Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Berkeley Trumped by Northeastern, Texas, Maryland and Alabama in Computerworld's Techno MBA Poll

Business Wire, Sept 23, 1999

FRAMINGHAM, MA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 23, 1999--

Less-renowned Schools Answer Corporate America's Call for

Tomorrow's Tech-savvy Business Leaders

The cream of the business school crop is no match for schools such as Northeastern University, or the Universities of Texas, Maryland and Alabama when it comes to producing graduates with 21st century business and information technology (IT) skills.

That was the surprising conclusion of the annual "Top Techno MBA Survey," released today by Computerworld, Inc., a newspaper and information services company for the IT Leader community. The poll identifies the top 25 schools that do the best job of preparing students to become tomorrow's technology leaders. Yet for the first time since the original 1997 survey, schools such as Northeastern, Maryland and Alabama are appearing in top-ranking positions, while prestigious schools such as MIT (previously the top school on the list) no longer even qualify for the top 25.

Computerworld found that nearly 100 percent of students from the Top 25 Techno MBA schools were gainfully employed within six months of graduation. Average starting salaries ranged from $48,000 for graduates of 19th ranked Northern Illinois University to more than $106,000 for graduates of fifth-ranked University of California at Irvine. "Our survey reveals that while the better known business schools excel at training MBAs, they've stuck to the business basics and haven't moved rapidly into technology programs," said Maryfran Johnson, editor-in-chief of Computerworld. "This has given other schools an excellent opportunity to compete on a technology basis and begin preparing tomorrow's IT Leaders."

Senior executives have been complaining for years that college graduates are ill-prepared to assume decision-making roles in an increasingly technology-focused business world. While the top Techno MBA schools may differ in the specific focus of their curriculum, they all share some common characteristics. "We have defined Techno MBA programs as hybrids that use real-world, hands-on problem-solving approaches and combine standard MBA courses in accounting, finance and marketing with a solid background in technology," said David Weldon, Computerworld's senior careers editor. "These schools teach engineering and computer-science students to become top business leaders with good communication skills, and they teach people with business or communications backgrounds to become savvy technologists." Below are more details on the top schools:

School                                     Website       Average starting
                                                          salary for 1998
                                                              graduates

1.  Northeastern University, Boston        www.ccs.neu.edu      $79,120
2.  University of Texas at Austin, Austin  www.bus.utexas.edu    70,346
3.  University of Maryland, College Park   www.rhsmith.umd.edu   65,324
4.  University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa      www.cba.ua.edu        59,000
5.  University of California, Irvine       www.gsm.uci.edu      106,200
6.  University of Illinois,
      Urbana-Champaign                     www.mba.cba.uiuc.edu  55,500
7.  Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN  www.mgmt.purdue.edu   88,343
8.  Southwest Missouri State University,
      Springfield                          www.mscis.smsu.edu    62,000
9.  Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh www.gsia.cmu.edu      82,824
10. University of Florida, Gainesville     www.cba.ufl.edu       60,000
11. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis   www.csom.umn.edu      69,615
12. University of Pennsylvania,
      Philadelphia                         www.wharton.upenn.com 96,750
13. University of Southern California,
      Los Angeles                          www.marshall.usc.edu  80,000
14. Temple University, Philadelphia        www.sbm.temple.edu    55,000
15. Arizona State University, Tempe        www.cob.aus.edu/MBA   72,500
16. Bentley College, Waltham, MA           www.bentley.edu       60,721
17. Georgia Institute of
      Technology                       www.iac.gatech.edu/dupree 67,200
18. University of Georgia, Athens          www.cba.uga.edu       48,400
19. Northern Illinois University, Dekalb   www.cob.niu.edu       48,000
20. Brigham Young University,
      Provo, UT                    www.msm.byu.edu/programs/mism 51,250
21. University of Virginia,
      Charlottesville           www.commerce.virginia.edu/ms-mis 52,000
22. Texas A&M University, College Station  www.tamu.edu/cba      52,691
23. University of Connecticut, Storrs      www.sba.uconn.edu     75,000
24. Miami University, Oxford, OH           www.muohio.edu        49,000
25. California State University, Sacramento www.csus.edu/mis     55,000

The entire survey can be viewed at www.computerworld.com

A unit of International Data Group, Computerworld, Inc. is a complete information services company for the IT Leader community, providing print and online publications, books, conferences and research services. The company's flagship weekly newspaper for IT Leaders has been recognized numerous times by Folio: Magazine and the Computer Press Association as the best computer newspaper. News and resources for the IT Leader community are available through Computerworld's Web site at www.computerworld.com. Computerworld is based in Framingham, MA, with a significant Silicon Valley presence in San Mateo, CA. Headquartered in Boston, International Data Group (IDG) informs more people worldwide about information technology than any other company in the world. With annual revenues of $2.35 billion, IDG is the leading global provider of IT media, research, conferences and expositions. IDG publishes more than 290 computer newspapers and magazines, and 700 book titles in 75 countries, led by the Computerworld, InfoWorld, Macworld, Network World, PC World, Channel World and "...For Dummies" global product lines. IDG offers online users the largest network of technology specific sites around the world through IDG.net (www.idg.net), which comprises more than 225 targeted Web sites in 52 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168 computer-related expositions in 35 countries, and research arm International Data Corporation (IDC) provides computer industry research and analysis through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is available at www.idg.com .