Schools open for 'business' on the waterfront

Originally appeared in the Jersey Journal on Thursday, March 01, 2007

By COTTON DELO

Taking cues from the flourishing financial community in Downtown Jersey City, two universities have launched new business programs on the waterfront.

New Jersey City University and Rutgers University now join Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, and the University of Phoenix as schools of higher education on the west bank of the Hudson.

Evening classes for NJCU's graduate business program started in January in the Harborside Financial Center, 286 Washington St., Jersey City.

The location was scouted with an eye toward attracting business people employed by banking, securities, real estate and economic firms on the waterfront.

Students in the program do course work toward master's degrees in accounting and finance, and many of the requirements can be satisfied online to accommodate work schedules.

"Most of our graduate students already are working in the field, and they've come so that they can advance in the field or just for their own information - to grow intellectually," said Sandra Bloomberg, dean of the College of Professional Studies at NJCU.

Bloomberg said enrollment was up from 70 to 115 since spring, when graduate courses were still held on the NJCU campus on Kennedy Boulevard. The move to the waterfront should make classes more attractive to the 30,000 residents of Downtown Jersey City.

Meanwhile, Rutgers is expanding its business-related offerings in Jersey City with two new courses this winter.

The Center for Management Development will offer its 12-week "Mini-MBA: Business Essentials" certificate program, meeting Mondays, beginning this Monday. The five-week, 10-session "Mini-MBA: Finance Essentials," meeting twice a week, also starts Monday.

Delivered in 12 three-hour classes, "Business Essentials" covers business strategy, corporate finance, supply chain management, business ethics and strategic human resources.

"Finance Essentials" focuses on real-world applications of conceptual knowledge in finance.

Both courses meet from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Newport Centre complex, 100 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City - incidentally the same building as the University of Phoenix, a school that earned recognition nationwide through online courses.