Beginning January 2004, GIA’s School of Business courses, previously offered only at in Carlsbad, Calif., campus, will be available online. This coincides with the recent announcement of GIA’s new Jewelry Business Management diploma, which is earned upon the successful completion of eight courses—four required courses and four electives. Applications are now being accepted for the online courses, which begin Jan. 12.

“The ultimate objective of the GIA School of Business,” said GIA Vice President of Education Brook Ellis, “is to give graduates the real-world skills they need to make profitable and insightful business decisions in the jewelry industry. Now students all over the world will have the opportunity to learn these skills online through Distance Education.”

The online and On Campus business courses’ schedules will mirror each other. The courses, which are now on a quarterly system, are completed within the allotted 10-week schedule. In addition, students can even choose to take a combination of Distance Education and On Campus courses to earn the Jewelry Business Management diploma, which is the GIA School of Business’s only diploma curriculum.

Also like the On Campus format, students will have significant interaction with instructors and other Distance Education classmates.

The required courses are Principles of Management, Fundamentals of Marketing, Accounting Basics, and Ethics and Law. There are currently 13 electives, including Merchandising Management, Retail Management, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Economics, Visual Merchandising, and Human Resources Management.

“These electives allow students to customize their jewelry business education to their specific needs and interests,” said Ellis.

The GIA School of Business, founded in July 2002, is the first and only business school created exclusively for teaching individuals how to succeed in the management side of the jewelry industry. It uses post-secondary textbooks and an interactive environment to teach practical business fundamentals as they apply to the jewelry industry. The faculty’s expertise covers the spectrum of key disciplines, and each instructor has substantial experience teaching business at the college level. For more information about the GIA School of Business, call 800-421-7250, ext. 4001, or visit www.gia.edu.

JCK