Curriculum

Learn Business Alongside UC Berkeley Students

Each semester, you will take 12 to 15 units of courses:

  • BHGAP Core Courses: Thriving at Haas and Beyond class, and one course among our Innovation, Inclusion or Sustainability categories
  • BHGAP electives
  • Electives from the main UC Berkeley course catalog

Undergraduate Track

Students who have completed 2 years of undergraduate studies will be placed in the undergraduate track.

You will complete:

  • BHGAP courses (minimum 7 units required):
    • Thriving at Haas and Beyond (1 unit)
    • At least one Innovation, Inclusion or Sustainability course (2-3 units per course)
    • BHGAP electives (2-3 units per course)
  • Electives (minimum 1 unit required)

Note: In the spring semester, additional Innovation, Inclusion or Sustainability courses are considered BHGAP electives in the Undergraduate Track.

Graduate Track

Any student who has completed an undergraduate course of study (earned a bachelor's degree) will be placed in the graduate track.

You will complete:

  • BHGAP courses (minimum 9 units required):
    • Thriving at Haas and Beyond (1 unit)
    • At least one Innovation, Inclusion or Sustainability course (2-3 units per course)
    • BHGAP electives (2-3 units per course)
  • Electives (minimum 1 unit required)

Note: In the fall semester, additional Innovation, Inclusion or Sustainability courses are considered BHGAP electives in the Graduate Track.

Transfer Courses!

Earn units that can transfer to your home university.

Units earned in this program can be transferred back to your home university, or help prepare you for graduate and professional schools. Learn more about transfer credits.

What do the letters and numbers mean in a course title? How will this help me transfer units? Read about our course letters and numbers.


Fall 2024

Undergraduate Track

Core Course

Thriving at Haas and Beyond

BUS ADM X419.7 (1 unit)

This course is a combination of class time, one-on-one coaching sessions and company site visits. Class time focuses on three aspects of your learning: excelling as a Haas student; identifying your professional path forward; and enhancing your personal and professional development. One-on-one coaching provides highly individualized support to discuss your own topics of interest, ranging from applying to graduate school, to clarifying how to bring together your strengths and interests to launch or enhance your career.

Faculty: Jennifer Davis

Innovation

Ethics and Artificial Intelligence

UGBA XB177 (3 units)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the autonomous systems that embed it have become the brains of the modern data economy. They are reshaping human values, trust and power around the world. New AI technologies can help drive cars, treat damaged brains and nudge workers to be more productive, but they also can threaten, manipulate and alienate us from others. They can pit nation against nation, but they can also help the global community tackle some of its greatest challenges such as food crises and global climate change. As we cede more decisions to thinking machines, we face new questions about staying safe, keeping a job and having a say over the direction of our lives. How AI evolves and what role it takes in our lives may depend on our race, gender, age, behavior, cognitive capacity or nationality. This presents manifold ethical and cross-cultural dilemmas. As a critical change maker, you will learn about these issues and the principles of responsible design and governance structures in order to mitigate them and turn them into opportunities for enrichment of society.

Faculty: Olaf Groth

Changing Climate and Business Strategy

MBA XB292T (3 units)

Focus on 35 topics that cover many of the principal elements of how business is affected by climate change, and how changing business practices can improve (or worsen) the climate outlook.

Faculty: Andrew Isaacs, M.S.

Sustainability

Changing Climate and Business Strategy

MBA XB292T (3 units)

Focus on 35 topics that cover many of the principal elements of how business is affected by climate change, and how changing business practices can improve (or worsen) the climate outlook.

Faculty: Andrew Isaacs, M.S.

Electives

International Marketing

UGBA XB168 (3 units)

Understand the frameworks and sensitivities to formulate and implement marketing strategies in order to compete globally. Explore international marketing in regions such as the Americas, Europe, Japan, China, India, Russia, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Explore topics such as:

  • global versus local advertising
  • international pricing strategies
  • selecting and managing strategic international alliances and distribution channels
  • managing international brands and product lines through the product life cycle international retailing
  • international marketing organization and control

Details

You take this course in the fall and/or spring term. The course lasts 15 weeks and comprises three hours of lecture per week. You take a final exam to earn a letter grade.

Faculty: Wasim Azhar

Business Communication

UGBA XB100 (2 units)

To help meet the challenges that you will inevitably encounter on the job, this Business Communication class will introduce key principles, strategies and standard American business conventions for communicating in a business environment. By concentrating on audiences, purposes, forms and formats of professional communication, you will examine and practice a range of techniques to write and deliver effective, appropriate written and oral messages. Focus on real-world applications of effective communication so that you will feel confident communicating in any business environment.

Faculty: Janet Brady

Graduate Track

Core Course

Thriving at Haas and Beyond

BUS ADM X419.7 (1 unit)

This course is a combination of class time, one-on-one coaching sessions and company site visits. Class time focuses on three aspects of your learning: excelling as a Haas student; identifying your professional path forward; and enhancing your personal and professional development. One-on-one coaching provides highly individualized support to discuss your own topics of interest, ranging from applying to graduate school, to clarifying how to bring together your strengths and interests to launch or enhance your career.

Faculty: Jennifer Davis

Sustainability

Changing Climate and Business Strategy

MBA XB292T (3 units)

Focus on 35 topics that cover many of the principal elements of how business is affected by climate change, and how changing business practices can improve (or worsen) the climate outlook.

Faculty: Andrew Isaacs, M.S.

Innovation

Product Management

MBA XB290T (3 units)

Go through the steps of product management: Start with problem discovery, then take the best concepts from product idea to customer needs-finding and analysis, plan a product via a concrete roadmap and define the product requirements. Through these steps, you will learn a variety of strategic frameworks and tactical methodologies that help product managers advance the development of their products or services every day. You will also have the opportunity to learn about the product development process in the context of cross-functional team management and stakeholder management.

The course is introductory in nature, aimed at those who have not experienced a full product-development cycle in the past, or those who have had some experience in product management and want to add context and tools to supplement their on-the-job learning. This course also aims to facilitate the formation of small teams for the development of their product or service ideas.

Faculty: Vince Law

AI Ethics for Leaders

UGBA 39E (2 units)

As a future leader, you will learn how to navigate the many decisions necessary to ethically leverage AI in professional settings, business, government and nonprofit settings. The course covers the basics of AI, relevant ethical frameworks, prominent ethical issues and how organizations have previously addressed those issues. By the end of the course, you will be fluent in evaluating the impact of AI systems on individuals and society. You will also be able to draw upon cases where leaders have been confronted with ethical issues and some of the tools that have helped resolve them.

Faculty: David Evan Harris

Data Science Applications in Finance

MBA XB296 (2 units)

The vast proliferation of data—combined with increasing technological advances and massive changes in regulation—is transforming the competitive landscape of various industries. Learn how these forces are driving changes in finance and accounting, and how to make sense of their future implications. Study how technology impacts finance and accounting, with an emphasis on data analytics. Begin by identifying critical business problems that need to be solved, and then work backward to see how finance and accounting analytics can help.


Details

You take this course in the fall and/or spring term. The course lasts 15 weeks and comprises three hours of lecture per week. You take a final exam to earn a letter grade.

Faculty: Donatella Taurasi, Ph.D.

Entrepreneurship

MBA XB295A (3 units)

Learn how to lead an entrepreneurial venture, focusing on businesses that start small by design, and with hard work and good luck can be expected to develop into complex enterprises. Study the entrepreneurial journey, starting from initial ideation all the way M&A and IPO. The driving force behind startup ventures are entrepreneurs, those individuals who have the courage, insight, knowledge, intensity and luck to attempt to achieve great business results without resources remotely sufficient for the job—or so it seems at first. A key vehicle for the entrepreneur's effort is the basic tenets of a sound business: customer demand, attractive unit economics, large enough market opportunity, and the ability to attract talent and investors. This class will focus on all of these areas and more.

Faculty: Arman Zand


Spring 2025

Undergraduate Track

Core Course

Thriving at Haas and Beyond

BUS ADM X419.7 (1 unit)

This course is a combination of class time, one-on-one coaching sessions and company site visits. Class time focuses on three aspects of your learning: excelling as a Haas student; identifying your professional path forward; and enhancing your personal and professional development. One-on-one coaching provides highly individualized support to discuss your own topics of interest, ranging from applying to graduate school, to clarifying how to bring together your strengths and interests to launch or enhance your career.

Faculty: Jennifer Davis

Innovation

Introduction to Entrepreneurship

UGBA XB196 (3 units)

Explore the structure and framework of entrepreneurial endeavors—both inside and outside of the business world. Learn the answers to such questions as: What is entrepreneurship? What is opportunity recognition and selection? How can you create and define competitive advantage? At the end of the course, you will understand the entrepreneurial business process and how you can become involved in those processes in your future career.

Faculty: Aaron McDaniel

Business Models for Sustainability

UGBA XB196SA (3 units)

In this course, you will learn a range of topics that cover the principal elements of how business is affected by sustainability issues—in particular climate change—and how business practices can improve (or worsen) the outlook.

The course focuses on matters related to climate change, specifically how business sustainability depends both on mitigating impacts to our environment and on adaptation to ongoing climate change and other elements of sustainability. Examine a range of approaches to developing business models in the context of sustainability, the actions that business can take to improve the environmental outlook and the emergence of a sustainability-aware economy.

This course is intended for students with an interest in how business, social and environmental sustainability are intertwined. Students considering a career in sustainability will benefit from the deep understanding of the business issues that this course will cover.

Faculty: Andrew Isaacs

Sustainability

Business Models for Sustainability

UGBA XB196SA (3 units)

In this course, you will learn a range of topics that cover the principal elements of how business is affected by sustainability issues—in particular climate change—and how business practices can improve (or worsen) the outlook.

The course focuses on matters related to climate change, specifically how business sustainability depends both on mitigating impacts to our environment and on adaptation to ongoing climate change and other elements of sustainability. Examine a range of approaches to developing business models in the context of sustainability, the actions that business can take to improve the environmental outlook and the emergence of a sustainability-aware economy.

This course is intended for students with an interest in how business, social and environmental sustainability are intertwined. Students considering a career in sustainability will benefit from the deep understanding of the business issues that this course will cover.

Faculty: Andrew Isaacs

Inclusion

Equitable and Inclusive Leadership

XMBA 257.4 (2 units)

Explore and take risks regarding your own identity and what you disclose to others, and how this and your own biases, power and privilege may impact your ability to be a more inclusive leader. Learn from lectures, discussions, in-class practice exercises, guest speakers, and the crafting and presentation of your personal inclusive leadership commitment and development plan. Readings will help you uncover new perspectives, encourage exploration and apply learnings to create more inclusive workplaces and spaces. Identify key inclusive leadership competencies and practice them.

Faculty: Stephanie Fujii

Graduate Track

Core Course

Thriving at Haas and Beyond

BUS ADM X419.7 (1 unit)

This course is a combination of class time, one-on-one coaching sessions and company site visits. Class time focuses on three aspects of your learning: excelling as a Haas student; identifying your professional path forward; and enhancing your personal and professional development. One-on-one coaching provides highly individualized support to discuss your own topics of interest, ranging from applying to graduate school, to clarifying how to bring together your strengths and interests to launch or enhance your career.

Faculty: Jennifer Davis

Innovation

Entrepreneurship

MBA XB295A (3 units)

Learn how to lead an entrepreneurial venture, focusing on businesses that start small by design, and with hard work and good luck can be expected to develop into complex enterprises. Study the entrepreneurial journey, starting from initial ideation all the way M&A and IPO. The driving force behind startup ventures are entrepreneurs, those individuals who have the courage, insight, knowledge, intensity and luck to attempt to achieve great business results without resources remotely sufficient for the job—or so it seems at first. A key vehicle for the entrepreneur's effort is the basic tenets of a sound business: customer demand, attractive unit economics, large enough market opportunity, and the ability to attract talent and investors. This class will focus on all of these areas and more.

Faculty: Arman Zand

Marketing Strategy in a World of Digital Disruption

MBA XB296 (2 units)

For marketers and leaders, the digital age brings new challenges. They must shift attention away from incrementally improving their existing portfolio of product, customer service and branding initiatives and move toward finding new, latent, invisible needs that represent an opportunity to reframe customer value and establish the company's future relevance and uniqueness.


Details

In this course you will:

  • Explore the new marketing realities.
  • Understand digital disruption, its causes and consequences.
  • Manage marketing in a world of digital disruption.
  • Deliver differentiated customer experience in a digital world.
  • Define new models for understanding, connecting to and engaging customers digitally.
  • Lead marketing in a digital age.

This course lasts 8 weeks and comprises 4 hours of lecture per week.

Faculty: Peter Wilton, Ph.D.

Equitable Design Lab

UGBA 109T.3 (2 units)

Gain the necessary skills to address the pervasive inequities in institutions, services and products. Learning the Equitable Design methodology will help you learn how to create products, services and business processes that foster inclusion and ultimately build equitable outcomes that minimize barriers to diverse user experiences.

Faculty: Mathieu Aguesse

Brands and Sustainability

UGBA 192T.2 (3 units)

Sustainability is a business imperative, and employees, customers and communities expect brands to embrace and stand up for the values that they share. In this course, you will focus on how to recognize and provide solutions for sustainability organizations so that they can elevate their marketing presence and increase their commitment to setting and achieving meaningful sustainability goals.

Faculty: Judy Hopelain

The Business of AI

EWMBA XB267 (1 unit)

From self-driving cars to humanoid robots, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we live, work and do business. In this class, get an introduction to AI technology and its many business applications. You will walk away with a foundational understanding of AI and its near- and long-term applications; explore the myths and realities surrounding the technology; and delve into the legal, social and policy implications of AI.

Faculty: Matthew Stepka

Sustainability

Brands and Sustainability

UGBA 192T.2 (3 units)

Sustainability is a business imperative, and employees, customers and communities expect brands to embrace and stand up for the values that they share. In this course, you will focus on how to recognize and provide solutions for sustainability organizations so that they can elevate their marketing presence and increase their commitment to setting and achieving meaningful sustainability goals.

Faculty: Judy Hopelain

Inclusion

Equitable Design Lab

UGBA 109T.3 (2 units)

Gain the necessary skills to address the pervasive inequities in institutions, services and products. Learning the Equitable Design methodology will help you learn how to create products, services and business processes that foster inclusion and ultimately build equitable outcomes that minimize barriers to diverse user experiences.

Faculty: Mathieu Aguesse

Electives

Pricing

MBA XB269 (3 units)

Learn proven concepts, techniques and frameworks to assess and formulate pricing strategies. Develop the economics and behavioral foundations of pricing. Then, discuss several innovative pricing concepts including price customization, nonlinear pricing, price matching and product line pricing. Finally, you will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of several Internet-based, buyer-determined pricing models.

Faculty: Wasim Azhar

Strategy for the Networked Economy

MBA XB290T3 (2 units)

Focus on platforms and network effects and innovation cycles in the networked economy. We will look at forms of advantage in the networked economy, new market-entry examples and examples of market incumbents taking action to adapt to changes created by the networked economy. We will learn from a mix of case studies, articles, guest speakers, podcasts, assignments and—most importantly—from each other.

Faculty: Jon Metzler

All courses are subject to change at any time.


Requirements for All Students

All students must:

  • Successfully complete all course requirements with a grade of C or better.
  • Earn a final program GPA of 2.5 or higher based on all courses taken at UC Berkeley. P/NP courses will not count toward your final GPA.

Add OPT Work Experience

Put your new education to use with paid work in the U.S.! Students who complete two semesters of BHGAP may also be eligible to apply for one year of work authorization in the United States. Learn more about Optional Practical Training.

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