UIndy creates ‘stackable’ MBA to help students already in the workplace

After nearly five decades of offering traditional MBA degrees, the University of Indianapolis thinks it’s come up with a better model to meet the needs of today’s students and employers.

In August, UIndy is introducing a stackable flex MBA. After students pass three prerequisite courses, they can take any MBA class they want to increase their knowledge base and either stop there or continue toward a certificate or a degree.

If they pass the three courses contained in one of the five concentration areas—leadership, marketing, AI and analytics, finance, and global supply chain management—they earn a certificate. If they earn two certificates and pass a capstone class, they’ve earned an MBA.

“I look at it like a la carte kind of learning, where you choose what you need,” said Karl Knapp, dean of the UIndy School of Business. “They can come in, get the knowledge they need to advance their careers, get something they can put on their LinkedIn and their resume, and they don’t have to commit to the whole MBA.”

“It’s a great way to engage non-degree candidates,” added Michael Hasik, UIndy’s director of graduate business programs. “It’s a great way to engage adult learners, to bring relevant, commercially attractive knowledge in small packages to people who can come in and out of the business school and move back and forth between industry and education and do it in a way that advances their career.”

Knapp and Hasik said the stackable flex MBA offers greater flexibility for students to choose classes that make the most sense for them and their career. The courses are taught in a hybrid model—most classes are a combination of online and in-person, but some are completely in-person.

“So, if you’re an engineer and you just got promoted into a leadership position, you can take the leadership and management certificate and just stop there and you have what you need to lead your team,” Knapp said.

The idea for the stackable flex MBA came from Tanuja Singh, who became UIndy’s president in July 2023. She introduced the idea to Knapp in one of their first meetings.

“We researched it and realized, ‘This is a great idea, right?’” he said. “It makes so much sense. I mean, I’m surprised no one around here has done it before.”

In mid-January, the business school’s leaders and faculty began designing the structure involved in earning the degree. By April, the university had approved. By higher education standards, that’s lightning speed, Knapp said.

“That is, to me, our competitive advantage,” he said, “because we average 16.3 years of experience in the field for all of our professors. … We’ve targeted professors that have doctorates but also have a ton of real-world experience. And what that gives us is people who think in terms of [the speed of] businesspeople.”

Micro degrees

Stackable credentials have been around for at least a decade. In some places, they’re called “MicroMasters,” though the credential model is more common at the bachelor’s degree level. Chris Mullin, strategy director for data and management at the Lumina Foundation, said that of the nearly 525,000 students who earned a bachelor’s in 2022-2023, more than 30,700 previously earned a certificate.

“It’s an evolution of a thought about how we both recognize the lived experiences of individuals who are trying to pursue post-secondary education and also understanding that there are valuable pieces that students can use to be valuable members of their workforce and society as well,” he said.

In a report called “Microcredentials and the Master’s Degree,” the Council of Graduate Schools said microcredentials, certificates and badges “are one of the fastest growing sectors of the higher education market.” The report also said “stacking” certificates into degrees is still in development at many institutions.

Matt Linton, the council’s senior manager of programs and publications, said one of the reasons stackable certificates have become more popular lately is, “there’s been a real recognition among graduate school leaders that making graduate degrees and graduate education accessible to as many diverse populations of students as possible is what you want to do.”

Incremental credentialing gives people who are working full time, might have child care responsibilities or might not be able to afford an entire master’s degree at the start a chance to work their way toward a degree program, Linton said.

“It’s also a way for employers to see, ‘OK, I’ve got an employee who’s building skills gradually, and I may be able to afford that employee gradually instead of having them have to go away for a while, get a master’s degree and come back,’” he said. “So, it’s a way for kind of training to see their employee kind of grow and develop while still working at a company.”

Real-world examples

In May, Kevin Todd started his MBA coursework at UIndy with a business law class.

He enrolled at UIndy because he wanted a mix of in-person and online classes, and because, “I favor an MBA program that offers the stackable credentials to show that you have a unique specialization in a certain field.”

Todd, a legislative assistant for three lawmakers in the Indiana House of Representatives, graduated from Ball State University in 2023 with a major in economics, then earned a business economic certificate from Cornell University. He plans to work toward the full MBA with concentrations in finance and Al/analytics.

“I wanted to grow my skills and knowledge in the business area,” he said. “I want to be a future business owner in Indiana, so I felt like it was important to continue my growth and education in the business education field.”

Knapp said Todd is one of two kinds of students they expect to take advantage of the stackable MBA. The other is someone who’s five, 10 or 15 years into their career and realizes they need or want additional education.

“With the speed of technology and the speed of course-matter changes, people will be coming back to school more often,” Knapp said. “I think we’re seeing that with things like analytics and with artificial intelligence—these new fields that businesspeople are needing to learn to be relevant in their careers.”

Emilee Smith is a partner with the Indianapolis accounting firm London Witte whose job involves recruiting, retention and development of employees. She sees UIndy’s stackable flex MBA as helpful in several areas.

“I’m excited about it for our firm, as well as the accounting profession in general and for people wanting to become licensed CPAs,” she said. “It’s kind of a gap filler, where they can get a certificate, they can take some courses that are very concentrated in one area, develop a unique skill set that’s going to be immediately usable without the full commitment of an MBA, but with the option to do an MBA in the future. That’s filling a need for our employees specifically, but especially in the accounting world.”

That works for other industries as well, she said.

“Because a lot of people are needing very concentrated courses and [a] very concentrated skill set to level up in their jobs, this opens the door for employees, which will definitely help employers in the city.”