The graduate programs at the Leeds School of Business organize each incoming group of students into cohorts. An academic cohort is a group of students working in the same education program who finish their degree together, which is beneficial for staff, facultyÌýand students. As a top ranked business school, Leeds focuses on providing approaches designed for student success.
One of the first benefits of cohorts in graduate programs is that members are able to build their professional networks. Students in the MBA Program and the Master’s Program come from a variety of professional and education backgrounds, which allows connections across industries. By building professional connections, students gain advantages with their career development and professional advancement after their program has ended.
As students build professional connections, they also build personal bonds. Because a cohort spends a large portion of their time together, students are able to build genuine, long-lasting friendships. This allows students to create a strong community and a defined environment for their experience. These bonds also help students to develop their leadership, learn team work skills and build a pool of resources. These skills and friendships will help students succeed in the work place.
The sense of community throughout the Leeds programs, affords students the greatest benefits of the cohort structure: learning benefits. Because courses are interactive and discussion-based, strong community helps students engage more honestly with material in class. Classes become a shared experience, which allows the wealth of knowledge from the cohort’s diversity of backgrounds to encourage new ways of thinking. This allows students to not only learn from their professors, but also from their peers.
"We feel the cohort design of Leeds' graduate programs is a leading contributor to the 90+% graduation rates."
Helen Zucchini, Graduate Programs
The organization of cohorts allows Leeds students to see a clear path from the start of their program to graduation. Not only does it allow professors and advisors to provide better advice for the students, students are also able to develop clear educational and career goals through the length of the program.
Leeds’s cohort structure brings another level of benefits to students who participate in the Master’s and MBA programs. Along with the Leeds’s high standard of acedmic rigor, students graduate with friendships, professional connections and key skills for their careers.
