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w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m M a r c h 2 0 15 • I NSIGH T | 25 I N S I G H T O N C O N T I N U I N G E D U C A T I O N B y N i k k i K a l l i o T aking his education to the next level is something Jeff Potts wanted to do, but it was difficult to find the time while he was working. "Essentially, a master's degree is something I've always been interested in obtaining," Potts says. "But when you look at doing it the traditional way while having a professional career, it's something that would probably take three, five, or maybe even seven years." But then he discovered UW- Oshkosh's new executive MBA, which allows busy professionals to complete the program in 16 months. e program also waives the Graduate Record Examination for students with enough professional experience, eliminating lengthy preparation time. "at was really what tipped the scale and made me go back to school, was the format of the education," Potts says. Nationally, undergraduate enrollment is showing a slight decline. e National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reports national student enrollment for all four-year and for public two-year colleges in Fall 2014 was down 1.3 percent nationally and 1.6 percent in Wisconsin. At the same time, demand for graduate programs is on the rise as companies seek workers with more skills and even require their current employees to complete their education before job advancement. Educational sure that we are always aligned with what are the needs of businesses and how can we support those needs now and into the future in this ever-changing and evolving world," Hagens says. Likewise, St. Norbert College is seeing an increased demand for graduate education and is launching a new MBA program in September. College officials were careful to consider how it could fill the MBA niche in a unique way, and decided to offer three tracks — business, supply chain/manufacturing and health care/ medical, says Kevin Quinn, dean of the Schneider School of Business and Economics at St. Norbert College. "ere's no doubt the gap between the labor market outcomes Back to school Regional colleges and universities vie for non-traditional student enrollment institutions are responding to the trends, developing new programs to capture the attention of non-traditional students. UW-Oshkosh, which had a master's of business administration program, developed the accelerated program aer seeking input from more than 500 prospective students and employers, says Kathy Hagens, director of the MBA program at the university. In addition to its 16-month format, students also wanted immediate applicability — being able to learn something on Saturday and apply it to their professional lives the following week, Hagens says. e program also includes an international component. "For us, it's critical to be able to make [continued] » Jeff Potts, an executive MBA student at UW-Oshkosh, said the intensive, 16-month program has already paid off even though he doesn't graduate until December. UW-Oshkosh and other universities and colleges are developing new programs and evolving existing ones to help attract non-traditional students such as Potts. C O U R T E S Y O F U W - O S H K O S H