Here are a few highlights from the data collected in the survey:

• 69% of schools have made a significant revision to their MBA curriculum within the past four years.
• The most common curricular revision was adding applied content, such as project-based courses.
• “Integration across topics and disciplines” and “interdisciplinary content” were also popular curricular revisions.
• 25% have added an industry specialization in the past three years; the most common were healthcare/biotech/medicine and entrepreneurship.

• About half the programs reported that they had added leadership development offerings and provided more emphasis on global perspectives.
• 14% of the programs surveyed were new MBA programs that had been launched within the past three years.
• Most of the new programs had moved from concept to enrolling students in less than 18 months, indicating a fairly rapid development cycle.
• Full-time MBA programs experienced the most changes.
• 89% of all MBA programs surveyed are planning additional curricular changes.

Rodney Alsup, president of the MBA Roundtable, applauds the results, saying that “It shows that there has been a concentrated effort among MBA programs to innovate and make changes that increase their relevance to both students and employers.”

The motivation for these changes comes from both internal and external sources, the study reports. Internal quality improvement initiatives were by far the most common motivator, selected by 64% of participants. Among external factors, “competitor schools” was the most commonly chosen answer, with 34% percent of respondents choosing it as one of their motivators.

“The best news to come out of this study is that 89% of MBA programs are already planning additional curricular changes,” concluded Alsup. “That indicates that these programs are on a cycle of continuous improvement.”

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Thinking about an MBA? The Forté Foundation invites women to attend an upcoming Forté Forum event to learn, network, and discover what an MBA can do for future career success.  Forums are held in seven cities throughout the U.S. September 14-October 1, 2009.

Meet with admissions representatives from over 35 top business schools across the country, and talk to GMAT test-preparation companies.  Learn from the experiences of MBA alumnae and current employees at prestigious companies.  Admission is $10. For a schedule of dates and locations, and to register, visit www.fortefoundation.org/forum.

The site, to be called Knowledge@Australian School of Business, will analyze breaking business news, economic trends, business research and government policy in Australia and Asia. Text-based articles, video interviews and audio podcasts will be among the features used to make information both relevant and accessible to a general business audience.

Knowledge@Australian School of Business will be part of the Knowledge@Wharton Network, an online portal for capturing and disseminating business knowledge that is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. The Network has a global audience of more than 1.3 million subscribers; Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Indian editions; and a soon-to-be launched Arabic edition.