The biotech industry has been growing steadily since the onset of the pandemic. While biotechnology can be traced back to the 1970s, the demand for lifesaving and preventative drugs, vaccines, and other therapeutics to treat COVID-19 boomed during the pandemic. The global biotech market surpassed $1 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow by nearly 14% each year until 2030, market research shows.
In step with industry growth, demand for biotech professionals is projected to grow 9% between 2021 and 2031, which is faster than all other occupations, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. To meet industry demand, Syracuse University announced in late March the launch of a dual degree program that includes an MBA and master’s in biotechnology. Fortune ranks Syracuse as having top master’s degree programs in data science, cybersecurity, and computer science.
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“There is increased demand for students who understand science—and biotechnology in particular—and how it can be applied in business settings,” Lois Agnew, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said in a statement. “We are very excited about leveraging our cutting-edge biotechnology program by combining it with the Whitman School’s equally impressive MBA program.”
How Syracuse’s dual MBA, biotech program works
The new program will be hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Whitman School of Management, which Fortune ranks as having top online MBA, full-time MBA, and online master’s in business analytics programs.
Syracuse is also regarded as having a strong biotech program, especially since university leadership proposed a “university-wide STEM branding strategy” in 2018. Biotech research and programming have grown steadily more popular since then, according to reporting by The Daily Orange. The new program also comes on the heels of the school launching a joint MD/MBA program between SUNY Upstate Medical University and Whitman.
This new dual master’s degree is intended for students who want to be more “versatile” and “multidisciplinary”—in other words, business leaders with scientific backgrounds. During the degree program, students will learn STEM concepts, but also applied commercial aspects of their work, according to Syracuse.
“By partnering more closely with the biotechnology program, we see a lot of potential for our students to apply both scientific principles and business acumen to grasp the best of both worlds more fully: the actual work that goes in behind the scenes in new product development, R&D, and technology commercialization, with management, sales, and business,” Alexander McKelvie, Whitman interim dean, said in a statement. “This helps students in industries related to pharmaceuticals, biomaterials, and biomedicine, among others.”
In terms of career advancement, students will leave both with lab skills as well as a grasp on management, sales, and commercialization, said Kate Lewis, chair of the Department of Biology.
The degree requires 76.5 credits for graduation, which can be completed within two and a half years, and students can start this fall. Application requirements remain “similar for both programs,” according to Syracuse.
How to apply to Syracuse’s dual MBA, biotech master’s program
MBA admissions to Syracuse require a résumé, recommendation letters, transcripts, a GMAT or GRE score (although waivers are available), and an essay. The biotech master’s application requires a personal statement, three recommendation letters, a résumé, and transcripts.
Admissions contact information is available on Syracuse’s website for students who are interested in applying for the dual degree program. Syracuse has not released a tuition statistic for the program yet, but the standard graduate tuition rate at the school is $1,802 per credit.
The school offers merit scholarships and has partnered with Management Leadership for Tomorrow and the National Black MBA Association to offer scholarships for underrepresented minority candidates.
Check out all of Fortune’s rankings of degree programs, and learn more about specific career paths.
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