We continue our Foreign Student Series with a report this weekabout M.B.A. programs in the United States. An M.B.A. is a master'sdegree in business administration. Students learn to deal with allkinds of business situations. They develop skills needed by manydifferent industries.

M.B.A. programs teach about economics. They also teach about thestructure of organizations, and about other subjects includingfinance and marketing. Students do more study in areas that interestthem.

It usually takes two years to get an M.B.A. if you attend schoolfull time. People who have jobs might choose a part-time programthat takes longer. There are also executive M.B.A. programs whichmight be completed in as little as eighteen months. Classesgenerally meet on weekends.

Business is one of the most popular areas of study for studentswho come to the United States. To be admitted to an M.B.A. program,foreign students must have a bachelor's degree. They must show aclear understanding of English by doing well on the Test of Englishas a Foreign Language. Most students also take the GraduateManagement Admission Test. Most of the one thousand five hundredM.B.A. programs around the world use these test scores.

The Graduate Management Admission Council has some advice forforeign students. It says they should investigate in detail whatdifferent schools could do to help them find a job. For example, askhow many companies that come to the school are willing to hireinternational students. Also ask if summer internships are possible.The council says even the best schools may have a lower average ofjob placement for international graduates than for others.

One example of a school that offers a part-time M.B.A. program isthe University of Maryland University College. Students have achoice. They can do all the work over the Internet. Or they can workonline and also attend traditional classes. The Web site for moreinformation is umuc.edu.

Information about other M.B.A. programs can be found from theGraduate Management Admission Council at mba.com. And you can findall the reports so far in our Foreign Student Series atWWW.51VOA.COM.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by NancySteinbach. I'm Phoebe Zimmermann.