The Master of Science in Supply Chain Management STEM program at the Naveen Jindal School of Management has been ranked No. 4 among North American universities by Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm.
Gartner announced its 2022 biennial graduate rankings during a July 14 webinar. The Jindal School jumped seven slots from No. 11 in 2020.
Dr. David Widdifield, assistant dean of academic operations at the Jindal School, said his team put a lot of effort into making sure that the program is competitive.
“For its ranking, Gartner looks at three factors — academic curriculum with supply chain end-to-end focus, industry awareness and value, and program size,” he said. “Over the last few years, we’ve worked hard on making industry aware of our program, its curriculum, and the value that our students bring to our business partners’ firms. Additionally, we have built a large body of program ambassadors through our great alumni.”
Widdifield said that the relatively young program has become much more well-rounded since it began in 2008 and continues to evolve to meet industry challenges.
“We’ve sought to create a program that has an end-to-end view of the supply chain, one that offers value for our customers — those companies that end up hiring our graduates,” he said. “Students are required to complete either an internship or a capstone project, both of which shorten the learning curve and make them job ready.”
Widdifield said he and his team are still exploring how to create even more value. One area for opportunity is automation and technology.
“Supply chain technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and robotics are making inroads all over the supply chain, even at the operational level, down into distribution centers, to loading and receiving docks,” he said. “Previously this technology was employed more at the corporate, strategic level however it is increasingly found at the operational level of supply chains including inventory retrieval and storage, order fulfillment, and warehouse receiving and shipping functions. We are offering courses that address those industry changes.”
Widdifield said that the students who graduate from the Jindal School’s MS in supply-chain management program see themselves not only as going into industry as problem solvers but also as having the ability to quickly begin contributing value to the companies that hire them, positively impacting both revenue and profit lines.
“They’re also forward-thinking,” he said. “They’re thinking long term — three, five, seven, even 10 years. Our curriculum reinforces this focus, giving students experience in the development of supply chain operations and solutions to meet this challenge.
“Industry professionals consistently express to me that we are doing a great job of instilling this mindset in our students,” he said. “When they come out of our program, they often find themselves entering the firm responsible for the development of solutions which span not only operational and tactical levels of the supply chain but also the strategic level.”
Widdifield said that he does not plan to sit back and rest on a No. 4 ranking.
“We’re going to continue to strive for the No. 1 ranking,” he said. “This will take a constant evolution of the program’s curriculum to ensure it adapts to ever-changing market conditions and expansion our industry relationships across industries to build greater awareness and value of our program to businesses and students alike. At the end of the day, we want to make a program that provides the best possible value to both students and companies. A master’s degree is a major investment of time, money, and effort by our students, so we want to make sure our program enables them for success in and outside of the Jindal School of Management. By continually focusing on this goal, we will see the forward movement of our program’s competitive positioning in the market.”
