Program Overview
The 100% online Master of Business Administration program at Northern Kentucky University gives you valuable tools for career advancement while empowering you to tailor your degree to meet your personal and professional goals. Featuring a holistic admission process, this AACSB-accredited program delivers relevant curriculum in an accelerated online format designed to fuel your ambition.
Enrich Your MBA With Innovative Areas of Emphasis
In addition to your MBA essentials and capstone courses, the MBA online curriculum includes course stacks in relevant emphasis areas. As a student, you will choose two of these stacks or mix and match courses from any stack to further customize your Online MBA experience:
Understand and apply advanced methodologies to analyze data and produce solutions to complex business challenges.
Understand the principles of finance within a corporate setting. Enhance your knowledge of corporate finance, investments and security analysis, international financial management, and more.
Explore the unique challenges in the healthcare industry and analyze the external factors facing the industry. Understand and apply the tools to effectively manage healthcare organizations.
Innovation Through Competitive Intelligence [+]
Broaden your perspective on ideation and innovation strategies, formulating accurate competitive intelligence techniques and finding value for organizations.
Explore leadership and organizational change as the key components of effective management. Develop leadership competencies to transform organizations to ensure current and future success.
Evaluate the appropriate elements and develop effective marketing strategies for business decision-making.
The Haile/US Bank College of Business is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).
Have questions or need more information about our online programs?
Also available:
Northern Kentucky University offers four Bachelor of Science in Business Administration programs online. Learn more about our online business programs.
Tuition
The MBA online program offers the same affordable, pay-by-the-course tuition for in-state and out-of-state students. Financial aid may be available to eligible students.
Tuition breakdown:
| Program | Per Credit Hour | Per 2-Credit Hour Course | Required Fees | Total With Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master of Business Administration | $460 | $920 | $528 | $15,708 |
The NKU online MBA is ranked among the “Best Online MBA Programs” by U.S. News & World Report (2020)
Calendar
The MBA online program is flexible and efficient for busy schedules, with accelerated courses that start multiple times a year. View the calendar to find the best start date for you, and be sure to submit your application, registration, documents and tuition by the corresponding deadlines.
Now Enrolling:
| Session | Program Start Date | Application Deadline | Document Deadline | Registration Deadline | Payment Deadline | Last Class Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2 | 07/13/20 | 07/01/20 | 07/06/20 | 07/09/20 | 07/13/20 | 08/14/20 |
| Fall 1 | 08/17/20 | 08/05/20 | 08/10/20 | 08/13/20 | 08/17/20 | 09/18/20 |
| Fall 2 | 09/28/20 | 09/16/20 | 09/21/20 | 09/24/20 | 09/28/20 | 10/30/20 |
| Fall 3 | 11/05/20 | 10/23/20 | 10/28/20 | 11/02/20 | 11/05/20 | 12/11/20 |
| Spring 1 | 01/11/21 | 01/04/21 | 01/06/21 | 01/08/21 | 01/11/21 | 02/26/21 |
| Spring 2 | 03/15/21 | 03/03/21 | 03/08/21 | 03/11/21 | 03/15/21 | 04/30/21 |
| Spring 3 | 04/05/21 | 03/24/21 | 03/29/21 | 04/01/21 | 04/05/21 | 05/07/21 |
MBA Online Program Advantages
See the top 10 reasons why Northern Kentucky University is right for you!
Ready to take the next step toward earning your degree online from Northern Kentucky University?
Admissions
The admission process for the MBA online is streamlined to help you get started sooner. Requirements include:
View full admission requirements
MBA Online Admission Requirements
Applicants for the MBA online program are evaluated on a holistic basis. The program adheres to the accreditation standards established by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).
A portfolio approach is used in evaluating prospective students for acceptance into the MBA program. Factors considered for admission include:
- Complete online application and pay $40 non-refundable application fee
- If you are an NKU alumni or active/veteran military member, your application fee will be waived
- Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate (if applicable) coursework from accredited institutions with a minimum undergraduate overall grade point average (GPA) of 2.5. Acceptable transcripts should show evidence of successful completion of quantitative courses.*
- Current resume with 3 years of professional work experience.
- No longer than one page (single spaced) essay stating your motivation for pursuing an MBA.
- If an international applicant, IBT, TOEFL or equivalent with a minimum score of 550 or IELTS minimum score of 6.5 must be submitted to the NKU Office for International Students and Scholar Services.
Official documents may be mailed or emailed to:
NKU Office of Graduate Education302 Lucas Administrative Center
Highland Heights, KY 41099
Have a question? Call us at 800-985-7215.
*Students are required to take the GMAT or GRE if their transcripts do not show evidence of successful completion of quantitative courses. Although scores make up only one factor in the admission process, it is anticipated that successful applicants will have a minimum overall score of 520 on the GMAT (comparable GRE scores will also be considered).
Courses
For the Master of Business Administration online, students must complete 16 courses, comprising 33 credit hours. These include eight essentials courses (16 credit hours), 12 credit hours of specialization courses, and five credit hours for a capstone project.
Students must take the following courses:
MGT 605: Managing in Organizations
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to a graduate program or consent of program director. Managing people is a challenge in an increasingly complex and interdependent work context. This course helps prospective managers develop the skills necessary to assess, analyze, and act upon the challenges of managing with people.
FIN 605: Financial Management in Organizations
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to a graduate program or consent of program director. Analytic techniques for decision making; basic financial analysis for managing corporate finances.
ACC 610: Accounting in a Corporate Environment
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to a graduate program or consent of program director. Provides a foundation for understanding accounting concepts. Topics include financial and managerial accounting issues including financial statement analysis, debt versus equity, budgeting, product costing, strategic decision making, corporate social responsibility, and internal control.
MKT 605: Marketing in Organizations
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to a graduate program or consent of program director. This course prepares students to solve problems faced by mid- and top-level marketing decision-makers, and to understand the consequences of their decisions. A variety of contemporary marketing issues will be studied in depth. May use case methodology and/or client-based projects.
MGT 607: Strategies for High Performing Organizations
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to a graduate program or consent of program director. Looks at the issues of analysis, implementation and evaluation of an organizational strategy. Students are exposed to issues involved in creating and managing the sustainable, high performance enterprise including operational activities such as financing, human resources, R&D, marketing, distribution and customer service.
MBI 600: Intro to Info Systems in Organizations
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to the MBA program or consent of instructor. Fundamental concepts of management information systems, managerial and organizational principles, and other concepts relevant to MIS. This includes the use of information for decision making, organizational structure of MIS, information resource management, and managing end-user computing. This course is open only to students in the MBA program.
BUS 605: Legal Environment for Business
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to a graduate program or consent of program director. Survey of the legal system requirements and limitations; political process, constitution, torts, criminal law, ethics, environment, product liability, consumer protection, antitrust, employment and negotiable instruments.
MGT 610: Operations Management
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: Admission to a graduate program or consent of program director. Introduces concepts and techniques of modern operations and supply chain management. Topics include design and structuring of operating systems, production planning, inventory control, materials requirements planning, project management, facilities layout, quality control, process and job design.
You will choose two of these stacks or mix and match courses totaling 12 credit hours from any stack to further customize your Online MBA experience. If choosing the Health Care Administration stack, then you would select only that one stack, totaling four courses and 12 credit hours.
Data Analytics Stack
MBI 606: Business Intelligence Development
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MBI 600 or department approval. The course covers the design and development of business intelligence systems (data warehouses and data marts, for example). Dimensional models will be developed and reports will be produced. Students gain a working knowledge of business intelligence systems with hands on labs.
MBI 607: Data Visualization and Visual Analytics
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MBI 600 or department approval. The course covers the design of data visualizations for solving Business problems and exploring business opportunities. The course addresses both good practices in visualization development as well as using datasets and at least one example of a visualization tool to effectively structure visualizations that are appealing and instructive.
MBI 608: Intro to Business Analytics
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MBI 600 or department approval. Business decisions require data analysis to increase problem understanding and produce better answers. This course is a hands-on introduction to the business analytics process, including problem modeling, tools and techniques for analysis, and effectively communicating insights. This course is open only to students in the MBA program.
Finance Stack
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: FIN 605 or department approval. In depth exploration of capital budgeting, dividend analysis, capital structure, risk/return analysis, costs of capital, international aspects of finance, valuation issues, leasing, basic financial forecasting and institutional structures for finance. Component course in MBA Finance Stack.
FIN 621: Investments and Security Analysis
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: FIN 620 or department approval. Introduction to the modern theory and practice of investing. In-depth discussion of risk and rate of return, portfolio theory, valuation of financial claims such as bonds, stocks, and derivative securities, portfolio formation and revision, and portfolio performance monitoring. Component course in MBA Finance Stack.
FIN 622: International Finance
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: FIN 620 or department approval. In-depth exploration of the impact that globalization brings to capital budgeting, dividend analysis, capital structure, risk/return analysis, costs of capital, valuation issues, leasing, basic financial forecasting and institutional structures for finance. Component course in MBA Finance Stack.
Health Care Administration Stack
HSC 511: Current Trends in Healthcare
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. This course is an overview of the U.S. healthcare system; in-depth analysis of modern and potential future trends evaluation of current status of healthcare system with emphasis on cultural diversity and competency.
HSC 620: Healthcare Finance and Reimbursement
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 3
Study of financial administration processes and payment systems within the various health care delivery systems. Topics to include but are not limited to: Tools to analyze and understand financial operations, various tools to review and manage comparative data, construct and evaluate budgets, tools to plan, monitor, and manage financial status, allocation of resources, and acquire funds.
HSC 621: Healthcare Finance & Reimbursement
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. This course covers financial administration processes and payment systems in health care delivery systems. Topics include financial operations, various tools to review and manage comparative data, construct and evaluate budgets, tools to plan, monitor, and manage financial status, allocation of resources, and acquire funds.
HSC 630: Strategic Planning for Health Services
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. An in-depth study of successful strategic planning and marketing tactics utilized in the field of healthcare. Evaluation of stakeholders, community needs and desires, as well as implementation and evaluation of such methods.
HSC 631: Strategic Planning in Health Services
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. An in-depth study of successful strategic planning and marketing tactics utilized in the field of healthcare. Evaluation of stakeholders, community needs and desires, as well as implementation and evaluation of such methods.
HSC 640: Health Law and Ethical Issues
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. Study and evaluation of health care law and its interface with the healthcare system and the key players within. Real life ethical dilemmas will be examined with application of various theories and principles that apply.
HSC 641: Healthcare Law & Ethics
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. Study and evaluation of health care law and its interface with the healthcare system and the key players within. Real life ethical dilemmas will be examined with application of various theories and principles that apply.
HSC 650: Healthcare Policy and Economics
Duration: 7 weeks | Credit Hours: 3
Introduction to health economics focuses on using the tools of microeconomic analysis to understand behavior by consumers, producers and insurers in health care markets. The tools of microeconomic analysis will also be applied to current policy problems, and supported with analyses of publicly available data sources.
HSC 651: Strategic Hum. Res. Mgt. in Health. Org
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. This course offers a broad understanding of the human resources management function in health care organizations, especially as it relates to organizational strategy, behavior, and design. Topics include developing a vision, problem solving, and analytical skills essential for harnessing human resources to advance organizational goals in the health care environment.
HSC 652: Health Care Policy and Economics
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite(s): Admission to MSHS, MBA, or permission of instructor. Explore healthcare issues, policies and economic factors influenced by technological, social, economic, and political factors; availability of and access to healthcare; social distribution of healthcare; and actions for dealing with healthcare dilemmas. Federal and state regulatory programs and healthcare financing will be examined.
Innovation Through Competitive Intelligence Stack
MBA 620: Ideation to Innovation
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: department approval. Develops a context for ideation through the formulation of new opportunities and the process and identification of strategic options leading to viable strategies. Experiential application of strategies is applied to real problems. Component course in MBA Innovation through Competitive Intelligence Stack. Prerequisite: MGT 605
MBA 621: Competitive Intelligence
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MBA 620 or department approval. Moving ideas into action requires gathering data on the market, industry and competitors. Focuses on competitive intelligence data capture, analysis and translation techniques to identify a viable set of strategic options. Experiential application of content knowledge is applied to real problems. Component course in MBA Innovation through Competitive Intelligence Stack.
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MBA 621 or department approval. Validation and refinement of business outcomes through gap analysis, design of critical operating models, sustainable implementation mapping. Covers clearly defined approaches for taking new ideas to successful strategic launches no matter the construct (people, process, product) or level of volatility. Component course in MBA Innovation through Competitive Intelligence Stack.
Leadership Stack
MGT 620: Leading in a Dynamic World
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MGT 605 or department approval. Application of theories of leadership and organizational change to a variety of business organizations; personal assessment and reflection on leadership; planning and implementing of organizational change; use of simulations, cases, and/or projects to blend theory and practice. Component course in MBA Leadership Stack.
MGT 621: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MGT 620 or department approval. Provides a conceptual and practical understanding of the concepts, legal framework, theory, and practice of negotiation and conflict resolution. Includes the research and framing of issues, bargaining strategies, successful tactics, and methods of reaching a settlement. Component course in MBA Leadership Stack.
MGT 622: Essentials of Project Management
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Prerequisite: MGT 620 or department approval. Qualitative and quantitative approaches to structuring projects in multi- functional organizational settings; planning, team development, software, quality improvement, completion; case analysis, internships, and/or term projects to blend theory with practice. Component course in MBA Leadership Stack.
Marketing Stack
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Pre-req MKT 605. Successful businesses evaluate their various environments and forge sustainable competitive advantages in the marketplace. It is critical to create a long-term strategy that builds, maintains, and ultimately grows the market position. This course focuses on the evaluation of extant strategies and the creation and justification of alternative marketing strategies.
MKT 621: Consumer Behavior and Insights
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Pre-req MKT 620. The primary focus of the course is to explore the consumer path to purchase by studying the physical, physiological, social, and cognitive models and theories of consumer behavior.
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Pre-req MKT 620. To properly design and engage marketing strategies, managers today need to understand the role that big data plays in the marketplace. In this course, you will be provided real-life examples of data and asked to develop and apply the appropriate insights needed to make a business decision.
Students must take the following courses, totaling five credit hours, as part of the MBA practicum.
MBA 610: Comprehensive MBA Essentials Review
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 2
Review and testing on MBA Essentials topics in Finance, Accounting, Management, Marketing, and Operations in preparation for MBA 611.
Duration: 5 weeks | Credit Hours: 3
This course is the final part of the culminating experience in the MBA Program. The coursework involves the completion of a series of questions posed by faculty members based on readings done in class. The readings encompass a wide variety of topics covered in the MBA Program.
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