GET DAILY REPORT FREE
Local universities are seeing an increase in MBA program enrollment, following a global trend that points, in part, to economic uncertainty.
Graduate business program directors at LSU and Southern University A&M College tell Daily Report the uptick in enrollment is in response to a competitive labor market, a robust technology industry and flexible MBA program offerings.
The LSU Flores MBA program experienced a 15% increase in full-time, in-person applications in 2024, says Dana Hart, Assistant Dean of Graduate Business Programs and Director of the LSU Flores MBA programs. Hart says the university initially noticed more interest in the MBA program after launching the accelerated one-year format in 2019, but it was in 2022 when the program started to take off. The LSU MBA program had more applications in 2023 than it has in the last decade, Hart says. This year, more than 100 students are enrolled in the full-time, in-person program, and four times that amount are enrolled online.
The most popular specialization in the LSU MBA program is data analytics, Hart says. The cybersecurity risk management and emerging technology certification are also rising in the enrollment ranks.
“Companies are really clamoring for this skill set,” Hart says of the data analytics program. “Everything we do is data driven, so I think we’re seeing a lot of interest in that area, for students to have a very tangible skill set to complement the broad-based business fundamentals through the MBA experience.”
The demographics of MBA students in Baton Rouge are also shifting. More minorities are pursuing an MBA, according to Hart’s reports. This year, the LSU MBA program has seen an uptick in women and students of color.
The College of Business at Southern University is experiencing similar enrollment trends. The number of applications to the university’s online MBA program have been on the rise for the last four years, says Ashagre Yigletu, associate dean and Graduate Business Programs director at Southern University College of Business. The majority of students in the HBCU’s program are women and African-American. The program’s two leading areas of specialization are human resources management and supply chain management.
Yigletu says Southern University plans to eventually add more concentrations to the MBA program, including health care management and a graduate certificate in government contracts and procurement.
