March 28, 2025 | Michael Fechter
With downtown Miami and surrounding areas booming with new finance, tech and health science workers, the University of Miami is relaunching its professional MBA program this fall.
Officials hope to attract around 35 students for the initial class, primarily those who are around six to eight years into their careers, says Hari Natarajan, vice dean of business programs at the Miami Herbert Business School. It’s at that stage when people start to supervise others and advance to positions where “they need broader understanding of the world — how marketing and operations interface with finance. That’s when you start figuring out that you need an MBA.”
Demand for UM’s online and global executive MBA programs along with market research indicate there will be enough students to sustain the new program, which aims to provide “an end-to-end personalized learning experience that’s as comprehensive as possible,” Natarajan says.
“There’s always been a market for working professionals seeking to up-skill,” he says. “Given the industries that are booming in Miami, it makes a lot of sense for us to come up with an offering like this.”
UM’s previous professional MBA program was campus-based with in-person classes on Saturdays and Monday evenings. A combination of people having difficulty getting to Coral Gables during the week and the COVID-19 pandemic sapped interest. The new program will be “hybrid” with in-class and online instruction.
There will be a couple of in-class days, including at the start of a term, but students won’t be required to trek to UM’s main campus, with options to stream online. Those instructional sessions will be followed by what Natarajan calls “asynchronous learning” in the form of reading assignments or online content. The goal is to create a flexible experience that’s also personalized, so students who need it can receive additional attention.