iMBA Program Requirements

Leadership and Teams - BADM 508

• Illinois Component: Develops and integrates fundamental behavioral concepts and theory having administrative applications; initially focuses on the individual decision maker and ultimately includes interpersonal, organizational, and social structures and influences; and develops strategies and methods of research on behavioral applications in business
• Coursera Components: Leading Teams: Developing as a Leader  and Leading Teams: Building Effective Team Cultures.
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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Managing Organizations – BADM 509 

• Illinois Component: Examines and analyzes the organization as a social system and the impact of its various components on work attitudes and behavior; topics include the development of organizational structures, organizational effectiveness, decision making and policy formulation, leadership, and change.
• Coursera Components: Designing the Organization: From Strategy to Organization Structure and Managing the Organization: From Organizational Design to Execution
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Strategic Management – BADM 544

• Illinois Component: This course focuses on policy construction and planning of policy implementation at the executive level. During this course, you will look at case studies of company-wide situations from the management point of view.
• Coursera Components: Business Strategy and Corporate Strategy
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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Core 1 Capstone – MBA 590

• 0 Credit Hours; 2 Weeks in Length

Statistics Management Decision Making – BADM 572

• Illinois Component: The application of classical and modern statistics for business decision making. The level of the course assumes some prior knowledge of basic statistics as well as facility with elementary calculus.
• Coursera Components: Exploring and Producing Data for Business Decision Making and Inferential and Predictive Statistics for Business
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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Microeconomics for Business – FIN 574

• Illinois Component: Microeconomics for professional business students. Shows relevance of value and distribution theories for business managers. Includes demand and supply theory, consumer choice, production and cost theory, industrial structure, and was and capital theory.
• Coursera Components: Firm Level Economics: Consumer and Producer Behavior and Firm Level Economics: Markets and Allocations
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Money and Banking – FIN 571

• Illinois Component: This course provides a framework which allows you to assess how new developments in finance and public policy may influence the macroeconomic and business environment.
• Coursera Components: Banking and Financial Institutions and Central Banks and Monetary Policy
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Core 2 Capstone – MBA 590

• 0 Credit Hours; 2 Weeks in Length

Marketing Management – BADM 520

• Illinois Component: Introduces concepts useful in understanding marketing systems and buyer behavior in addition to developing skills in making marketing decisions; the orientation is primarily managerial and uses examples from both business and non-business contexts.
• Coursera Components: Developing a Winning Marketing Strategy and Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth
  
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Operations Management – BADM 567

• Illinois Component: This is an introductory course in decision-making problems in production; includes the theoretical foundations for production management as well as the applications of decision-making techniques to production problems in the firm; and considers production processes, plant layout, maintenance, scheduling, quality control, and production control in particular.
• Coursera Components: Operations Management: Organization and Analysis and Operations Management: Quality and Supply Chain
  
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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Managerial Accounting – ACCY 503

• Illinois Component: Introduction to management accounting as part of the firm's information system, in terms of modern cost accounting and budgetary systems for planning and controlling business operations.
• Coursera Components: Managerial Accounting: Cost Behaviors, Systems, and Analysis and Managerial Accounting: Tools for Facilitating and Guiding Business Decisions
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Core 3 Capstone – MBA 590

• 0 Credit hours; 2 Weeks in Length

Accounting Measurement, Reporting, and Control (Financial Accounting) – ACCY 500

• Illinois Component: A managerial perspective of the nature and role of accounting in organizational measurement, reporting and control processes.
• Coursera Components: Financial Accounting: Foundations and Financial Accounting: Advanced Topics
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Investments - FIN 511

• Illinois Component: Introduction to investment analysis, including the theory and implementation of portfolio theory; empirical evidence on the performance of financial assets; evaluation of portfolio investment strategies; and the extension of diversification to international markets.
• Coursera Components: Investments I: Fundamentals of Performance Evaluation and Investments II: Lessons and Applications for Investors
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Corporate Finance – FIN 570

• Illinois Component: Provides an understanding of the rich diversity of challenges that confront those creating new enterprises. Students will learn about managing growth while considering business models and cash issues, building the team with organizational and managerial issues
• Coursera Components: Corporate Finance I: Measuring and Promoting Value Creation and Corporate Finance II: Financing Investment and Managing Risk
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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*Students who stacked their iMSM degree into the iMBA must consult with a Student & Academic Success Specialist for course selection. Credit is not given for both FIN 500 and FIN 570.

Core 4 Capstone – MBA 590

• 0 Credit Hours; 2 Weeks in Length

Marketing in Our New Digital World – MBA 545

• Illinois Component: This course will explore the new digital realm in two parts. First, this course will explore how the digital revolution has affected our analog world. Second, this course will review the foundations of marketing, including customer co-creation, user-generated content, and 3D Printing.
• Coursera Component: The Digital Marketing Revolution and Marketing in a Digital World
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Digital Marketing Analytics – MBA 542

• Illinois Component: Theory and strategy behind marketing analytics for use in practical application
• Coursera Component: Digital Analytics for Marketing Professionals: Marketing Analytics in Theory and Digital Analytics for Marketing Professionals: Marketing Analytics in Practice
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Digital Media and Marketing – MBA 543

• Illinois Component: Learn the role of digital channels in an integrated marketing campaign and why you need a digital strategy. Interact with the content and learn from a variety of examples.
• Coursera Components: Digital Media and Marketing Principles and Digital Media and Marketing Strategies
  
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Focus Area Capstone – MBA 590

• 0 Credit Hours; 2 Weeks in Length

Strategic Innovation – MBA 551

• Illinois Component: Drawing from many of collective research in disruptions, this course will offer a set of frameworks, tools, and concepts in order to manage the unique challenges and develop innovative strategies while managing disruptive innovations so as to achieve leadership positions.
• Coursera Components: Strategic Innovation: Building and Sustaining Innovative Organizations and Strategic Innovation: Managing Innovation Initiatives
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Fostering Creative Thinking – MBA 552

• Illinois Component: Understand how to work effectively with other people to generate, evaluate, and pitch creative ideas so audiences are more likely to accept them.
• Coursera Components: Creativity Toolkit I: Challenging Perspectives and Creativity Toolkit II: Creative Collaboration
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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Entrepreneurship: From Startup to Growth – MBA 553

• Illinois Component: Provides an understanding of the rich diversity of challenges that confront those creating new enterprises. Students will learn about managing growth while considering business models and cash issues, building the team with organizational and managerial issues.
• Coursera Components: Entrepreneurship I: Laying the Foundation and Entrepreneurship II: Preparing for Launch
  
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
• Learn more

Focus Area Capstone – MBA 590

• 0 Credit Hours; 2 Weeks in Length

Global Marketing – MBA 547

• Illinois Component: Enables students to understand how globalization changes consumers at a psychological level, and provides tools for imbuing brands with cultural meanings that can resonate with global consumers. Examines the ethical bases of corporate decision making using critical ethical analysis, educate and create sensitivity about ethical issues in business.
• Coursera Components: Global Marketing: Cultural Frameworks and Global Marketing: Building Iconic Brands 
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Global Strategy – MBA 548

• Illinois Component: Understand the forces of globalization and the importance of cross-cultural management in the relationship of a multinational organization; how firms adapt to, react towards, and shape the global economy.
• Coursera Components: Global Strategy I: How the Global Economy Works and Global Strategy II: Doing Business in the Global Economy
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Multiculturalism in Management and the Marketplace – MBA 549

• Illinois Component: This course introduces the fundamentals of cross-cultural management by describing the impact of culture on interpersonal processes in organizations, discussing how culture shapes decision-making, negotiation, leadership, teamwork, and organizational structure. Additionally, this course introduces the foundations for dealing with multiculturalism in the marketplace, discussing how culture impacts consumer behavior and how marketers can leverage these insights.
• Coursera Components: Global Impact: Cross-Cultural Management and Global Impact: Multiculturalism
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Focus Area Capstone – MBA 590

• 0 Credit Hours; 2 Weeks in Length

There is no capstone for the Business Analytics focus area. If you were planning to complete a capstone for Business Analytics, please select either a core capstone or capstone for your second focus area.

Introduction to Applied Business Analytics – MBA 561 

This course underwent revisions prior to the Fall 2025 term. This course has been updated with new content starting in Fall 2025. Previous title was Introduction to Business Analytics with R.

• Illinois Component: The course equips you with a practical foundation in business analytics, empowering you to turn raw data into actionable insights across diverse business analytics workflow. You will use a powerful data analytic language, Python, as well as a handy integrated development environment, JupyterLab, to simplify coding in Python and sharing results with others.
• Coursera Components: Updated MOOC with new content forthcoming   
• 2 Credit Hours; 4 Weeks in Length 
  

Introduction to Business Analytics: Communicating with Data – MBA 562 

• Illinois Component: Introduction to the science of business analytics while casting a keen eye toward the artful use of numbers found in the digital space. 
• Coursera Components: Introduction to Business Analytics: Communicating with Data 
• 2 Credit Hours; 4 Weeks in Length 
  

Data Toolkit: Business Data Modeling and Predictive Analytics – MBA 563 
This course will undergo revisions prior to the Fall 2025 term. The course details below reflect the new content starting in Fall 2025.

• Illinois Component: This course introduces several tools for processing business data to obtain actionable insight. The most important tool is the mind of the data analyst. Accordingly, in this course, you will explore what it means to have an analytic mindset. You will also practice identifying business problems that can be answered using data analytics (EDA). Specifically, you will practice using Python functions, SQL commands, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for conducting the ETL and EDA processes. You will also gain a conceptual foundation for why ML algorithms are so important and how the resulting models from those algorithms are used to find actionable insight related to business problems. It is strongly recommended to complete MBA 561 or the MOOC associated with MBA 561 before beginning this course. 
• Coursera Components: Updated MOOC with new content forthcoming
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length 
• Learn more

Applying Data Analytics in Marketing – MBA 564 Special Topics 1
This course will undergo revisions prior to the Spring 2026 term. The course details below reflect new content starting in Spring 2026. It is strongly recommended to complete MBA 561 before beginning this course.

• Illinois Component: This course introduces students to essential concepts in marketing analytics, demonstrating how analytics can address real-world marketing challenges. The course will explore critical tools in marketing analytics including causal analysis, predictive modeling, social media analysis, and customer demand and preference analysis.
• Coursera Components: MOOC under revision
• 2 Credit Hours; 4 Weeks in Length
• Learn more

Applying Data Analytics in Accounting – MBA 564 Special Topics 2
This course will undergo revisions prior to the Spring 2026 term. The course details below reflect the new content starting in Spring 2026. It is strongly recommended to complete MBA 561 or the MOOC associated with MBA 561 before beginning this course.

• Illinois Component: This course explores business analytic applications in accounting. It presents a survey of technology topics in accounting, including text analysis and cybersecurity as well as applications in audit, tax, and assurance. The course also explores visualization and basic analytics in audit and control testing using Python and Alteryx. Additionally, the course will examine automation using Python and dive into data governance concepts.
• Coursera Component: MOOC under revision
• 2 Credit Hours; 4 Weeks in Length
• Learn more

This specialization focuses on the theory and practice of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). By pursuing these courses, you will learn how to use financial accounting and finance information to express the economic realities of complex organizations. There is no capstone opportunity.

It is strongly recommended to complete Finance of Mergers & Acquisitions before completing Accounting for Mergers & Acquisitions and Other Complex Transactions. It is strongly recommended to complete both courses must be completed before completing Application of Investment Banking Concepts. In order to be successful in this specialization, it is critical to have the appropriate basic knowledge of statistics, corporate finance and financial accounting. Completing FIN 570 and ACCY 500 before beginning this specialization will set you up for the best path to success.

Finance of Mergers and Acquisitions – FIN 572

• Illinois Component: Learn to value and price Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) deals and how to choose the optimal financing mix for an M&A deal. Deepen your understanding of financial modeling and capital structure, both in theory and practice. It is important to have a basic notion of statistics and be comfortable with quantitatively focused work before beginning this course.
• Coursera Component: Finance of Mergers and Acquisitions: Valuation and Pricing and Acquisitions: Designing an M&A Deal
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Mergers and Acquisitions and Other Complex Transactions – ACCY 532

• Illinois Component: This course will increase your sophistication as a user of financial information by enhancing your ability to penetrate the complexity of intricate organizational architectures and to gain deeper insight into an organization’s business model, strategy, and performance. It is strongly recommended to complete Finance of Mergers & Acquisitions before beginning this course.
• Coursera Component: Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Foundations and Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Advanced Topics
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Investment Banking Concepts - FIN 573

• Illinois Component: In this course, you will be working on a real-life investment banking case assignment, and create a pitch book that simulates the work product that a Wall Street investment banking firm would deliver to a global client. Prior to beginning this course, it is strongly recommended that you complete Finance of Mergers & Acquisitions and Accounting for Mergers & Acquisitions and Other Complex Transactions.
• Coursera Component:  Investment Banking: Financial Analysis & Valuation and Investment Banking: M&A and Initial Public Offerings
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

This specialization prepares professionals in healthcare and business to tackle complex challenges in the healthcare sector. The specialization emphasizes integrating concepts from new product development, data analytics, design thinking, and entrepreneurship. Learners will gain the skills to identify key healthcare challenges and design innovative solutions with a higher likelihood of success. Through data-driven decision-making and the application of design thinking, participants will be equipped to drive healthcare innovation effectively. 

Identify - Healthcare Ecosystem and Need Identification – MBA 571

• Illinois Component: This course explores the healthcare ecosystem, innovation process, and value creation, emphasizing key principles for design and managing healthcare delivery systems. Learners will identify and analyze unmet stakeholder needs using qualitative, analytical, and design thinking methodologies to recognize successful innovations.
• Coursera Component: Understanding the Healthcare Ecosystem and Need/Opportunity Identification
• 4 Credit Hours, 8 Weeks in Length, Offered in August

Innovate - Healthcare Innovation Processes – MBA 572

• Illinois Component: This course guides learners through the healthcare innovation process, from ideation to product and process development, with a focus on balancing cost, quality, and usability. Learners will explore rapid prototyping, process management, and effective strategies for managing healthcare innovation. The course also covers integrating technology trends, user feedback, and various analyses to develop strong concepts and business case preparation.
• Coursera Component: Understanding Healthcare Innovation Process I and Healthcare Innovation Process II (MOOC forthcoming!)
• 4 Credit Hours, 8 Weeks in Length, Offered in October

Implement - Healthcare Business Strategy and New Venture Implementation - MBA 573

• Illinois Component: This course equips learners with strategy and business skills to launch, manage, and grow healthcare ventures while navigating disruption and change. Learners will develop sustainable business models, build teams, explore financing options, and learn how to engage with investors. It also examines the transformative ideas reshaping healthcare innovations.
• Coursera Component:  Healthcare Bus. Strategy and New Venture Design and Future of Healthcare and Emerging Trends (MOOCs forthcoming!)
• 4 Credit Hours, 8 Weeks in Length, Offered in January

Students may take 12 elective credit hours that can be applied to their degree to satisfy one of the two focus area specialization requirement. Elective courses do not have capstones or certificates associated with their completion.  

ACCY 574 - Risk Management and Innovation

• Illinois Component: Course content focuses on identifying and quantifying risks, and balancing between achieving consistent, measurable outcomes and delivering stakeholder-driven objectives.
• Coursera Component: Empathy, Data, and Risk and Empathy and Data in Risk Management
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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BDI 577: Disruption and Emerging Technologies

• Illinois Component: Investigates the landscape of emerging technologies, empowering learners to critically analyze their evolution, applications, and potential challenges. Will focus on emerging technologies such as blockchain or artificial intelligence.
• Coursera Components: Emerging Technology, Disruption, and AI and Blockchains, Tokens, and The Decentralized Future
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

BADM 589 - Project Management

• Illinois Component: Master techniques and tools used by project managers, identify critical behavior required of teams for managing projects, and be aware of potential conflicts and problems that can occur during a project’s lifestyle.
• Coursera Component: Project Initiation & Planning and Project Execution & Control
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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MBA 565 – Infonomics

• Illinois Component: This course provides a non-technical perspective on and methods for monetizing, managing, and measuring information as if it were any other kind of corporate asset.
• Coursera Component: Infonomics I and Infonomics II
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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ACCY 531 – Financial Statement Analysis for MBAs
Prerequisite: ACCY 500

• Illinois Component: Throughout the semester we will discuss financial reporting from a user’s perspective, use a variety of tools to break apart financial reports into meaningful units for analysis, forecast financial statements, and value a firm. This course in financial statement analysis is intended to give you exposure to the issues facing users of financial statements.
• Coursera Component: Financial Statements, SEC Filings and Ratio Analysis and Beyond the Financials: Insights, Analysis, and Valuations
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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ACCY 593 - AI in Business: Fundamentals, Applications, and the Future

• Illinois Component: This course offers a comprehensive look at artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on business. Students will explore AI’s evolution, core technologies like machine learning and deep learning, and applications in areas such as robotics and autonomy. Emphasizing both practical skills and ethical considerations, the course equips students to implement AI across business functions like finance, human resources, marketing, sales, manufacturing, and supply chain management. The course will provide opportunities to learn and practice the use of AI tools and prepare students for future developments in AI. 
• Coursera Components: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length
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You must complete a full Gies iMBA focus area if selecting the Agribusiness and Sustainable Food Production Economics courses. If you are interested in pursuing this option, we encourage you to meet with a Student & Academic Success Specialist to amend your degree plan.  

Global Agriculture and Supply Chains - ACE 544

• Illinois Component: In this course, you will be introduced to production and distribution of agricultural commodities and food products. Topics will cover a full range of the agriculture supply chain from pre-farm to the consumer.
• Coursera Components: Supply Chain of Agriculture and Issues in Supply Chain Management
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

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Risk and Decision-Making in Agriculture - ACE 545

• Illinois Component: This course will discuss the risks faced by farmers and agribusiness firms, the tools available to manage these risks, and the resulting approaches to managerial decision making.
• Coursera Components: Risks to Crop Production in Agriculture and Strategies and Tools to Mitigate Agricultural Risk
• 4 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

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Agriculture as an Asset Class - ACE 546

• Illinois Component: Examine the scale and structure of the US agricultural sector, the capital structure and financing of the asset class, and the rise of investment activities. Financial performance and mechanisms creating exposure to the asset class will be discussed and developed along with recently emerging channels for investing in the asset.
• Coursera Component: Agriculture as an Asset Class
• 2 Credit Hours; 4 Weeks in Length

Modern Issues in Food and Agriculture - ACE 547

• Illinois Component: Through this course you will investigate a range of current issues in food and agriculture, and will use a counterpoint discussion framework wherein learners are encouraged to voice their opinions or ask questions about the topics.
• Coursera Component: Modern Issues in Food & Agriculture
• 2 Credit Hours; 4 Weeks in Length

• Illinois Component: Learners beginning Fall 2023 and beyond are required to take MBA 597: Program Foundations concurrently with their first course(s) in the iMBA program. This course is designed to help learners develop the skills needed to succeed in their program, further connections to both peers and faculty and acquire a firm understanding of academic and other expectations within the program.
• Coursera Components: Community of Purpose and Your iDegree Journey will be available during soft launch
• 0 Credit Hours; 8 Weeks in Length

Program Capstone – MBA 598

• 0 Credit Hours; 4 Weeks in Length

To earn a graduate certificate as part of your iMBA, you must complete all 12 credit hours of certificate coursework during your current degree program. Only one graduate certificate is allowed on your academic record at a time, meaning that you must confer the first graduate certificate before you are able to add a second certificate, should you choose to earn two during your degree program.

To earn a graduate certificate, you must complete the two-step process of adding the certificate to your record through a Curriculum Change Petition and then applying to graduate through self-service to officially confer your graduate certificate. It is highly recommended that you add your intended certificate to your record early in your degree program and confer once you are either enrolled in or have completed the final course within the graduate certificate.

Please refer to the University Calendar to identify academic deadlines to add to your record and confer a degree each semester. You may add to your record and confer in different semesters.

Fall Deadlines  l   Spring Deadlines   l    Summer Deadlines  

1. Login to the Graduate Student Portal using your NetID and password  
2. Under the "Forms and Resources" section, click on the "Graduate Student Petition" link and "Start a new petition"  
3. Select "Curriculum Change" as your request type and complete all fields on the form  
4. Are you currently on an upcoming degree list? Select "Yes" or "No" to indicate if you have already applied to graduate from the iMBA. You can verify this by clicking on the “View Graduation Application” in the UIUC Self-Service “Graduation” section 
5. Enter the effective Term: Enter the term you wish to desire to add this to your academic record 
6. Select Curriculum Change Category: "Current doctoral or master's student adding a secondary certificate program curriculum"  
7. Add the certificate you are requesting in the "New Degree Program" option from the drop-down list  
8. Please provide a detailed explanation of your request.
   "Please add the {list focus area} Graduate Certificate to my academic record effective in {list term}"
9. Click "continue" when you have completed these steps and to submit your petition.  

It may take up to one week to see this added to your academic record after submitting the petition. The Graduate College will send you an email confirming the certificate has been added to your academic record.

Step 2: Confer your Graduate Certificate