PPM Program Overview
The PPM academic program has three elements:
1. Required management courses. These courses will help students develop MBA level skills in management areas of key importance to the bioscience industry. They will also help familiarize students with industry dynamics across different segments of the bioscience industry.
2. Elective courses. These courses facilitate the development of advanced knowledge aligned with each student’s career interests. Many PPM students choose to take advanced business courses in the areas of international business, entrepreneurship, and/or operations management, frequently coupled with one or more courses in clinical-regulatory affairs. Other students opt to take a series of advanced technical and clinical-regulatory courses pertaining to a segment or functional area of the bioscience industry in which they are interested in working, such as medical diagnostics, drug discovery and development, or bioprocessing. At KGI these are commonly referred to as “focus track courses.”
3. Team Masters Project (TMP). The TMP project is a contract research project sponsored by a bioscience company. TMP projects are comprised of 4-5 students, a faculty advisor, and a corporate liaison from the sponsoring company. TMP teams will be provided office space, a budget, and any other resources needed to complete the project. A wide variety of TMP projects are sponsored each academic year. Some projects are primarily business oriented (e.g. consisting of market research, business development, or related business goals) while others are more technical and can be laboratory based. Most TMP projects last the entire academic year (e.g. two semesters) and include a variety of project goals and milestones.
Due to the scope of work involved, the TMP course (comprising one sponsored company project) counts as 2 course credits each semester.