I’m happy to report that one of California’s prestigious art colleges, the California College of Arts, is going to begin offering an MBA in Design Strategy Fall of 2008. Traditional business schools are beginning to participate and realize that Business cannot evolve and continue to succeed without new innovation. Stanfords newly formed D-School is one of the best examples of a university striving to bring together the branches of Business and Design into one, but in my opinion they do not go far enough. The CCA is breaking ground and coming up with an innovative 2-year program of their own that finally will marry the two disciplines and begin producing Designers who understand how businesses must run and Businessmen who understand they cannot succeed without Design+Innovation. Nathan Shedroff, the chair of the new department and a very well known “Experience Designer” in his own right understands that our professions must work together. Should we be finally coining a new term, MBA 2.0?
Filed under: MBA, business, d-schools, design, design strategy, experience design, innovation | 4 Comments
Not sure if it’s MBA 2.0 or the validation of Design in the eye of the businessperson, but whatever we want to call it–it’s happening (and not a moment too soon).
BTW, the design of the site is fantastic.
do you know if stanford’s d school is actually an accredited program? i thought it was just a certificate program for people (grads/ undergrads/MBAs ect) already attending the university.
Jessica,
I am thinking about applying to the Design MBA program, but don’t know much about CCA’s reputation. In asking around I’ve heard it referred to as a “commercial” school, though I don’t really know what that means. I know that the program has accreditation only from the WASC (the Western Association of Schools and Colleges) but NOT the AACSB which is the most important one. I’m concerned about the reputation of the school, and for such a new program. Thoughts?
@Roland:
The following post on the program’s blog (already a great thing to have for a new program like this where there are lots of questions) details their accreditation status. They aren’t eligible for AACSB for a few years, so aren’t pursuing that right now.
http://www.designmba.org/blog/archives/2008/09/our_accreditation.php