School of Business Expands Diploma Program
Courses now available on a quarterly system and online to meet high demand
By Larne Boyles

Siddhartha Sacheti, G.J., knew he had to take action after going through a spell of poor sales at his retail and manufacturing store in Mumbai, India. He felt he had the right skills, but his personally designed pieces weren’t selling as quickly as he hoped.

After giving it much thought, he decided GIA’s School of Business would be the best place to learn what he needed to kick start his business again. He enrolled in the program and took courses that are tailored for the gem and jewelry industry.

Sacheti returned to his store after he earned his diploma and began to put what he had learned to use. He analyzed his best-selling pieces and began to design more pieces similar to them. He also cleaned out his stock by putting his less sellable merchandise on clearance. The result was a healthier looking inventory and increased business, he said.

Sacheti’s sales were up 50 percent from the last quarter – the first time since 1991-1992. He gives partial credit to the rising economy in India, but he also credits what he learned at GIA.

“Unless you experience GIA’s School of Business, you won’t know what you’re missing,” he said. “I realized it and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is remotely involved in retailing.”

To help meet a growing student demand, the Institute has expanded the GIA School of Business program for 2004. Renamed the Jewelry Business Management diploma program, courses are offered in a quarterly format, each 10 weeks long. And for the first time, they are also available through Distance Education online Jan. 12– March 19.

To receive a diploma, students must complete a total of eight courses – four required courses – Accounting Basics, Ethics and Law, Fundamentals of Marketing and Principles of Management – and four elective courses. There is a pool of 13 electives, including Human Resource Management, International Law and Trade and Visual Merchandising, among others.

It’s no secret that the gem and jewelry industry has dramatically changed over the last 20 years. Retailing has grown exponentially with the advent of the Internet and consumers are more educated than ever. With an increasingly competitive market, business skills are an absolute must, said Brook Ellis, vice president of GIA Education.

“The jewelry business is changing – it’s more than just having a passion for gems and jewelry, you need the skills to know how to run a business.”

Distance Education
If studying at the Institute’s Carlsbad campus is not a viable option, students from anywhere in the world can access the business program via the Internet.

GIA School of Business Distance Education courses will mirror the On Campus schedule and will run concurrently. This means that students studying from home will have the same instructors as the classroom students. This is a new concept for GIA’s Distance Education and means On Campus and students at home will be on the same page, literally. 

“Since launching the GIA School of Business in 2002, there has been an overwhelming interest in it from the trade,” Ellis said. “Making the courses available through Distance Education seemed the logical evolution to meet the high demand.”

Distance Education students have access to real-time classroom discussions in forums and chat rooms via the new web-based eCollege software. They can also communicate one-on-one with their instructors. The On Campus and Distance Education courses also share weekly deadlines for assignments.

“In the past, we’ve found some Distance Education students sign up for courses, but their assignments are not always completed in a timely manner,” said Bill Herberts, director of Education Operations. “The weekly deadlines for GIA School of Business courses will help ensure Distance Education students stay on track with their On Campus counterparts.”

The web-based platform is designed to simplify Distance Education students’ experience by organizing all course materials, such as text, exams, weekly quizzes and multimedia content, in a single area of the site. Students can also access EBSCO, a virtual library database that houses academic and business information in full text format.

“We chose this platform for its ease of use by both students and instructors,” said Angela Hart, GIA Distance Education specialist. “Not only are we excited about the new technology, but the GIA School of Business curriculum can reach a broader range of students around the globe.”