The University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics has about 4,300 full-time students.
Simon Sheather, dean of the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics since 2018, believes that the best reason for obtaining a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 2025 is to help someone make their business — and their career — more profitable.
Simon Sheather
“You will have learned fundamental business skills and also amassed an online Rolodex of valuable contacts that you keep for the rest of your life to help open doors for you,” he said.
While building a professional network and advancing one’s career — along with increasing knowledge, skills, profitability, and lifetime earnings — have long been touted as benefits of pursuing an MBA, the ways students earn the degree have shifted to accommodate modern priorities and lifestyles. Areas of specialization within MBA programs and opportunities to pursue concurrent degrees have also expanded.
“If our students want to do a four-plus-one program, for example an engineering degree and then an MBA, [that’s] a recipe for a great job,” Sheather said.
There are 575 universities in the United States that offer MBA programs. Courses are taken full-time, part-time, online, or through distance learning. In-demand fields include healthcare management, technology management, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, and data analytics.
UK is ranked 60th in the U.S. for all MBA programs and 40th among public universities, according to Sheather. He adds that UK is ranked No. 1 in ROI (return on investment) for an MBA student, as reported by Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg noted that UK’s program is efficient (11 months) and effective in helping graduates secure jobs.
UK has about 60 full-time MBA students enrolled in its one-year program. It also offers an evening/part-time plan for working professionals, who may take two to three years to complete the requirements. A few hundred students are enrolled in these programs. Sheather recalls speaking with an MBA candidate, a veteran, who works in building construction in Covington one week and Louisville the next. “It’s great that he can just pull out his laptop and attend live online classes remotely,” Sheather said.
While UK has big numbers in its MBA program, Midway University, with a total enrollment of about 2,000 students, holds its own in the region.
Mark Gill
“We actually stack up fairly well against larger nearby schools in terms of enrollment and the students we are serving,” said Mark Gill, who leads Midway’s MBA program. Midway offers one of the most affordable MBA degrees in the region. An MBA degree with 30 to 33 credit hours costs $485 per credit hour, or about $14,000 total.
Midway offers six areas of concentration, including equine management, healthcare administration, human resource management, management information systems, sport management, and bourbon studies. All are available in-person and online.
Nursing is another major area of study at Midway. The school offers a dual degree program allowing nursing candidates to earn both a nursing degree and an MBA.
Gill explained that many students graduate from college with an undergraduate degree and the technical skills to excel in their fields. But when promoted to leadership positions, they are required to lead teams, which involves hiring, retaining, developing, and managing people — a unique skill set from the one that earned them the promotion.
“The MBA [program] equips people with management skills, people skills, budgeting and understanding their organization from a global standpoint, more than just the tasks they performed before,” Gill said. “They learn how units work together to be efficient and maximize market opportunities.”
Managing people is a skill set that leaders must acquire, develop, and continuously refine, Gill said. “Today, managers often lead cross-collaborative teams working remotely across the country or even globally,” he said. “The MBA proves valuable for individuals in these leadership roles.”
Change is constant and it is speeding up. For organizations and individuals to succeed, they must adapt. “You can be a leader of change or wait for it to force you to change,” Gill said. “How organizations adjust to the challenges of modern technology and markets and new threats proves the value of an MBA.”
In Richmond, Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) offers an MBA program.
Weiling Zhuang
“For the in-person program on the Richmond campus, classes meet at night for eight weeks so the students can balance their professional lives,” said Weiling Zhuang, director of EKU’s MBA program. “Students can take nine courses over three semesters. Or, if they are extremely busy, they can take courses over two or three years. It is a flexible program.”
EKU offers 14 areas of concentration, including in construction management, community development, emergency management, accounting, manufacturing management, organizational psychology, and more.
Courses are offered in two eight-week terms in the fall and spring semesters and two six-week terms in the summer, allowing most students to take two courses at a time. EKU has joined other schools in offering free textbooks, and there is no application fee.
Zhuang agrees with Sheather and Gill on the value of an MBA. “Businesses and our society demand change, and the MBA gives students skills to enhance their career options and solve problems,” he said. “We know that there are not enough qualified managers in various professions. The MBA helps train new ones.”
As change remains constant in business, schools face the challenge of adapting to trends.
“The economy and business can change, so EKU tries to respond to trends by consistently monitoring our curriculum,” Zhuang said. “For example, we are currently scrutinizing artificial intelligence and how it fits into our concentrations and courses. We do this to help our students be leaders in their industries.”