says Roque Martinez, Chief Technology Officer of Reference Data Utility.

Situated on two historic campuses in the state of New Jersey and leveraging Rutgers University’s culture of innovation, founded in 1766, Rutgers Business School works with corporate partners to ensure its curriculum is relevant and timely, so students know what they learn in the classroom can be used to make a real impact in the business world.

UT Dallas: Naveen Jindal School of Management

At UT Dallas, postgraduate business programmes are always improving. Source: UT Dallas

Maximise your future potential with the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas Dallas (UT Dallas). This business school is on a mission to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing, technology-driven, global society. Postgraduate programmes are always improving, as are its suite of management education courses.

To enrol in the UT Dallas MBA is to expand your business network by making valuable connections and relationships. The MBA programme also hosts a two-week boot camp for the incoming cohort called LEAD Camp (Leadership, Enhancement, Academic, Professional Development). It prepares students for the future of work with a wide range of seminars, workshops, lectures and activities.

Plan to manage or lead a high tech firm or research institution? UT Dallas’s combined degree of MS/MBA engineering and management lets you earn an Master of Science Electrical Engineering (MSEE) degree in combination with an MBA or MS degree in management. This programme is administered by the faculty members in the Department of Electrical Engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Management.

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Haas School of Business

The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley helps students build fluency in business fundamentals. The result? Graduates empowered and confident to step into their future, armed with knowledge and skills to create change. 

The school is host to more than 2,000 undergraduate and and postgraduate students who come from all over the world to find success here. Programmes like the Full Time MBA, MBA for Executives, and Evening and Weekend MBA are designed to deep-dive into sectors like communication, innovation, global business and many more. You gain more knowledge as you learn collaboratively with top-notch peers.

Clases are kept small to foster an intimacy that’s critical to personal development. Students and faculty share a common culture and leadership principle, which means support is always available. If you are a student who enjoys learning as you do, you won’t regret picking this school. It prominently features hands-on experiential learning, while customising your programme in an interdisciplinary environment. 

This is a place that continues to move knowledge forward, and this is seen through its PhD programme. As a PhD student, you will have access to some top-quality research centres and education opportunities in business and other industries.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Gies College of Business

This school attracts motivated students who are keen to develop their creative and out-of-the-box thinking. Source: Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

This school attracts motivated students who are keen to develop their creative and out-of-the-box thinking. Source: Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignIf you want to take your career to the next level, Gies College of Business at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the place to be. The school is where big ideas can become a reality; collaborative thinking among students and faculty solves today’s business problems; and students inspire one another to dream big and make a difference in business and society.

For over 100 years, Gies College of Business has designed innovative programmes, leading-edge curriculum and experiential learning opportunities to empower and prepare students to turn big ideas into meaningful actions. Their STEM-designated Master of Science in Finance (MSF) is a comprehensive, 15-month programme that boasts cutting-edge curriculum taught by faculty experts and industry leaders.

Students of different backgrounds and levels of expertise in finance can benefit from the MSF, thanks to its built-in flexibility to deliver an education and experience that fit students’ unique needs. There are different entry dates, and you can also choose from a specialisation in one of the following areas: Asset Management; Corporate Finance; Data Analytics and Fintech; Quantitative Finance; and Finance Research (PhD Specialisation).

You can expect to learn from industry experts and world-class researchers. Through the optional full-semester practicum project, you’ll have the opportunity to work on real-world projects for national and international companies to gain hands-on experience. Their graduates have gone on to work for renowned corporations, including PwC, Bloomberg, Deloitte and KPMG China.

*Some of the companies featured on this article are commercial partners of Study International