Bryant College and the University of Rhode Island both recently announced the creation of their own executive development programs to appeal to professionals and local companies looking to upgrade upper-management skills. URI has teamed up with The New England Resource Group to form the Executive Development Institute, which includes a network of instructors teaching everything from business strategy to electronic commerce.
Meanwhile, Bryant College recently unveiled its Executive Development Center, replacing the college’s Center for Management Development. Bryant officials said the renaming of the center was done as part of an effort to reshape its offerings toward business executives.
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Administrators of the programs at both schools say programs like these are becoming more and more important in a changing business climate.
“With the consolidation in industries, businesses want their managers to remain steeped in leadership in a variety of key areas,” said Peter Stickeler, director of Bryant’s Center for Management.
Stickeler said a survey of businesses throughout the region showed that companies want more and more help offering continued education to their employees. The center will be offering certificate programs in client server technology; Microsoft certified professional; emerging leader; human resource management; institute for law enforcement leadership; purchasing & supply management; and financial planning.
The URI program’s offerings are similar: business strategy; marketing; finance and accounting; organizational management; business research; globalization; electronic commerce; and information technology.
David Neustein of the New England Resource Group of Warwick said because of the URI program’s broad scope and intensity, he refers to it as a “mini-MBA program.”
He said a similar program was presented to ATT employees throughout the country. In total the program was delivered 34 times to ATT.
Along with the curriculum already set up by URI and Neustein’s group, the Executive Development Institute can also customize courses for a company’s needs.
Also, the institute has the equipment to provide distance learning programs.
“A very large company wants to take advantage of the distance learning next year, because they have facilities all over the county. Distance learning is a lot easier than flying all their employees into Providence,” Neustein said. He would not say what company was interested in the program.
Most of URI’s and Bryant’s programs can be completed in weeks.
Stickeler said there are three kinds of potential clients Bryant is targeting: people wanting to improve skills to move up in their company; people looking to change careers; and those looking to find a business niche.
“People realize that good managers rise to the top. That’s the simple way of explaining why programs like this are popular,” he said.
While the college created a series of courses that would have the greatest appeal in the business world, Stickeler said the Executive Development Center also caters to a company’s specific needs.
“A significant part of our business is we meet with corporations and they talk about what training needs they have and we develop a curriculum specific to those needs,” he said. “We have to be flexible, because there are unique needs at every organization.”
Both executive development centers can accommodate a wide variety of employees in one session. They also hold courses that are open to the public for smaller companies wanting to send just one of two managers.
The cost for the courses at either program depends on the number of people taking part and, in some cases, the type of course being offered.
For more information about URI’s Executive Development Institute call Neustein at (401) 732-8877. The Bryant College Executive Development’s number is (401) 232-6200.
