ABSTRACT
The post-World War II period saw a major drive to make business education science-based, culminating in the US business school as it is known today. On the way, there was a move toward the archetypal two-year post-experience MBA, purportedly as the ultimate degree for 'professional management'. In the wake of World War II, a considerable degree of unease persisted about the quality of business education in the US. The Cold War environment led to the concurrent involvement of the US in 'development assistance' to various countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, parts of which were geared toward exporting American-style business education. The stand-alone schools were typically set up to provide graduate programs, often preceded by or in parallel with shorter courses for practicing managers. The University of Oxford also established a 'management centre' in 1965, though this was extended to undergraduate and graduate education only after the early 1980s.
