UCLA Anderson Aims to Amplify its Real Estate Impact: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul Updated Feb 11, 2015

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Introduction
Real estate MBA specializations

Real estate research given lift at UCLA Anderson

The 2014/15 edition of the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report

UCLA Anderson School of Management has received a US$1 million gift for the real estate center it operates in conjunction with UCLA’s law school.

The gift is to be used to establish a program that fuels future faculty research at the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, through which students take UCLA Anderson’s real estate MBA specialization (concentration) in real estate.

The Gilbert Program, named in recognition of the gift’s donor, the Gilbert Foundation, will create a research fund in the areas of real estate, finance and urban economics with the specific aim of addressing issues of public interest – for example, mortgage markets, affordable housing and urban transportation. The program also includes a fellowship and visiting scholar scheme designed to attract experts in the field to the Ziman Center.

The center’s director and a finance professor at UCLA Anderson, Stuart Gabriel, said that the US$1 million donation would ‘amplify’ its impact, adding in a press release that “it prepares the next generation of leaders to address these issues as well.”

Real estate MBA specializations

The real estate MBA concentration at UCLA Anderson is designed to allow students to pick up a specialist’s knowledge of the industry and its career opportunities. Meanwhile, the partnership with UCLA’s law school allows the Ziman Center to encompass elective courses on property law alongside those in areas such as real estate finance, investment and development.

UCLA Anderson also runs a real estate certificate program that provides additional training and extracurricular activities outside of the MBA’s general requirements.

Real estate MBA concentrations and electives have been on the rise, according to a 2013 AACSB survey, but also represent a well-established field at many institutions. The Wharton School’s offering in this regard dates back to 1985, for instance, while UCLA Anderson’s joint venture with the university’s law school came into being at the turn of the twenty-first century. You can learn more about the real estate MBA terrain here.

Written by

Tim Dhoul

Tim is a writer with a background in consumer journalism and charity communications. He trained as a journalist in the UK and holds degrees in history (BA) and Latin American studies (MA).