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Rising to meet the challenges of a highly competitive job market, the College of Commerce & Finance has repositioned its Summer Business Institute to include graduates from both Villanova and other institutions. The SBI was originally established seven years ago to provide non-C&F students with a business minor during a 10-week intensive course period.
According to Dr. Stephen Stumpf, dean of the College of Commerce & Finance, the decision to restructure the SBI arose from feedback from graduates in liberal arts programs who were facing difficulties finding jobs because they lacked backgrounds in business. “The economic downturn put a host of students in difficult job hunting situations where, if they did not have a business degree, they had nothing extraordinary to sell to potential employers,” Stumpf said.
Whereas the program has traditionally focused on Villanova undergraduates, its services will now be available to a much broader pool of applicants. Any college graduate is eligible to participate in the SBI.

“Many regional schools, like Swarthmore, Haverford and Bryn Mawr don’t have a business program at all,” Stumpf said. “Our program is not trying to take students away from these schools. We’re not trying to steal their thunder…we very much respect their thunder and would like to help their students graduate into the workforce.”

College graduates completing the SBI will result in the waver of 15 credit hours at the master’s level. “In a relatively compressed time period, you get an intensive business education,” Stumpf said. “The cost is less than normal tuition per credit…it’s both time efficient and cost effective.”
Realizing how the interests of graduates differ from those of undergraduates, Stumpf and other SBI administrators have modified the program to incorporate a greater focus on the work-force. “We recognize that more of the students will be job hungry,” Stumpf said, prior to stating how this year’s program will include an increased number of corporate visitations.

Preparations are already in the works for the expected increase in participation. “Currently we have 10 faculty involved,” Stumpf said. “We envision adding another 10 as early as this summer.”

Approximately 60 undergraduates participate in the SBI each summer. Stumpf expects participation to double as a result of including graduates.

C&F plans to increase awareness of the SBI changes through its web-site, brochures and an increase in marketing to both parents and students in the Mid-Atlantic region. “For a summer’s investment, parents can greatly increase the marketability of their kids,” Stumpf commented.
In addition, C&F hopes to attract international students to the SBI as well, especially from areas with a strong alumni affiliation. Panama, Puerto Rico and Ireland serve as three areas of particular interest. The SBI’s emphasis on attracting a greater amount of international students parallel’s the University’s goal to expand its diversity. According to Stumpf, the University plans to increase its number of international students from two percent to 10 percent by the year 2010.

The SBI begins on May 24.