What is in a name?

Well, for executives and aspiring C-Suiters looking to upskill, having the word “customized” in an educational offering can make all the difference in whether it can fit into their busy lives. That is why the Global Leadership Programs in the Naveen Jindal School of Management’s Executive Education Area recently changed names to better reflect the numerous changes and benefits that the program has been offering for several years.

The Global Leadership MBA (GLEMBA) has been rebranded as the Customized Online MBA. The program’s other graduate offerings — the Master’s in Management Science and the Executive MBA with an emphasis in Project Management — are now all under the Customized Online Programs.

Rhonda Bush, assistant dean in Executive Education and director of the three programs, said GLEMBA’s new name better matches what the MBA program was already offering.

“GLEMBA transitioned to a fully online MBA more than five years ago,” she said. “We have seen increased requests from students to expand their MBA knowledge beyond international business. Students expressed interest in additional concentrations or certificates to create their own customized MBA. Thus, we decided to rename the degree to match what we were already offering — a fully online customizable MBA option through Executive Education.”

Bush said that the new names better reflect the programs’ content and objectives, which align with students’ desires.

“The programs are fully online with the ability to add up to two academic certificates or two concentrations,” she said. “We are also offering, for the first time, the ability for students to create their own project in line with their professional growth goals. We expect this combination to help students achieve not just their current career goals but their long-term goals as well.”

The name changes also align with the Executive Education Area’s — and the Jindal School’s — overall strategic goals. As an expert in artificial intelligence, Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and Jindal school dean for 29 years, has pushed program directors in the school to stay ahead of the curve in relation to the recent explosion of AI in nearly every business sector. Bush said that the flexibility of the new Customized Online MBA and Customized Online Program allow students to include courses with AI that might not have been possible beforehand.

“This change allows full-time working professionals to create a degree that aligns to their own corporate strategies, their own personal goals as well as build their business fundamentals,” she said.

Bush said that the flexible 8-week course structure remains intact, as does the high focus on individualized student support and degree plan development. Neither a GRE nor a GMAT is required to be admitted. Only three years of work experience is required for students with an undergraduate degree. Students can start at any time throughout the year. The new flexible structure also opens other possibilities for students.

“The previously required international business track will now become an optional elective course track moving forward,” she said. “We already have current students moving to the new catalog due to the flexibility in the program. They are excited to hear that they can swap out electives much easier than before and that the course rollout offers more flexibility in completing the core-classes.”

Students are not alone in seeing the value of the program’s customization possibilities. Faculty also see the benefits, Bush said.

“With faculty, we have shared with them over the last year some of the additional flexibility requests from our students,” she said. “Many of our faculty are excited about the option of offering additional elective courses.”

As for alumni who may have a sense of pride in being associated with the GLEMBA brand, Bush hopes they will see that the Jindal School is keeping intact the original intent of the program — that online learning opens the world for its students.

“We will still offer international business electives and still highlight the worldwide connectedness of doing business,” she said.

Since the new name better reflects the current program’s offerings, Bush expects that it will reach more people who may be researching and inquiring about online MBA programs.

“The previous names did not imply or hint in any way that the programs are online,” she said. “We also know that more and more students want personalized experience both in and out of education. The new titles highlight those aspects of the programs and we hope future students will include the Customized Online MBA or the Customized Online Programs as part of their academic journey.”