Graduate Program​​​​ - MBA

The focus of Gulf Region and UAE in specific on non-oil sectors for developing its economy is a commendable strategy. Hence, there has been rapid growth in the contribution to GDP from areas like manufacturing, food, retail, real estate, automobile, airlines, ports, hospitality, medical, educational, financial and other service sectors to name a few. The efforts of government of UAE resulted in the placement of many of its educated manpower in different positions in government, semi government, and private organizations during the “boom” period wherein the participation of the workforce has increased substantially. This young Arab population along with the first and second generation expats groomed in the region is soon to become the managerial workforce at various organizations and hence need to be given a strong base in management knowledge and skills. SUC MBA is pursuing the ambition and goal to serve and educate the manpower of the Gulf region through well-structured academic MBA program that focuses on knowledge as well as skills and attitude to groom future management professionals of the region.

MBA PROGRAM GOALS

1. Develop managerial skills in problem solving and decision making.
2. Instill leadership skills and professional attitude.
3. Develop ethical orientation to conduct business in a socially responsible manner.
4. Develop acumen towards formulating, implementing and evaluating business strategies.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After successful completion of the major, student will be able to

1. Explain theories, tools and techniques of business management and their applications.
2. Develop leadership skills and competencies for managing organizations.
3. Research, evaluate, analyze and formulate business strategies.
4. Evaluate ethical business practices and its implications on business.
5. Integrate knowledge and business practices to consistently solve complex issues.

CURRICULUM

SUC has developed well planned MBA curriculum which significantly prepares a student to shoulder the responsibility of managing business organizations in optimizing their vision. It equips the student with the knowledge, skills, and values that nurtures intellectual maturity and helps to probe into the depths of knowledge. It enables student to specialize in skills that are unique and have a sense of creative independence in implementation of strategies.

The MBA program is carefully planned to fulfill the mission and purposes of SUC as well as its goals and objectives. It is adequately equipped with best practices of teaching methodologies and is flexible to adapt and adopt changes in training the students in the field of management sciences to enable them to effectively make management decisions for the growth of business.

The practical orientation enables the student to integrate theory with the best practices of the industry so as to effectively and efficiently conduct the operations in an organization. The student is thus enabled to accomplish the outcomes as anticipated in the program and transfer them to the professional areas. SUC ensures that each student enrolled in the course receives a Course Delivery Package (CDP) on the first day of the class that includes the following Syllabus:

1. Credit hours
2. Pre Requisites
3. Course description
4. Learning outcomes
5. Course contents
6. Academic strategies
7. Course policies
8. Class Schedule
9. Mode of Assessment
10. Information on core text
11. Additional reading materials
12. Online learning resources

SUC uses regular evaluation of all courses; instructional pedagogy, feedback and results obtained from the various assessments effectively through a well-developed Institutional Effectiveness System to revise the curriculum in order to ensure quality and excellence in both curriculum and instructional pedagogy.

All students pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Program must complete the following requirements:

A. DIRECT ENTRY REQUIREMENT- GRADUATE

All admissions in SUC are guided by Ministerial Decrees # 200/yr. 2004 and 133/yr. 2005; The Standards for Licensure & Accreditation 2019.
An applicant seeking admission for Graduate program is required to fulfill the following two conditions:

i. Bachelor Degree
ii. English Language Proficiency

Details of the above two requirements are as follows;

i. Bachelor Degree Grade

a.    Bachelor’s degree earned in a discipline appropriate for the prospective graduate degree, with a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or its established equivalent

 ii. English Language Proficiency Requirement (TOEFL/IELTS/EmSAT)

Prospective MBA student is required to fulfill any one of the following requirements for admission as given below:

a. A minimum score of 550 out of 677 on Institutional Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL-ITP)
b. A minimum score of 6.0 on International English Language Testing System (IELTS - Academic)
c. A minimum score of 1400 in EmSAT Achieve English (Emirates Standardized Test)
d. Any other equivalent test standardized nationally, or internationally, recognized and approved by the MoE.

Table -3 English Proficiency Score Range for Direct Entry to Graduate Program

NOTE:
1.    A native speaker who has completed his / her undergraduate education in an English-medium institution may not be required to provide certification in English Language Proficiency
2.    Institutional TOEFL / IELTS score only from recognized testing centers or AMIDEAST is acceptable.
3.    Requirements are applied regardless of educational system or country where student is coming from.
4.    The English proficiency qualifying result should be submitted within 1 week of the commencement of the program
5.    Transfer student need to have English proficiency eligibility upon registration failing which they will have to undergo the preparatory courses as given in above table-3
6.    If a student joins graduate program immediately upon completion of the SUC undergraduate program, the English proficiency scores obtained at the time of admission to undergraduate program can be accepted for admission to the graduate program provided he meets requirements given in above table-3. Otherwise the student has to submit a new IELTS / TOEFL / EMSAT score as per requirement.

B. CONDITIONAL ADMISSION REQUIREMENT- GRADUATE

The VC reserves the right to admit a prospective graduate student on condition under following circumstances where the student does not satisfactorily meet the admission criteria as per MOE.

The requirements for conditional admission have been detailed below:

i. CONDITIONAL ADMISSION TO BUSINESS GRADUATES

Candidates seeking admission in Graduate Program of SUC and is short of meeting CGPA or English language proficiency criteria, which are categorized in the following table, will be considered under conditional admission.

 CASE-BA: CANDIDATES HAVING CGPA ≥ 3.0 ON 4.0 SCALE NOT MEETING ENGLISH PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENT

 CASE-BB: CANDIDATES HAVING CGPA BETWEEN 2.5 TO 2.99

CASE-BC: CANDIDATES HAVING CGPA BETWEEN 2.0 TO 2.49 

ii. CONDITIONAL ADMISSION TO NON-BUSINESS GRADUATES

Candidates seeking admission in Graduate Program of SUC and is short of meeting CGPA or English language proficiency criteria, which are categorized in the following table, will be considered under conditional admission.
Candidates seeking admission in Graduate Program of SUC and is short of meeting CGPA , which are categorized in the following table, will be considered under conditional admission.

CASE NA: CANDIDATES HAVING CGPA ≥ 3.0 ON 4.0 SCALE

CASE NB: CANDIDATES HAVING CGPA BETWEEN 2.5 TO 2.99

CASE NC: CANDIDATES HAVING CGPA BETWEEN 2.0 TO 2.49

 C. TRANSFER ADMISSION REQUIREMENT – GRADUATE

SUC accepts students who are transferring from a federal or licensed institution in the UAE or a foreign institution of higher learning based outside the UAE and accredited in its home country, are eligible for transfer admission.

Only up to 25% of the courses offered in SUC can be offered as transfer of credits transferred to the program. A maximum of 9 credit hours can be accepted as transfer into the MBA Program of SUC provided these credit hours are adequate to meet the requirements for Transfer of credits (TOC) procedures. All the courses in the curriculum are protected except the following courses that can be replaced by accepting TOC from any accredited MBA level program:

 Transfer admission students have to fulfill the following requirements /conditions:

Documents Required

a.    The official transcript from accredited institutions
b.    Detailed syllabi (Credit Value, Level, detailed course content, learning outcomes/objective and indicative learning resources)
c.    An official letter from the previous institution
d.    All documents mentioned in the admission requirements
e.    Applicable processing fee (non-refundable) must be paid for evaluation
f.    Once a student will change his/her emphasis, process will be treated as new, thus, additional fee will be applicable as per published fees structure

Transfer of credit is granted under the following conditions:

a.    They must pass the English proficiency requirement.
b.    The student must attend a minimum of 75% of the credit hours of their study plan at SUC in other words, only up to 25% of the courses offered in SUC can be offered as transfer of credits transferred to the program.
c.    The course contents mentioned in the Course Delivery Package of the previous institution should match to a minimum of 75% of the SUC Syllabus of the corresponding course.
d.    The student must attend a minimum of 27 credit hours of their study plan at SUC in other words, only up to 9 credits or 3 courses can be transferred to the program.
e.    The credit hours completed must be equivalent or higher to the corresponding courses offered at SUC.
f.    Must have passed the course with a minimum of ‘B’ grade or equivalent and overall CGPA of 3.0 on a scale of 4.0
g.    Maximum credits awarded for transfer admission will be limited specified courses at SUC. In case credits earned at the original institution are less than those at SUC, the lower credits will be awarded as transfer.
h.    Once TOC is granted and the graduation plan is signed by the student, the student cannot challenge the TOC decision during the progression of course.
i.    Students of SUC may be permitted to pursue courses outside only in extreme circumstances with prior approval from Administration and VC.
j.    Prohibit accepting credit twice for substantially the same course taken at two different institutions.
k.    The grade points of transferred courses will not be included while calculating the student’s Grade Point Average (GPA).
l.    TOC processing fee is non-refundable (as per applicable fee structure)

Procedure for Finalizing Institutions for the Purpose of Transfer of Credits Qualification

SUC will accept transfer of credits only from the Institutions under the following categories:

a. Accredited by the MOE, UAE
b. Accredited by the Central or Regional accreditation bodies in the United States of America
c. Accredited by the UGC Grants Commission of India
d. Accredited by the HEC Grants Commission of Pakistan
e. Approved by the Quality Assurance Agency in Education, U.K.
f. Accredited/recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education for all other countries from where the student is seeking admission

D. MBA QUALIFYING PROGRAM (MQP)

i. MBA QUALIFYING PROGRAM (MQP)

A candidate who is seeking admission with a Bachelor’s Degree (3 years and above) obtained from a non-business discipline is required to undergo the MQP by taking the following seven courses. In case candidate has already completed any of the MQP courses in the Bachelor degree, he may be exempted from such courses provided an official transcript for evaluation at the time of admission is submitted by them. However, the decision for the exemption will be made jointly by the Dean and VC upon carefully reviewing the course contents as per SUC TOC policy.

The following are the courses required to complete the MQP so as to establish the required knowledge for a student is acquired before enrolling into the MBA program.

All these courses are equivalent to 3 credit hours at BBA level. These credits cannot be used for replacing any of the MBA level courses as these will be treated non-credit bearing courses and are only for the purpose of completing MQP and no transcript shall be issued. Most of these courses are offered at the SUC BBA program enabling the aspirants to pick up any of these courses during the regular semesters of the BBA program or opt for MQP schedule.

ii. MQP TOC Policy

a. TOC will be granted to courses with a grade C at the Undergraduate level with overall CGPA above 2
b. Fill up the MQP TOC application form in SUC
c. Submit the following TOC Admission entry requirement documents:
          1. The official transcript from accredited institutions
          2. Detailed syllabi (Credit Value, Level, detailed course content, learning outcomes/objective and indicative learning resources)
          3. Processing fee of AED 525/- (non-refundable) must be paid for evaluation

d. Business Undergraduate Students must complete at least two courses of Foundation bridging program (MBA Qualifying Program – MQP).

e. Non-Business Undergraduate Students must complete all seven courses of Foundation bridging program (MBA Qualifying Program – MQP). Transfer of credits can be granted for up to maximum 5 courses out of 7 courses of the MBA Qualifying Program as per MQP TOC policy.

iii. CHALLENGE EXAM FOR NON- BUSINESS GRADUATES WITH EXTERNAL MQP:

Non-Business graduates who have completed MQP Program from an MOE approved institution will have to undergo a challenge exam at SUC

Students taking challenge exam must abide by following guidelines:

a.    They need to achieve minimum ‘B’ grade in all seven MQP challenge exam to qualify and join the MBA program without undergoing MQP.
b.    A handbook for each course of challenge exam will be provided to the student.
c.    Student is required to pay the applicable challenge exam fees for each course
d.    Students needs to pass the challenge exam in the first attempt. There will be no second attempt provided.
e.    If the student fails to appear for the challenge exam on the scheduled date, the student can take the challenge exam on a new date by paying the exam fees again.  
f.    If the Student fails to clear challenge exam, he has to undergo MQP by paying the applicable fee for MQP.

 E. REMEDIAL COURSES

A candidate who is seeking admission to graduate program with a recognized Bachelor’s degree and a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.0 to 2.49 on a 4.0 scale or its established equivalent, has to appear in maximum of nine graduate-level credit hours as remedial preparation for the graduate program. These remedial courses are not for credit within the degree program. The student must achieve a minimum CGPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or its established equivalent in the following remedial courses in order to progress to the graduate program or be subject to dismissal.

The list of remedial courses are as follows:

FEE STRUCTURES

GOALS

1. Develop an understanding about the basic concepts and constructs of modern management theories and its applications.
2. Instill analytical thinking that enhances problem solving and decision making.
3. Develop understanding of successful management techniques and practices.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Student will be able to

1. Integrate knowledge in the fields of managerial economics, finance & accounting, human resource management, marketing management & business management systems for managing business operations.
2. Assess ethical values and practices for conducting business
3. Analyze business problems and take strategic decisions
4. Evaluate business scenarios with help of appropriate tools and techniques.

COURSE CURRICULUM