Emphasis is given to contemporary trends affecting the financial services industry. The GSB Graduate Program curriculum is organized to provide a broad and fundamental understanding of commercial banking and what is required to successfully manage a commercial bank in today's challenging financial services environment. Students will find many opportunities during the program, however, to exchange valuable experiences regarding these bank operating procedures with bankers from other communities. The course of study focuses on basic policy and management problems and on the development of an understanding of the economic and regulatory environment within which the banking system operates. Students admitted to the School attend two-week sessions in Madison for three consecutive summers.
Instruction includes the use of lectures, case studies, discussion and computer-based exercises.
Complementing the classroom work is a series of intersession projects designed to provide a practical application of concepts, skills and techniques learned in the classroom. A bank simulation experience brings it all together in the senior year. Here students apply their entire learning experience to the management of a community bank. They hone their technical skills and further develop their interpersonal leadership capabilities. A broad array of electives in the second and third resident sessions allow students to tailor the program to their specific interest and development objectives and to the needs of their organizations.