Administration courses are typically types of classes or schooling aimed at teaching someone how to run or operate a business or a particular aspect of business. These types of classes may include practical financial coursework, operations of a business, inventory control, and other issues that someone running a business would want to know. They may be intended for someone looking to be a manager at a large company or for someone who wants to open a business. There are also specialized types of courses for areas such as hospital administration, educational administration, and general business administration.
General administration courses are typically aimed at teaching someone the basics of day-to-day operations and management of a business or office. These types of classes may not teach everything a business person needs to know, but they can certainly help someone get a solid introductory idea of what he or she will need to know. For example, subjects such as employee management, data entry, delegation of tasks, follow through, and reading databases can all be areas of instruction for these types of administration courses.
Other types of administration courses, such as hospital administration, can focus on specific types of industries and the skills needed to run those types of businesses. Hospital administration, for example, would typically include areas of knowledge such as insurance industry practices, information on malpractice insurance and claims, understanding the laws and ethics behind medicine, and how to run health care effectively as a business. These types of skills would not prepare someone to work as a doctor, health care practitioner, or nurse, but would instead focus on the practical business side of running a hospital or doctor’s office. A nurse or doctor might consider taking these types of administration courses to better understand how to run a private practice or survive in the hectic environment of a hospital.
Administration courses focused on education would prepare someone for running and operating a school or similarly working within a school district. Much like the hospital administration courses, these would not teach practical aspects of education such as educational theories, teacher pedagogy, or classroom management. Instead, educational administration courses would provide a person with the knowledge needed to run a school or a school district. A teacher interested in becoming a principal might take these types of courses, as well as someone looking to become a superintendent or other political figure in a school system.