Study Business at Berkeley College
New York
The US education system is one of the most highly advanced in the world, and as such has
an excellent reputation with regard to both its institutions and the subjects that are on offer.
In respect to Business education, the States are famous for pioneering the MBA,
and so to choose to study Business in the US at undergraduate level would be an excellent decision for
an international student to make.
By the end of the Second World War in 1945, the economic
infrastructures of all the major industrialized countries of the world were destroyed.
The only major power to survive intact was the United States of America.
As a consequence, for nearly thirty years following the war, the
United States was the world s sole leader in the area of economic activity, and also in the
development of 'business' as an academic discipline. Most of the research, the literature and the
teaching methods needed to support this new venture were developed in the United States, and
that s why, even today, most of the textbooks and teaching materials used in business schools
everywhere in the world are American in origin. Largely by an accident of political history, the
United States is the world s leader in business education, and this is one
reason why there are so many students from allover the world in the us.
An American Philosophy
Higher education in America differs in important wants from
higher education in other countries, and this can be confusing for a foreign student. Perhaps
the greatest difference is that the guiding principle in the mainstream of American
higher education is the philosophy that undergraduate programs should be broad-based and
generalist in nature. It is unusual for more than a third of all undergraduate programs in
American colleges to be in the field of the 'major' specialisation; the other
two thirds are more or less equally divided between supporting course work in other fields and in
unrelated 'liberal arts' disciplines. The aim is to produce a
'generalist' student - a person with a well-rounded education.
Transferability
In addition to the four-year colleges and universities, there
are a large number of local, often municipally-funded, two- year colleges called
'community colleges', and privately- funded junior colleges that offer programs leading to the
Associate degree.
Students who graduate from these colleges often transfer
into the third year of a four year college or university. In fact, transferability is one of
the more attractive features of American education. Credits earned at one
accredited college can usually be transferred to another college.
Once a student has accumulated the necessary number of credits
and the specific course- work required for a particular degree, that student will
graduate. It is not unusual for students in America to change their degree program (major) several
times, and to attend more than one college. The system allows for great flexibility, and
consequently provides the student with a much broader range of opportunity and choices than
do courses of study in many other countries.
The Alternative Option
As an alternative, alongside the generalist mainstream in
American higher education, there is another stream that consists of vocational, technical or
professional colleges. The aim of these schools is to prepare the student in an
immediate and practical way for entry into the job market.
This is the category in which one finds the undergraduate
business college, which is likely to offer students Associate degrees (two
year) and Bachelors degrees (four year) in various areas of business, such as
management, marketing, international business, or accounting. Coursework at these colleges
focuses more on applied rather than theoretical knowledge, and on the acquisition of
computing and communication skills that relate directly to the needs of the workplace. There are
typically a greater number of business and supporting courses and fewer liberal arts courses, and it
is not unusual for work experience (called 'internship') to be part of the program of studies.
A Strong Future
Given the economic strength and importance of North America, the dominance of
English as the language of business worldwide, and the past and current success of America s
colleges and universities, it is probable that the United States will continue to be the leader
in business education for many years to come. .
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