Online Learning

NJ City U Tests Use of HBX CORe to Prep Grad Students for Business

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/05/17

A New Jersey university has signed on with Harvard's HBX to prepare incoming graduate students without a business background to be ready to start their graduate studies in business. The New Jersey City University (NJCU) School of Business is running a pilot using Harvard's online course platform. NJCU graduate students will take CORe, a three-course online business fundamentals program delivered by Harvard faculty that covers business analytics, economics for managers and financial accounting.

The New Jersey institution isn't the first to do this. Harvard has similar arrangements with 30 schools, including Haverford College, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and Vassar, among others.

The three courses ask students to step into the role of a business person who engages with his or her peers through Harvard's hallmark, real-world case studies. The median time to finish the program is about 150 hours — 12 to 15 hours per week — though that varies from cohort to cohort, which range in length from eight weeks to 17 weeks.

To receive credentials for passing the classes, students will be taking in-person, closed-book final exams through Pearson VUE testing centers.

"We are excited to be working with HBX on this pilot program, which offers excellent educational content within an impressive digital delivery format," said NJCU's School of Business Dean, Bernard McSherry, in a prepared statement. "The current pilot will determine how best we deploy the HBX program within our overall graduate business program. It is one of our strategic initiatives to offer an excellent contemporary business education to our business students."