In these tough times, lots of workers are stuck in a bind: They need an M.B.A. to boost their career, but they can't afford the cost or the time out of the work force.
在眼下的困难时期，很多职场人士都陷入了这样一个困境：他们需要一个MBA学位来推进职业发展，却负担不起脱产学习的经济成本和时间。
The solution? Many are turning to programs that let them earn a degree in half the time, often at a fraction of the cost.
有什么解决方案吗？很多人开始转向让他们可以用一半的时间获得一个MBA学位的课程，花费也只有过去的几分之一。
Accelerated M.B.A. programs, which take between 10 and 15 months to complete, have been around for decades and are the norm in Europe. Although these programs are much less common in the U.S., they're growing increasingly attractive -- especially among older students, who are becoming less willing to spend two years out of the work force.
MBA速成班需要10到15个月的时间，最早出现在几十年前，目前在欧洲很普遍。尽管这类课程在美国要少见得多，却变得越来越吸引人──特别是在年纪较大、不愿花两年时间脱产学习的学生中间。
These programs have rarely been evaluated by outsiders, in part because they're still less ubiquitous than their two-year counterparts. About 90 accredited schools world-wide offer the accelerated M.B.A., and many of them only recently added the option.
很少有外部人士对这类课程进行评估，原因之一是它们仍没有两年制MBA项目那么普遍。全球共有约90所学校有资格提供MBA速成课程，其中很多还只是最近才推出。
But the degree's growing popularity and reach led The Wall Street Journal to take its first close look at accelerated M.B.A. programs. To measure these programs' quality, and student and alumni satisfaction with them, the Journal, with the help of research firm Management Research Group and survey technicians Critical Insights, surveyed the current graduating classes and alumni who graduated two years earlier at 48 schools. We looked only at schools that have graduated four or more classes with 12 or more students. We eliminated schools where students had little or no work experience. Responses came in from 1,361 recent grads and 735 alumni. We asked students about everything from the programs' flexibility to career services. And we pressed alumni on issues like the usefulness of the training in their careers and whether their degree protected them in the recession.
不过MBA速成班越来越受欢迎、范围越来越广，因此《华尔街日报》对其进行了首次的详细研究。为衡量这些项目的质量、学生和校友的满意度，《华尔街日报》在研究公司Management Research Group和调查技术公司Critical Insights的帮助下，对48所学校的应届毕业生和两年前毕业的学生进行了调查。我们只研究那些毕业班不少于4个、每班学生不少于12个的学校。我们排除了学生没有工作经验的班级。有1,361名应届毕业生和735名往届毕业生作了回答。我们问学生各种各样的问题，从项目的灵活性到求职服务等各个方面。我们还问校友参加MBA速成培训在职场中的用处有多大，以及学位是否在衰退中给他们提供了保护等问题。
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