In the wake of a $46 million budget deficit announced at the end of 2024, Brown has vigorously worked towards finding ways to close it. One of the University’s strategies has been to create new online master’s programs like the master’s in management and master’s of science in organizational leadership, both of which are set to take their first cohort in Spring 2026. These two degrees have been gaining nationwide popularity due to job uncertainty. But while they may be esteemed at other universities, it is difficult to believe Brown’s new programs will ever be seen as more than just another cash cow for the University to milk.
There are a few reasons Brown’s online master’s programs in management and organizational leadership are different from their counterparts at peer institutions. First, both programs are offered completely online, with “asynchronous coursework and optional live sessions.” Even the programs’ three-day, in-person “residential experience” is optional. The programs essentially become a series of modules which can be completed independent of any direct instruction.
In particular, Brown’s master’s in management takes students significantly longer to complete when compared to its peer programs. While there is no clear pattern with master’s in organizational leadership programs, most of the full-time leading MiM programs, such as the University of Chicago and Duke University, are in-person and take about 10 to 12 months to finish. Brown’s takes 16. This abnormal duration, the University argues, helps ensure that students don’t have to put their life on pause to enroll. But when compared to a full-time, in-person program with a rigorous workload, the program appears lackluster.
Brown made it clear that these new master’s programs are a means to a fiscal end. Knowing this, it’s hard to believe the administration when they say these programs are offered online to ensure “accessibility and integration across a diverse workforce.” The reality is that online master’s programs are an effective way to increase enrollment, which ultimately means increased revenue from tuition. Trying to increase the global accessibility of advanced education with programs that cost a mere $60,000 in total tuition doesn’t quite make sense.
But my true gripe with the masters’ in management and organizational leadership is the fact that Brown is not suited as an institution to host these programs. All of the top universities in the world that offer an MiM have exceptional business schools. Many of the master’s in organizational leadership programs at other schools are woven into tracks at their business schools and rarely offered on their own. Brown not only doesn’t have a graduate business school — since Brown ended its business, entrepreneurship and organizational studies undergraduate concentration with the class of 2023, it doesn’t even have any undergraduate business or leadership studies concentrations. While the University offers an entrepreneurship certificate and a few economics courses taught in a business school-esque case study style, it does not have the infrastructure — or even a clear department — to house these programs.
Expansion into other areas of graduate study is a valid approach to simultaneously increasing revenue and institutional prestige — but only when done through proper program investment. Brown’s previous management-related master’s programs have all been offered in collaboration with a field-specific school at Brown, whether it was the master’s in healthcare leadership with the School of Public Health or master’s in technology leadership with the School of Engineering. But the new online programs are simply housed in the School of Professional Studies without any clear partnership with an existing business program.
But some of the faculty listed to lead Brown’s online master’s programs have the prefix “visiting” — typically utilized to describe faculty who have no “specific requirement of service obligations to the department and the University.” Though these faculty are highly qualified, their particular status creates questions surrounding Brown’s commitment to developing these programs. Will there ever be an official business school in the future, or is Brown’s idea to bring in individuals to teach classes each new online master’s program depends on?
These two online programs are only the start. With the recent announcement of the master’s in business analytics, these questionable programs are becoming a trend. If Brown is not going to build its own business school, it should partner with its peers to offer students the best experience. The IE Brown Executive MBA, a joint program with IE Business School in Madrid, is a key example — Brown should forge similar collaborations for other graduate programs that it can’t fully support on its own.
Expanding graduate school programs is a valid approach fiscally and for the growth of the University’s research — but it should be done so holistically. Developing programs for areas of study without a dedicated school may cost the University down the line.
Batisse Manhardt ’26 can be reached at batisse_manhardt@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
