UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business’s three MBA programs have received STEM designation, Haas Newsroom announced Nov. 14.

Acquiring STEM designation for its MBA programs — full-time MBA, MBA for executives, and evening and weekend MBA — enables international students that graduate from these programs to apply for a 24-month visa extension during their employment, according to Haas Newsroom.

“The reclassification of the MBA into a category recognized as a STEM program may enhance research and funding opportunities, job market placement and diversity, and growth in the field that can be associated with other STEM majors,” said Peter Johnson, assistant dean of the full-time MBA program, in an email.

Current international students studying on F-1 visas can apply for the extension during their first year of employment after graduation. Approval of their extension, however, is contingent upon the training plans submitted by both their employers and the MBA graduates, according to Haas Newsroom.

While both Haas and national applications to fall 2019 MBA programs decreased, Haas’s programs “still had over 12 applicants for every seat available in the program,” Johnson said in the email.

Furthermore, Haas witnessed a slight increase in international students in its full-time MBA program. Johnson added in the email that 35% of 283 students in its 2021 class pursuing that program are international, whereas in 2018, 34% of 291 students were international.

After a campus review of how its programs are categorized by the National Center for Education Statistics, Haas’s MBA programs received STEM designation, according to Haas Newsroom.

In changing its MBA programs from “Business Administration and Management, General,” to “Management Science,” Haas was able to complete its transition to STEM programs, according to Johnson.

“Students heading off into the work force … must engage in the world and language of new analytics,” said UC Berkeley environmental, science, policy and management professor Justin Brashares in an email. “They also must be able to empathize with a client/consumer base that is increasingly demanding corporate responsibility. STEM is central to that education.”