Ken Stickney

kstickney@theadvertiser.com

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been moving ahead with plans for an online master’s of business administration degree, one that would perhaps be available as early as autumn.

Marisa Collins, spokeswoman for B.I. Moody III College of Business and interim Dean Gwen Fontenot, confirmed Monday an online MBA has been “in development” but has not been advertised or marketed.

“We’ve been looking at it awhile,” said Associate Dean P. Robert Viguerie Jr., who directs the college's Executive MBA program. He said the program still needs “internal approvals” from campus leadership as well as approval at the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors level.

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The UL System Board of Supervisors listed an item for its finance committee meeting Thursday regarding the proposed UL program’s “special pricing for the online Master’s of Business Administration degree program.”

UL’s B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration does not currently list an online MBA, although the college offers a part-time EMBA program in the afternoon and evenings. About 80 percent of the students in that program work full time, the college’s web site says. The EMBA program will continue even if the online program is eventually approved.

Viguerie said special pricing for the online program is necessary because courses are offered on a different schedule than the semester system. Other online MBA programs also offer pricing specific to their online schedules.

He said business school leaders have been considering the online option for about a year. He said UL cannot offer altogether new programs, but can offer existing programs online. But he cautioned that there are many approvals needed before the program is firmly in place.

UL offers an online, 15-credit-hour, post-bachelor’s certificate in business administration that provides a foundation for entering the master’s program. That program is tailored for prospective MBA students who have earned a “non-business undergraduate degree.”

“We do see a market out there, a demand,” Viguerie said.

He said specific academic emphases within the MBA have not been determined. He said tracks in health care, finance and sales leadership may be among those considered. Fall enrollment would depend on rapid approval at several stages, he said, which is not guaranteed.