Dive Brief:
- Harvard Business School on Tuesday announced the global launch of its online business basics (or CORe, Credential of Readiness) program.
- The program — which lasts two months at a cost of $1,500 — will be open to applicants around the world, including adult learners out of school up to 10 years and admitted MBA students who want a "boot camp experience."
- Two pilots of the program were offered prior to its launch: The first including 600 students, followed by a B2B run with 500 managers from nine companies.
Dive Insight:
For Harvard Business School, this is a big deal, given that it's the first time the program has been offered on such a wide scale. Its content consists of case studies and videos, and it was designed with non-business undergrads in mind as a means of giving them valuable basic business skills for the post-grad job market.
Along with summer undergrad programs from other institutions, competition predicted by Fortune due to Harvard's branding on the program includes Executive MBA programs — though it isn't as robust and would be more enticing to those who would enroll in second-tier programs. According to Fortune, the program was also a hit in the beta tests, with participants giving it high marks for engagement and instructional quality.