MS/OR Education

In my earlier columns I have discussed required management science courses for nonmajors, usually business students, most of whom do not become scientists or operations researchers. Our role in their education is to help create well-rounded managers who are as cognizant of benefits to be realized from management science as they are of the benefits to be realized from cost accounting or industrial relations. Little has been said about training our own professionals; how well are we doing?

I have no comments from industry or the public sector on this question. I hope that employers can and will tell us what was right and what was wrong with our graduates' academic training. However, when I was hiring operations research analysts, I don't think I ever attributed their strengths or weaknesses to their academic backgrounds. The qualities that I was seeking in analysts went beyond what they had studied.