NC State Jenkins MBA Supply Chain Program Ranked No. 15 by Gartner

The NC State Poole College of Management’s Jenkins MBA supply chain management program rose four places to No. 15 in Gartner Research’s 2018 ranking of graduate supply chain programs in North America. Results of the survey were published September 17 on the Gartner website.

The NC State Jenkins MBA supply chain curriculum is one of 17 graduate programs ranked by Gartner that require students to complete client projects, and one of seven whose students have an average of seven or more years of experience.

“Program scope is one of the categories in which NC State did particularly well,” said Robert Handfield, executive director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC) at Poole College and Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management.

“Gartner assess whether the school has a diverse, balanced program based on the Gartner Supply Chain Talent Attribute Model. Although we have a much smaller program than the big schools like Penn State, Michigan State and Tennessee, we make up for it with a diverse program, featuring such innovative curriculum elements as the supply chain practicum, healthcare analytics, contract management, and decision support systems. We are one of only a handful of schools in the country that require all of our students to work on a practicum project as a requirement in the curriculum,” Handfield said.

The SCRC, one of Poole College’s industry-academic initiatives, coordinates experiential learning with its partner companies for the college’s supply chain management students. The combination of applied learning and the depth of the MBA students’ prior work experience brings value to SCRC’s partner companies as they work to resolve real world challenges, Handfield said.

Since its founding in 2000, the SCRC has teamed up with more than 280 industry partners to work on more than 630 student-led field-based projects with substantial quantitative or qualitative returns.

“We are seeing students tackle supply chain analytics problems that companies do not have the resources or capability to do on their own. Students and executives are applying unique analytical tools and methodologies to learn together,” Handfield said.

“In this way, our company sponsors are teaching students the skills they will need when they enter the workforce, and helping them to work through the details of project management, scope creep, data quality issues, project deliverables, and teamwork,” he said. Additional information about the Garner ranking can be found in the full report, which is may be accessed by registering on the Gartner website.

Additional information about the NC State Jenkins MBA supply chain program is available on the MBA supply chain concentration website and the NC State SCRC website.