Jack Welch launches online MBA to ship his business tactics to the world

Former CEO of GE, Jack Welch, comes up with a unique online MBA program for students all over the world
 
‘The Manager of the Century’ and lifelong educator, Jack Welch, along with Chancellor University of Ohio, USA, announced a unique online MBA program aimed at giving students around the world, and at every career level, the tools to transform their lives and the organizations of the future. The Jack Welch Management Institute at Chancellor University, as the MBA School will be known, will offer two accredited graduate-level degree programs, an MBA and a Master of Management, beginning with enrollment for the fall of 2009. Classes will be offered online from the school’s Cleveland campus and the fee has been fixed at USD 20,000 (Rs 10 lakh), which is much lower than other MBA programs of the same nature.
 
“We’re trying to do something really different and exciting with this program,” Jack Welch, former CEO at General Electric, explained. “We want to reach a lot of people, more than you can just reach in one class or at one school, with a management philosophy and set of practices we really believe in. We think this school, with its fresh approach, reach, accessibility, and flexibility, has the potential to change lives and organizations for the better.” Another MBA program at Sacred Heart University was named after Welch earlier.
 
The MBA School’s faculty will be led by renowned management scholar Noel M. Tichy, as Dean. Tichy’s career spans across 30 years at Columbia University and the University of Michigan. He also led GE’s Leadership Development Center in New York. Over the next months, Welch and Tichy will also be recruiting professors and business leaders to serve in the MBA School’s ‘Fellows Program’ of guest advisors and teachers. "We are taking a truly innovative approach to the traditional management education, infusing it with Welch’s philosophy, supercharging with contemporary topics, and integrating the curriculum in a way that has never been done before. And we're making it accessible to everyone, across the globe," Tichy said.
 
The Jack Welch Management Institute at Chancellor University is designed to introduce a progressive approach to management education. The MBA School said that the curriculum will be refreshed weekly with online video updates from Welch about breaking business news and topics. Its curriculum will offer students a traditional coursework, with instruction on topics from strategy to marketing to finance. Further, Welch’s core principles of candor, differentiation, and voice and dignity for all – as well as his extensive commentary on authentic leadership and people-driven management – will be integral to the curriculum. Dr. George Kidd, president of Chancellor University, said, “I expect this online MBA program will appeal to a wide variety of students all over the world.” The MBA School said that the online MBA program will attract a lot of students as they can go through it even while handling their jobs at office.
 
The management education has been going through a rough patch owing to the global recession, but this did not deter Welch from launching the online MBA program. Welch said, “Online education is going up and there is no risk in this field.” He said that the online MBA program has a flexible schedule and also the fee of the program is nominal in comparison to others. Jack Welch has been a lifelong educator, first at General Electric, where he was chairman and CEO for twenty-one years, and more recently as a visiting lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. His books on business and leadership, ‘Jack: Straight from the Gut’ and ‘Winning’, were international bestsellers. Welch is currently the head of Jack Welch LLC and a special partner with the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. A frequent commentator on television, Welch also speaks regularly and conducts management seminars around the world. In 2000, Fortune Magazine named him ‘The Manager of the Century’.