MSL Program Director Leslie Oster was recently featured in Crain’s Executive Education Roundtable about degree programs that support education for executives. With online and residential part-time options, the MSL degree can certainly fit into the busy schedules of working professionals.

Read what Leslie had to say about the topic below or read the full article here!

Why should people consider executive education?

Careers don’t always proceed according to plan; professionals often find themselves working on projects and in settings they could not have imagined when they began their careers. Executive education allows professionals to make educational adjustments that respond to some of the career twists and turns that have brought them to where they are. Tooling up on topics and skills that are directly relevant to a person’s day-to-day work will allow experienced professionals to take the next step in advancing their careers.

What’s an example of a graduate program offered by your institution, and what distinguishes it from others in the Chicago area?

The Law School at Northwestern University offers a master of science in law (MSL) degree, designed for STEM professionals who find themselves interacting with law or legal concepts in their careers, which so many of them do. Law schools have always been good at teaching a powerful set of topics, skills, and tools, but legal education has not been generally accessible to professionals who don’t want or need a full three-year juris doctor degree. The MSL fills this gap. Not only is this the only program of its kind in the Chicago area, there’s nothing like it anywhere in the country.

Where and how do you offer programming?

The MSL is available in three different formats. There’s a full-time residential program, which takes one academic year to complete; a part-time residential program, which takes two to four years to complete; and a new online program, which also takes two to four years to complete. Both the residential full-time and the residential part-time formats take place at the law school, which is in downtown Chicago. The residential part-time format is most popular with mid-career professionals located in the Chicagoland area. Classes are offered mostly on weekday nights, with a few weekend classes scattered throughout the curriculum. The recently-launched online program allows working professionals to complete the program from anywhere in the world. Classes in the online program include both asynchronous (self-paced) and synchronous (all students online at the same time) components. There’s also a requirement of a one-week residential (on-campus) component for all students in the online format.

How does your program prepare its graduates for working in the current business environment or industry?

The MSL degree is all about exposing professionals to a wide range of relevant issues so that they can better understand the myriad considerations that will arise in the lifecycle of a product or idea. MSL training allows graduates to bring a more holistic and global perspective to the table. At the same time, it focuses on specific leadership skills that are essential in today’s environment—quantitative skills, teamwork skills, writing, presentation, and decision-making, to name a few. This combination of perspective, knowledge and skills make graduates extremely valuable in dynamic business settings.

What opportunity do you offer students to tailor their own course of study?

Students come to the MSL program with a wide range of STEM-related experience, and we’ve created a program that allows each one to tailor a course of study based on his or her own specific professional background and goals. The program focuses on business, law, regulation, and skills development, and it includes a wide range of study areas, including entrepreneurship, intellectual property, privacy, healthcare, energy, innovation, technology, patents and many others. The required part of the curriculum comprises about a third of the required units, which means that students get to choose about two-thirds of their courses from a robust list of electives. There are over 50 electives offered, and most students will take between 10 and 15 elective courses, so there’s a lot of choice.

What extracurricular opportunities exist for students to enrich their education?

There are over 50 student organizations in the law school; students have the option of becoming a member of one or more—which involves a minimal time commitment—or taking on a leadership role, which is obviously more time-consuming. Some organizations have a substantive focus, like the Intellectual Property Law Society, or the Entrepreneurship Law Center, while some have a more political or social focus. Some organizations have a public service focus; in fact, almost all of our law students undertake public service work outside the classroom. Students also have an amazing choice of interesting speakers and events at the law school. Outside of school, many students maintain affiliations in professional organizations related to their work and backgrounds.

Given the rising cost of college and graduate school, how are you able to help make it affordable?

We have scholarship money available for students in the full-time residential program, and also a special scholarship program for applicants with PhDs. Students in all programs have access to federally-backed student loans. Moreover, a number of employers are willing to assist employees who want to enroll in our program on a part-time or online basis.

What factors should prospective students consider when evaluating executive education programs?

Prospective students should think about what they want to gain from the program and how specifically the program will help them advance their career. They should also consider whether they have time to do the program and whether the program will fit into their lifestyle.

What new programming/offerings do you have planned for 2018-19?

We’ve just launched an online version of the MSL program with two start dates each year —August and January. We’ve also added a number of new subjects to the MSL residential curriculum, including securities regulation, presentation skills, data science, assessing artificial intelligence, data security, practical aspects of contracts and software patents.

If you’re an executive or working professional interested in learning more about how the MSL degree can boost your career objectives and fit into your schedule, feel free to reach out to us via email at msl@northwestern.edu!