Case Study: Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business achieves rapid launch and expanded reach for its inaugural online MBA with Liaison

Santa Clara University Senior Assistant Dean of Graduate Business Programs Discusses Expanding the Reach of Online MBA Program

Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business partnered with Liaison and engaged with Liaison’s BusinessCAS initiative as it prepared to launch its inaugural online MBA on a very tight timeline after regional accreditation. The school’s challenge was to quickly differentiate the new online offering in a crowded market, recruit experienced professionals beyond the Bay Area, and stand up marketing and admissions processes that would scale enrollment while preserving academic standards.

Liaison supported this effort through its BusinessCAS advisory engagement and convening opportunities, while Santa Clara implemented geo-targeted digital ads, optimized landing pages and messaging (“disrupt their career”), direct mail to local GMAT takers, and more intensive lead follow-up; the online curriculum was aligned with a redesigned evening MBA. The campaign delivered a January launch with 15 online students after about two months of recruiting, set a cadence of four starts per year (projecting roughly 80 online students by fall 2018), and the broader program redesign doubled evening MBA intake and helped the school move into U.S. News & World Report’s top 40 part-time MBA rankings — outcomes Liaison’s BusinessCAS engagement is positioned to help extend further.

Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business

Toby McChesney

Senior Assistant Dean of Graduate Business Programs and Special Assistant to Provost