B-school is a shortened name for business school, an institution that offers university-level degrees in business administration. Though the term business school can mean different things in different areas and to different learning institutions, they have been known in general to be the top trainers of executives and entrepreneurs across the United States and the world. A business school can offer a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), a bachelor’s degree, an associate’s degree, or various other levels of certification. Many B-schools also offer online business classes and degrees.
At a B-school you can take classes in many topics, including organizational behavior, marketing, human resource management, accounting, and finance. Many business schools utilize case studies for teaching. These case studies include descriptions and analyses of actual situation and can be as long as many dozen pages. The most prolific producer of these case studies, and one of the most renowned business schools in the world, is the Harvard Business School.
One variation of B-school is a business school as a department or college within a university. This type of business school is the most prevalent in the United States, and is offered at many large universities around the country. They teach mostly business classes and offer bachelor’s degrees and often master’s and doctorate degrees as well. Often, in the United States, the business school is considered to be the department or college entered after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business. These higher learning college offer strictly business classes and are certified to award master’s degrees.
Another type of business school common around the world, usually at much smaller locations than large universities, is the two-year business college. These colleges usually offer two-year associate’s degrees and a variety of online-only classes. They are often seen more as business ventures than institutions, but are accredited to certify associate’s degrees, and are often a stepping stone for further business education or for manager positions at various organizations.
In 1759, the first specialized institution for business and commerce, the first B-school in the world, was The Aula de Comercio in Lisbon. The first business college within a larger university was opened in 1881 with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The first PhD program was offered in business in 1898 at the University of Chicago. In 1957, INSEAD in Paris became the first European school to offer an MBA, and in 1992 the Thunderbird School of Management became the first B-school to open campus locations on three different continents.
