Our Places

The Bard MBA is structured around monthly “weekend intensives” with regular online instruction between these residencies. Five weekend intensives are held each term: four in the heart of New York City and one at a retreat center in the Hudson Valley, north of the city. Classes run for four days, beginning on Friday morning and ending Monday afternoon, and students also attend online classes Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the semester. Here are a sample weekend schedule and a sample semester schedule.

Students are responsible for their own housing and food in New York City. A list of inexpensive housing alternatives is here. Room and board is provided for weekend intensives in the Hudson Valley.

Low Residency

The weekend-intensive model is the right way to do business education. Students and faculty work together closely throughout the program, enabling an intensive education process that engages students for a lifetime of transformative work. Online sessions (Tuesdays and Thursdays) are used to deliver case-based and theory “chalk and talk” sessions, freeing up the weekend intensives for group projects, interacting with guest experts, and consulting with area businesses. Our low-residency approach provides the same number of contact hours as a traditional MBA program, but delivers a much more efficient and effective educational experience. It also allows students to continue to work up to 30 hours per week.

New York City Campus

For the New York City weekend-intensive sessions, classes will be held at Bard College’s facilities at 36 West 44th Street, Suite 1011, in Manhattan. New York City, the center of global finance, has a vibrant green business community, including major corporations, innovative start-ups, and committed city and state government agencies. Our location in the city provides unparalleled access to top-notch faculty, including leading business sustainability practitioners. The MBA program also utilizes the city as a laboratory. First-year students work in teams in a yearlong consultancy for area businesses, agencies, and nonprofits called NYCLab. Second-year capstone projects provide the opportunity to take this work further and deeper.

Hudson Valley Campus

At the beginning of the first semester and toward the end of the second semester, the Bard MBA program retreats to the Hudson Valley, north of New York City, for a weekend intensive. These sessions, for which room and board are provided, support a deeper focus on the ecological and social foundations of sustainable business.