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Wharton Launches Coronavirus Course

Find out more about Wharton's new online course on the impact and implications of Coronavirus and COVID-19

Thu Mar 19 2020

BusinessBecause
Coronavirus (or COVID-19) has swept the world since emerging in Wuhan, China. It has hit business schools hard, and closures have forced institutions into crisis management mode. Now, the Wharton School has launched a new online coronavirus course, detailing the impact and implications of the pandemic.

Coronavirus course

The Wharton School’s course, Epidemics, Natural Disasters, and Geopolitics: Managing Global Business and Financial Uncertainty, teaches students in real-time how global business and financial uncertainty can be managed in the wake of such dramatic events. 

The six-week, half-credit course is available to all University of Pennsylvania degree-seeking students and goes live on March 25th.

The online course follows the move to take the rest of the school’s curriculum online—a decision mimicked by business schools around the world in an attempt to limit the effects of the virus.

Wharton dean, Geoff Garrett, in a press release from the school, says that ‘there are significant business lessons to be learned from the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, and Wharton is at the forefront of sharing valuable insights and creating a community to exchange ideas.’

'This is a teachable moment for the global academic community,’ he adds, ‘and this course is just one example of how Wharton is coming together to provide support during a time of heightened anxiety and ambiguity.’

Lessons from the course cover leading amid unpredictable, rapidly changing events with contested facts, the financial markets’ reactions to coronavirus, and emotional contagion and epidemics.


How are business schools responding to coronavirus?

Schools are scrambling to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to over 100 countries and killed more than 8,000 people to date. Schools like China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and MIP Politecnico di Milano have moved the MBA courses online.

London Business School launched a webinar series on March 18th that looks at how you can lead through uncertainty. It’s hosted by Julian Birkinshaw, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the school. Webinars are broadcast twice per week and will include faculty experts commenting on the most pressing topics the world faces today.

Aston Business School this fall is launching a new MSc in Crisis and Disaster Management, a response to growing demand from businesses to have better equipped professionals who are able to adapt and coordinate their response to disasters.  

Meanwhile, online education platform, Coursera, is offering schools Coursera for Campus, globally, at no cost to any university impacted by COVID-19. It’s an attempt to help schools take their learning online during this time of crisis.

It gives schools impacted by the virus access to 3,800 courses and 400 specializations from some of the world’s leading institutions. Up to 5,000 licenses are being given by Coursera for enrolled students at any organization impacted.

Universities can enrol students in courses through to July 31st, 2020 and students can complete courses up until September 30th, with month-to-month extensions available dependent on need.


How will coronavirus impact your business school application?


Coronavirus and the GMAT 

As schools have closed worldwide and countries have introduced social distancing and isolation measures, GMAT and GRE test centers have also been heavily impacted.

BusinessBecause will be providing live coverage of the impact of COVID-19 on GMAT and GRE test takers throughout the crisis.

As the global community grapples with the impact of the virus on daily life, it’s a huge test for the way we work in the 21st century. The global workforce has rapidly shifted online in response, and it’s the biggest challenge yet to have faced the digital economy. 

To live up to the promise of a seamlessly digitized world, technology must hold its own. Wharton's coronavirus course is a sign of one school ahead of the curve.

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