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Master of Business Administration

A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounting, applied statistics, human resources, business communication, business ethics, business law, strategic management, business strategy, finance, managerial economics, management, entrepreneurship, marketing, supply-chain management, and operations management in a manner most relevant to management analysis and strategy. It originated in the United States in the early 20th century when the country industrialized and companies sought scientific management.

Some programs also include elective courses and concentrations for further study in a particular area, for example, accounting, finance, marketing, and human resources, but an MBA is intended to be a generalized program. MBA programs in the United States typically require completing about forty to sixty credits (sixty to ninety in a quarter system), much higher than the thirty credits (thirty-six to forty-five in a quarter system) typically required for degrees that cover some of the same material such as the Master of Economics, Master of Finance, Master of Accountancy, Master of Science in Marketing and Master of Science in Management.

The MBA is a professional and terminal degree. Accreditation bodies specifically for MBA programs ensure consistency and quality of education. Business schools in many countries offer programs tailored to full-time, part-time, executive (abridged coursework typically occurring on nights or weekends) and distance learning students, many with specialized concentrations.

An "Executive MBA", or EMBA, is a degree program similar to an MBA program that is specifically structured for and targeted towards corporate executives and senior managers who are already in the workforce.

History
In 1883, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the first school of business in the United States, was established through a donation from Joseph Wharton.[4]

In 1900, the Tuck School of Business was founded at Dartmouth College conferring the first advanced degree in business, specifically, a Master of Science in Commerce, the predecessor to the MBA.

In 1908, the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University established the first MBA program, with 15 faculty members, 33 regular students and 47 special students. Its first-year curriculum was based on Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific management.

The number of MBA students at Harvard increased quickly, from 80 in 1908, over 300 in 1920, and 1,070 in 1930. At this time, only American universities offered MBAs. Other countries preferred that people learn business on the job.

Other milestones include:
 * 1930: First management and leadership education program for executives and mid-career experienced managers (the Sloan Fellows Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
 * 1943: First Executive MBA (EMBA) program for working professionals at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Chicago was also the first business school to establish permanent campuses on three continents in Chicago (USA), Barcelona (Europe), and Singapore (Asia). Most business schools today offer a global component to their executive MBA. Since the program was established, the school has moved its campuses and is now based in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong.
 * 1946: First MBA focused on global management at Thunderbird School of Global Management.
 * 1950: First MBA outside of the United States, in Canada (Ivey Business School at The University of Western Ontario), followed by the University of Pretoria in South Africa in 1951.
 * 1953: First MBA offered at an Asian school at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Calcutta.
 * 1957: First MBA offered at a European school (INSEAD).
 * 1963: First MBA program offered in the Spanish-speaking world by ESAN- Graduate School of Business in Perú (South America), under the direction of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, United States. Sponsored by the USAID- United States Agency for International Development, at the request of former President John F. Kennedy, which organizes the main business schools in the United States to study and explore the possibilities of developing management education projects in Latin America. Thus, on July 25, 1963, la Escuela de Administración de Negocios para Graduados-ESAN was founded, within the framework of an agreement between the governments of Peru and the United States to offer the Master's program in Business Administration for interested applicants from all over Latin America.
 * 1963: First MBA offered in Korea by Korea University Business School (KUBS).
 * 1986: First MBA program requiring every student to have a laptop computer in the classroom at the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College (Florida). Beginning with the 1992–1993 academic year, Columbia Business School required all incoming students to purchase a laptop computer with standard software, becoming the first business school to do so.
 * 1994: First online executive MBA program at Athabasca University (Canada).

The MBA degree has been adopted by universities worldwide in both developed and developing countries.

United States
Business school or MBA program accreditation by external agencies provides students and employers with an independent view of the school or program's quality, as well as whether the curriculum meets specific quality standards. Currently the three major accrediting bodies in the United States are:
 * Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
 * Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
 * International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE)

All of these groups also accredit schools outside the U.S. The ACBSP and the IACBE are themselves recognized in the United States by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). MBA programs with specializations for students pursuing careers in healthcare management also eligible for accreditation by the Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).

U.S. MBA programs may also be accredited at the institutional level. Bodies that accredit institutions as a whole include:
 * Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA)
 * New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
 * Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
 * Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC)
 * Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
 * Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
 * Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)

Other countries
Accreditation agencies outside the United States include the Association of MBAs (AMBA), a UK-based organization that accredits MBA, DBA, and MBM programs worldwide, government accreditation bodies such as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which accredits MBA and Postgraduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programs across India. Some of the leading bodies in India that certify MBA institutions and their programs are the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC). A distance MBA program needs to be accredited by the Distance Education Council (DEC) in India. The Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa, the European Foundation for Management Development operates the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) for mostly European, Australian, New Zealand and Asian schools, the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA), and Central and East European Management Development Association (CEEMAN) in Europe.

Programs
Full-time MBA programs normally take place over two academic years (i.e. approximately 18 months of term time). For example, in the Northern Hemisphere, they often begin in late August or early September of year one and continue until May or June of year two, with a three to four-month summer break in between years one and two. Students enter with a reasonable amount of prior real-world work experience and take classes during weekdays like other university students. A typical full-time, accelerated, part-time, or modular MBA requires 60 credits (600 class hours) of graduate work.

Accelerated MBA programs are a variation of the two-year programs. They involve a higher course load with more intense class and examination schedules and are usually condensed into one year. They usually have less downtime during the program and between semesters. For example, there is no three to four-month summer break, and between semesters there might be seven to ten days off rather than three to five weeks vacation. Accelerated programs typically have a lower cost than full-time two-year programs.

Part-time MBA programs normally hold classes on weekday evenings after normal working hours, or on weekends. Part-time programs normally last three years or more. The students in these programs typically consist of working professionals, who take a light course load for a longer period of time until the graduation requirements are met.

Evening (second shift) MBA programs are full-time programs that normally hold classes on weekday evenings, after normal working hours, or on weekends for a duration of two years. The students in these programs typically consist of working professionals, who can not leave their work to pursue a full-time regular shift MBA. Most second shift programs are offered at universities in India.

Modular MBA programs are similar to part-time programs, although typically employing a lock-step curriculum with classes packaged together in blocks lasting from one to three weeks.

Executive (part-time) MBA (EMBA) programs developed to meet the educational needs of managers and executives, allowing students to earn an MBA (or another business-related graduate degree) in two years or less while working full-time. Participants come from every type and size of organization – profit, nonprofit, government – representing a variety of industries. EMBA students typically have a higher level of work experience, often 10 years or more, compared to other MBA students. In response to the increasing number of EMBA programs offered, The Executive MBA Council was formed in 1981 to advance executive education.

Full-time executive MBA programs are a new category of full-time one year MBA programs aimed at professionals with approximately five years or more. They are primarily offered in countries like India where the two-year MBA program is targeted at fresh graduates with no experience or minimal experience. These full-time executive MBA programs are similar to one year MBA programs offered by schools like Insead and IMD.

Distance learning MBA programs hold classes off-campus. These programs can be offered in a number of different formats: correspondence courses by postal mail or email, non-interactive broadcast video, pre-recorded video, live teleconference or videoconference, offline or online computer courses. Many schools offer these programs.

Blended learning programs combine distance learning with face-to-face instruction. These programs typically target working professionals who are unable to attend traditional part-time programs.

MBA dual degree programs combine an MBA with others (such as an MS, MA, MEng, or a JD, etc.) to let students cut costs (dual programs usually cost less than pursuing two degrees separately), save time on education and to tailor the business education courses to their needs. This is generally achieved by allowing core courses of one program to count as electives in the other. Some business schools offer programs in which students can earn both a bachelor's degree in business administration and an MBA in five years.

Mini-MBA is a term used by many non-profit and for-profit institutions to describe a training regimen focused on the fundamentals of business. In the past, Mini-MBA programs have typically been offered as non-credit bearing courses that require less than 100 hours of total learning. However, due to the criticisms of these certificates, many schools have now shifted their programs to offer courses for full credit so that they may be applied towards a complete traditional MBA degree. This is to allow students to verify business-related coursework for employment purposes and still allow the option to complete a full-time MBA degree program at a later period if they elect to do so.

Admissions criteria
Many programs base their admission decisions on a combination of undergraduate grade point average, academic transcripts, entrance exam scores (for example, the GMAT or the GRE test score), a résumé containing significant work experience, essays, letters of recommendation, group discussions, and personal interviews. Some schools are also interested in extracurricular activities, community service activities, or volunteer work and how the student can improve the school's diversity and contribute to the student body as a whole.

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is the most prominently used entrance exam for admissions into MBA programs. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is also accepted by almost all MBA programs in order to fulfill any entrance exam requirement they may have. Some schools do not weigh entrance exam scores as heavily as other criteria, and some programs do not require entrance exam scores for admission. In order to achieve a diverse class, business schools also consider the target male-female ratio and local-international student ratios. In rare cases, some MBA degrees do not require students to have an undergraduate degree and will accept significant management experience in lieu of an undergraduate degree. In the UK, for example, a Higher National Diploma (HND) or even Higher National Certificate (HNC) is acceptable in some programs.

Depending on the program, type and duration of work experience can be a critical admissions component for many MBA programs. Many top-tier programs require five or more years of work experience for admission.

MBA admissions consulting services have been increasingly used by prospective MBA applicants to improve their chances of admission. They are most common in the U.S., with as many as one-quarter of applicants using these services in 2016, though they have been gaining popularity elsewhere, including India and Canada. Consultants can provide basic coaching including help with program selection, mock interviews, and essay proofreading, though some will provide other services like writing essays from scratch. The use of consulting services is frowned upon by many business schools' admissions committees, and applications can be hurt by looking like they were written with a consultant, such as by having a high level of writing compared to the candidate's speech or not appearing unique. Some also express concern that they give an unfair advantage to students who can afford the services' high costs.

Content
In general, MBA programs are structured around core courses - an essentially standard curriculum - and elective courses that may allow for a subject specialty or concentration. Thus, in the program's first year (or part), students acquire both a working knowledge of management functions and the analytical skills required for these, while in the second year (part), students pursue elective courses, which may count towards a specialization. (Topics in business ethics may be included at the generalist or specialist level.) After the first year, many full-time students seek internships. The degree culminates with coursework in business strategy, the program capstone. A dissertation or major project is usually a degree requirement after the completion of coursework. Many MBA programs end with a comprehensive exit examination; see below.

For Executive MBA programs, the core curriculum is generally similar, but may seek to leverage the strengths associated with the more seasoned and professional profile of the student body, emphasizing leadership, and drawing more from the specific experience of the individual students.

Programs are designed such that students gain exposure to theory and practice alike. Courses include lectures, case studies, and team projects; the mix though, will differ by school and by format. Theory is covered in the classroom setting by academic faculty, and is reinforced through the case method, placing the student in the role of the decision maker. Similar to real world business situations, cases include both constraints and incomplete information. Practical learning (field immersion) often comprises consulting projects with real clients, and is generally undertaken in teams (or "syndicates"). The practical elements (as well as the case studies) often involve external practitioners—sometimes business executives—supporting the teaching from academic faculty. (See and § Other approaches; and, generally, .)

As outlined, courses begin with underlying topics and then progress to more advanced functional topics where these are applied; see aside.

The analytic skills required for management are usually covered initially. The accounting course(s) may treat financial and management accounting separately or in one hybrid course. Financial accounting deals mainly in the interpretation (and preparation) of financial statements while management accounting deals mainly in the analysis of internal results. The economics course covers managerial economics, a technical course that mainly focuses on product pricing as influenced by microeconomic theory, and aggregate-or macroeconomics, which deals with topics like the banking system, the money supply, and inflation. Operations Research and statistics are sometimes combined as "Managerial Decision-Making" or "Quantitative Decision-Making"; organizational behavior and human resource management may similarly be combined. In many programs, applicants with appropriate background may be exempt from various analytical courses.

With these as underpin, the course then covers the core management functions, and, in turn, allows students to select from further advanced topics as appropriate. Some programs treat the curricula here in two parts: the first course provides an overview, while the second revisits the subject in-depth (perhaps as specializations); alternatively, the first addresses short-term, tactical problems, while the second addresses long-term, strategic problems (e.g., "Financial Management I" might cover working capital management, while part II covers capital investment decisions). An Information systems / technology course is increasingly included as a core functional course rather than an elective. Ethics training is often delivered with coursework in corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. Note that - generally - courses here, although technical in scope, are, ultimately, oriented toward corporate management. (For example, the principal finance course may cover the technicalities of financial instrument valuation and capital raising, but does so from the perspective of managerial finance, as opposed to investment banking.) Technically-oriented courses, if offered, will be via a specialization.

Programs may also include coursework-based training in the skills needed at senior levels of management: soft skills, such as (general) leadership and negotiation; hard skills, such as spreadsheets and project management; thinking skills such as innovation and creativity. Training in areas such as multiculturalism and corporate social responsibility is similarly included. Company visits (including overseas travel), and guest lectures or seminars with CEOs and management personalities may also be included. These, with the core subjects, provide the graduate with breadth, while the specialty courses provide depth.

For the business strategy component, the degree capstone, the focus is on finding competitive advantage and the long-term positioning and management of the entity as a whole. Here, the key functional areas are thus synthesized to an overall view; the strategy course depicts how the various sub-disciplines integrate to tell one continuous story, with each discipline complementing the others. Corresponding training in business leadership may also be scheduled and participation in a business simulation or game is also a common degree requirement. "Strategy" may be offered as a sequence of courses, beginning in the first part (formulation) and culminating in the second (execution), or as a single intensive course, offered during the second part. Some programs offer a specialization in "strategy", others in management consulting which substantially addresses the same issues.

The MBA dissertation (or thesis in some universities) will, in general, comprise the following in some combination: a discussion of the literature, providing a critical review and structuring of what is known on a given topic, to address a specific problem; a case study that goes beyond simple description, containing the analysis of hitherto unpublished material; a test of the application or limitations of some known principle or technique in a particular situation, and/or suggested modifications.

As an alternative to the dissertation, some programs instead allow for a major project. Here (part-time) students will address a problem current in their organization; particularly in programs with an action learning orientation, these may be practically oriented. Most MBA programs require additional course work in research methodology, preceding the dissertation or project. Some programs allow that the research component as a whole may be substituted with additional elective coursework.

Exit examination
Many MBA programs culminate in a comprehensive exit examination. The national standardized exam known as the Major Field Test for MBAs (MFT-MBA) has been administered in the MBA programs of over 300 U.S. universities. The MFT-MBA aims to assess skills, knowledge, and reasoning ability within the domain of standard MBA curriculum. It is administered by Educational Testing Service. Another prominent option for comprehensive exit exams is the Common Professional Component Comprehensive Exam for MBAs (CPC COMP Exam for MBAs) owned by Peregrine Academic Services. Many programs choose to administer their own in-house exam rather than a standardized test.

Honor societies
Honor societies recognize individuals for high achievement in MBA programs. These honor societies include:
 * Beta Gamma Sigma - membership requires one to be in the top 20% of their program's class after completing half of the program.
 * Delta Mu Delta - membership requires one to be in the top 20% of their program's class and have a GPA of at least 3.6 after completing half of the program.
 * Financial Management Association - membership requires one to have a 3.5 overall GPA, or a 3.5 GPA in finance and finance-related courses, after completing half of the program.
 * T10 - membership requires one to have scored in the top 10% in the country on a national comprehensive MBA exam.

Careers
An MBA prepares individuals for many types of careers. According to a survey by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, 64% of year 2012 MBA graduates used their MBA to change careers. Some of the more common jobs an MBA prepares one for include:
 * Business analyst or strategist
 * Business development analyst, associate, or manager
 * Market research analyst
 * Managing Director (of a department)
 * Investment banker
 * Entrepreneur/founder
 * Financial analyst, associate, or manager
 * Management consultant
 * Marketing associate, analyst, or manager
 * Portfolio manager
 * Healthcare administrator, analyst, or manager
 * Project analyst or strategist
 * Product analyst, associate, or manager
 * Program analyst, associate, or manager
 * Operations analyst, associate, or manager

Africa
Financial Times, in its Executive Education Rankings for 2012, included five African business schools.

Nigeria
In Nigeria, business schools administered as colleges within the traditional universities offer a variety of MBA programs. In addition, a few standalone business schools allied with foreign business schools exist in Nigeria.

South Africa
In South Africa, South Africa's Council on Higher Education (CHE) completed an extensive re-accreditation of MBA degrees offered in the country in 2004.

Ghana
In Ghana, business schools of the traditional universities run a variety of MBA programs. Foreign accredited institutions offer MBA degrees by distance learning in Ghana.

Kenya
MBA programs in Kenya are offered in many public and private universities.

Students choose to specialize in one of the following areas: accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, insurance, and human resources. The course takes four semesters of about four months each.

Asia
International MBA programs are acquiring brand value in Asia. For example, while a foreign MBA is still preferred in the Philippines, many students are now studying at one of many "Global MBA" English language programs being offered. English-only MBA programs are also offered in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. For international students who want a different experience, many Asian programs offer scholarships and discounted tuition to encourage an international environment in the classroom.

Rankings have been published for Asia Pacific schools by Asia Inc., which is a regional business magazine with distribution worldwide. The importance of MBA education in China has risen, too.

Bangladesh
There are now more than 50 business schools in Bangladesh offering the MBA, predominantly targeting graduates without any work experience. Most MBAs are two years full-time. Sensibly there is little use of GMAT. The Business Schools conduct their own admission tests instead although the rationale for this instead of providing introductory courses and certifications is unclear. Classes are taught in English.

China
In 1990, the Academic Degrees Office of the State Council formally approved the establishment of MBA degrees and piloted MBA education. In 1991, the Academic Degrees Office of the State Council approved 9 domestic colleges and universities to carry out MBA education pilot work. Since then, mainland China has successively approved more institutions for MBA education training unit. At present, a total of 229 colleges and universities have opened MBA programs in the system, with a total of more than 500 programs.

India
In India, MBA degree is a 2-year postgraduate qualification designed to equip students with advanced business skills and knowledge. It typically covers a wide range of subjects including finance, marketing, human resources, operations, and strategy. One can get MBA degree offline as well as offline.

There are many business schools and colleges in India offering two-year MBA or PGDM programs accredited by AICTE or UGC.

The Indian Institutes of Management is among the world's most selective schools according to Bloomberg magazine. They offer MBA degrees. There are 20 IIMs in total.

Japan
In Japan, two business schools offer an accredited MBA degree (AACSB, AMBA, or EQUIS). The concept of an MBA is still not considered mainstream as traditional companies still perceive that knowledge and learning with respect to business and management can only be effectively gained through experience and not within a classroom. In fact, some companies have been known to place recent MBA recipients in unrelated fields, or try to re-acclimate their Japanese employees who have spent years overseas earning the degree. As a consequence, academic institutions in Japan are attempting to reinvent the perception of the MBA degree, by taking into account the local corporate culture.

Malaysia
In Malaysia, the MBA degree is highly valued by employers for its emphasis on practical skills and strategic thinking. It is often seen as a pathway to career advancement and increased earning potential.

Admission requirements for MBA programs in Malaysia typically include a bachelor's degree from a recognized institution, relevant work experience, and sometimes, standardized test scores such as the GMAT or GRE.

Both public and private universities offer MBA and EMBA degrees. Most MBAs are in full-time and part-time modes. All MBA degrees are fully conducted in English.

Nepal
In recent years, universities in Nepal are providing both general MBA for freshers and Executive MBA for working professionals. Apart from this, there is distance learning center that are providing online MBA course assosicated with abroad universities.

Pakistan
Pakistan first offered an MBA program outside the United States in 1955 in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Now in Pakistan, there are 187 Universities/Institutes which are recognized by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, offering MBA programs to students and professionals.

Singapore
Singapore has different MBA programs of high standing. The 3 national universities in Singapore have top MBA programs; Singapore Management University has triple accreditation, National University of Singapore is top 20 in the world according to the Financial Times MBA ranking and Nanyang Business School is ranked top 100 regarding The Economist. In addition, many international institutions such as INSEAD, ESSEC, EDHEC and others have a campus in Singapore where MBA programs, among others, are offered.

South Korea
Korean universities offer full-time and part-time MBA programs that usually consist of a two-year curriculum. The first MBA program was offered in 1963 by Korea University Business School (KUBS). In 2007, the Korean Government established "BK21," a project that supports Korean universities in order to develop their competitiveness in the global MBA market. Korea University Business School topped the evaluation of BK21 professional business graduate schools for six consecutive years. In the meantime, only two universities in Korea ranked in the "2015 Global Top 100 Executive MBA (EMBA) Rankings" conducted by UK Financial Times. Korea University Business School and Yonsei University ranked 27th and 45th worldwide, respectively.

History
In 1957, INSEAD (French name "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires", or European Institute of Business Administration) became the first European university offering the MBA degree, followed by EDHEC Business School and Antwerp Management School in 1959 and ICADE in 1960 (who had started offering in 1956 a "Technical Seminary for Business Administration"), ESADE and IESE Business School (first two-year program in Europe) in 1964, UCD Smurfit Business School and Cranfield School of Management in 1964, Manchester Business School and London Business School in 1965, Trinity College Dublin, the Rotterdam School of Management in 1966, the Vlerick Business School in 1968 and in 1969 by the HEC School of Management (in French, the École des Hautes Études Commerciales) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. In 1972, Swiss business school IMEDE (now IMD) began offering a full-time MBA program, followed by IE Business School (in Spanish, Instituto de Empresas) in 1973, and AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland in 1974. In 1991, IEDC-Bled School of Management became the first school in the ex-socialist bloc of the Central and Eastern to offer an MBA degree.

Bologna Accord
In Europe, the recent Bologna Accord established uniformity in three levels of higher education: Bachelor (three or four years), Masters (one or two years, in addition to three or four years for a Bachelor), and Doctorate (an additional three or four years after a Master). Students can acquire professional experience after their initial bachelor's degree at any European institution and later complete their masters in any other European institution via the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System.

Accreditation standards
Accreditation standards are not uniform in Europe. Some countries have legal requirements for accreditation (e.g. most German states), in some, there is a legal requirement only for universities of a certain type (e.g. Austria), and others have no accreditation law at all. Even where there is no legal requirement, many business schools are accredited by independent bodies voluntarily to ensure quality standards.

Austria
In Austria, MBA programs of private universities have to be accredited by the Austrian Accreditation Council (Österreichischer Akkreditierungsrat). State-run universities have no accreditation requirements, however, some of them voluntarily undergo accreditation procedures by independent bodies. There are also MBA programs of non-academic business schools, who are entitled by the Austrian government to offer these programs until the end of 2012 (Lehrgang universitären Charakters). Some non-academic institutions cooperate with state-run universities to ensure the legality of their degrees.

Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, the first meeting of the Association of the Czech MBA Schools (CAMBAS) was held in January 1999. The association is housed within the Centre for Doctoral and Managerial Studies of UEP, Prague. All of the founding members of the association to have their MBA programs accredited by partner institutions in the United Kingdom or the United States.

Finland
In Finland, Master of Business Administration degrees are awarded by business schools of Aalto University, Hanken, University of Turku, University of Vaasa and University of Oulu. In Finnish this degree is called kauppatieteiden maisteri. Universities of applied sciences award degrees which in Finnish are called tradenomi (YAMK) but use the same English title "Master of Business Administration" as the ones awarded by business schools. Both degrees are recognized as higher education degrees in Finland, yet only the business school graduates are typically referred as "masters".

France and French-speaking countries
In France and the Francophone countries, including Belgium, Canada, Monaco, and Switzerland, the MBA degree programs at the public accredited schools are similar to those offered in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Most French Business Schools are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes écoles.

Germany
Germany was one of the last Western countries to adopt an MBA degree. In 1998, the Hochschulrahmengesetz (Higher Education Framework Act), a German federal law regulating higher education including the types of degrees offered, was modified to permit German universities to offer master's degrees. The traditional German degree in business administration was the Diplom in Betriebswirtschaft (Diplom-Kaufmann/Diplom-Kauffrau), But since 1999, bachelor's and master's degrees have gradually replaced the traditional degrees due to the Bologna process. Most German business schools now offer an MBA.

Most German states require that MBA degrees have to be accredited by one of the six agencies officially recognized by the German Akkreditierungsrat (accreditation council), the German counterpart to the American CHEA. The busiest of these six agencies (with respect to MBA degrees) is the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA). All universities themselves have to be institutionally accredited by the state (staatlich anerkannt).

Italy
In Italy, MBA programs at public accredited schools are similar to those offered elsewhere in Europe. Italian Business Schools are accredited by EQUIS and by ASFOR.

Poland
There are several MBA programs offered in Poland. Some of these are run as partnerships with European, American, or Canadian Universities. Others rely on their own faculty and enrich their courses by inviting visiting lecturers. Several MBA programs in Poland are also offered in English.

Portugal
Several business schools offer highly ranked MBA programs in Portugal. Portuguese MBA programs are increasingly internationally oriented, being taught in English.

Spain
Spain has a long history in offering MBA programs with three MBA programs frequently being ranked in the Top 25 worldwide by several international rankings. Spanish MBAs are culturally diverse and taught in English.

Switzerland
Several schools in Switzerland offer an MBA as full-time, part-time, and executive education programs. Some business schools offer MBA programs with specializations such as Finance and Healthcare, technology management, and others. As a country with four different national languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh), Switzerland offers most of its programs in English to attract international students to the country.

Ukraine
Recently MBA programs appeared in Ukraine, where there are now about twenty schools of business offering a variety of MBA programs. Three of these are subsidiaries of European schools of business, while the remaining institutions are independent. Ukrainian MBA programs are concentrated mainly on particulars of business and management in Ukraine. For example, 2/3 of all case studies are based on real conditions of Ukrainian companies.

United Kingdom
The United Kingdom-based Association of MBAs (AMBA) was established in 1967 and is an active advocate for MBA degrees. The association's accreditation service is internationally recognized for all MBA, DBA, and Masters in Business and Management (MBM) programs. AMBA also offers the only professional membership association for MBA students and graduates. UK MBA programs typically consist of a set number of taught courses plus a dissertation or project.

Australia
In Australia, 42 Australian business schools offer the MBA degree (16 are AACSB, AMBA or EQUIS accredited ). Universities differentiate themselves by gaining international accreditation and focusing on national and international rankings. Most MBAs are one to two years full-time. There is little use of GMAT, and instead, each educational institution specifies its own requirements, which normally entails several years of management-level work experience as well as proven academic skills.

Graduate Management Association of Australia carries out ratings for Australian MBAs and annually publishes Australian MBA Star Ratings. The Financial Review Boss carries out biennial rankings of Australian MBAs.

New Zealand
In New Zealand, most universities offer MBA classes, typically through part-time arrangement or evening classes. Only two universities offer full-time programs to international students, the University of Otago (Otago MBA) and Auckland University of Technology (AUT). The Otago MBA is the longer established of the two, offering a 240 points program while AUT MBA is a 180-point program.

Program rankings
Since 1967, publications have ranked MBA programs using various methods. The Gourman Report (1967–1997) did not disclose criteria or ranking methods, and these reports were criticized for reporting statistically impossible data, such as no ties among schools, narrow gaps in scores with no variation in gap widths, and ranks of nonexistent departments. In 1977 The Carter Report ranked MBA programs based on the number of academic articles published by faculty, the Ladd & Lipset Survey ranked business schools based on faculty surveys, and MBA Magazine ranked schools based on votes cast by business school deans.

Today, publications by the Aspen Institute, Business Week, The Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, Quacquarelli Symonds, U.S. News & World Report, and the Wall Street Journal make their own rankings of MBA programs. Schools' ranks can vary across publications, as the methodologies for rankings differ among publications:

 * The Aspen Institute publishes the Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings which are based on the integration of social and environmental stewardship into university curriculum and faculty research. Rankings from a small sample of well-known schools are calculated on the amount of sustainability coursework made available to students (20%), amount of student exposure to relevant material (25%), amount of coursework focused on stewardship by for-profit corporations (30%), and relevant faculty research (25%). The 2011 survey and ranking include data from 150 universities.
 * Business Week's rankings are based on student surveys, a survey of corporate recruiters, and an intellectual capital rating.
 * The Economist Intelligence Unit, published in The Economist, surveys both business schools (80%) and students and recent graduates (20%). Ranking criteria include GMAT scores, employment and salary statistics, class options, and student body demographics. The Economist withdrew from the MBA rankings business after releasing its 2022 ranking.
 * Financial Times uses survey responses from alumni who graduated three years prior to the ranking and information from business schools. Salary and employment statistics are weighted heavily.
 * Forbes considers only the return of investment five years after graduation. MBA alumni are asked about their salary, the tuition fees of their MBA program, and other direct costs as well as opportunity costs involved. Based on this data, a final "5-year gain" is calculated and determines the MBA ranking position.
 * Quacquarelli Symonds QS Global 200 Business Schools Report compiles regional rankings of business schools around the world. Ranks are calculated using a two-year moving average of points assigned by employers who hire MBA graduates.
 * U.S. News & World Report incorporates responses from deans, program directors, and senior faculty about the academic quality of their programs as well as the opinions of hiring professionals. The ranking is calculated through a weighted formula of quality assessment (40%), placement success (35%), and student selectivity (25%).
 * UT-Dallas Top 100 Business School Research Rankings ranks business schools on the research faculty publish, similar to The Carter Report of the past.
 * The Wall Street Journal, which stopped ranking full-time MBA programs in 2007, based its rankings on skill and behavioral development that may predict career success, such as social skills, teamwork orientation, ethics, and analytic and problem-solving abilities.

The ranking of MBA programs has been discussed in articles and on academic websites. Critics of ranking methodologies maintain that any published rankings should be viewed with caution for the following reasons:
 * Rankings exhibit intentional selection bias as they limit the surveyed population to a small number of MBA programs and ignore the majority of schools, many with excellent offerings.
 * Ranking methods may be subject to personal biases and statistically flawed methodologies (especially methods relying on subjective interviews of hiring managers, students, or faculty).
 * Rankings use no objective measures of program quality.
 * The same list of schools appears in each ranking with some variation in ranks, so a school ranked as number 1 in one list may be number 17 in another list.
 * Rankings tend to concentrate on representing MBA schools themselves, but some schools offer MBA programs of different qualities and yet the ranking will only rely upon information from the full-time program (e.g., a school may use highly reputable faculty to teach a daytime program, but use adjunct faculty in its evening program or have drastically lower admissions criteria for its evening program than for its daytime program).
 * A high rank in a national publication tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 * Some leading business schools including Harvard, INSEAD, Wharton and Sloan provide limited cooperation with certain ranking publications due to their perception that rankings are misused.

One study found that ranking MBA programs by a combination of graduates' starting salaries and average student GMAT score can approximately duplicate the top 20 list of the national publications, and concluded that a truly objective ranking would use objective measures of program quality and be individualized to the needs of each prospective student. National publications have recognized the value of rankings against different criteria and now offer lists ranked different ways: by salary, GMAT score of students, selectivity, and so forth. While useful, these rankings have yet to meet the critique that rankings are not tailored to individual needs, that they use an incomplete population of schools, may fail to distinguish between the different MBA program types offered by each school, or rely on subjective interviews.

Criticism
Articles have been written about public perceptions of the crisis, ranging from schools' acknowledgment of issues with the training students receive to criticisms of the MBA's role in society. After the financial crisis of 2007–2010, the media raised questions about the value and content of business school programs. Prior to the financial crisis, graduates had reportedly tended to go into finance after receiving their degrees. As financial professionals are widely seen as responsible for the global economic meltdown, anecdotal evidence suggests new graduates are choosing different career paths. Deans at top business schools have also acknowledged that media and public perception of the MBA degree shifted as a result of the financial crisis.

Related graduate business degrees

 * Master of Accountancy (MAcc or MAcy) / Master of Professional Accountancy (MPA, or MPAcc), a postgraduate degree in accounting
 * Master of Business Communication (MBC)
 * Master of Commerce (MCom or MComm), a postgraduate business degree usually focused on a particular area
 * Master of Economics (M.Econ./M.Ec.)
 * Master of Enterprise (MEnt), a postgraduate, technology & enterprise-based qualification
 * Master of Bioscience Enterprise (MBioEnt), a postgraduate degree focused on the commercialization of biotechnology
 * Master of Finance (MFin), a postgraduate degree in finance
 * Master of Health Administration (MHA), a postgraduate health administration degree
 * Master of International Business (MIB), a postgraduate degree focused on International Business
 * Master of Management (MM), a postgraduate business degree
 * Master of Science in Management (MSM), a postgraduate business management degree
 * Master of Marketing Research (MMR) a postgraduate degree focusing on research in the field of marketing
 * Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO or MNPO), the postgraduate degree for philanthropy and voluntary sector professionals
 * Master of Public Administration (MPA), a postgraduate public administration degree
 * Master of Social Science (MSS), a postgraduate degree
 * Master of Project Management (MSPM or MPM), a postgraduate project management degree
 * Masters of Management: Co-operatives and Credit Unions, a post-graduate degree for co-operative and credit union managers
 * Master in Sustainable Business (MSB)
 * Master of Real Estate (MScRE), a postgraduate degree focusing on real estate.
 * Master of Information Management (MIM), a postgraduate degree focusing on information management.

Executive

 * Executive Master of Science in Business Administration (Executive MScBA), a postgraduate degree focusing advanced-level conceptual foundation in a student's chosen field such as operational excellence in the biotech/pharma industry.

Doctoral

 * Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), a doctorate in business administration
 * Doctor of Management (D.M.)
 * PhD in Management (PhD), a business doctoral degree
 * D.Phil in Management (D.Phil), a doctorate in business
 * Engineering Doctorate (EngD), A professional doctorate in the UK involving a management thesis and taught MBA courses

title: Master of Business Administration


text:
Talk:Transhumanism

Content/citation dump from cleaned debate section
Giuseppe Vattino, a supporter of transhumanism elected as a member of Parliament in Italy, believes that, although transhumanism may make us less human, there are both positive and negative consequences. He believes that transhumanism will make people “less subject to the whims of nature, such as illness or climate extremes”.

Fukuyama points out that, while the concept of being able to do away with negative emotions is appealing in theory, if we did not have the emotion of aggression then "we wouldn’t be able to defend ourselves".

Struck by a passage from Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski's anarcho-primitivist manifesto (quoted in Kurzweil's 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines ), computer scientist Bill Joy became a notable critic of emerging technologies. Joy's warning was seized upon by appropriate technology organizations such as the ETC Group. Related notions were also voiced by self-described neo-luddite Kalle Lasn, a culture jammer who co-authored a 2001 spoof of Donna Haraway's 1985 Cyborg Manifesto as a critique of the techno-utopianism he interpreted it as promoting. Lasn argues that high technology development should be completely relinquished since it inevitably serves corporate interests with devastating consequences on society and the environment. (looks to have been improperly classified as existential risk)

Some also argue that strong advocacy of a transhumanist approach to improving the human condition might divert attention and resources from social solutions. Sometimes, however, there are strong disagreements about the very principles involved, with divergent views on humanity, human nature and the morality of transhumanist aspirations.

Transhumanists, therefore, argue that parents have a moral responsibility called procreative beneficence to make use of these methods, if and when they are shown to be reasonably safe and effective, to have the healthiest children possible. They add that this responsibility is a moral judgment best left to individual conscience, rather than imposed by law, in all but extreme cases. In this context, the emphasis on freedom of choice is called procreative liberty.

Artist and filmmaker Tim Holmes sees a similar but subtler danger in the devaluation of the body by the progress of civilization itself, which he says encourages mechanical values of expediency, rather than body values of quality of life, leading us to ever more mechanical, anti-flesh solutions. In his TEDx talk "The Erotic Crisis", he warns against abandoning the hidden wisdom of the flesh, which cannot be digitally comprehended.

Olaf Stapledon
Last and First Men (and Starmaker, for that matter), while fictitious and androcentric, may be a relevant work to mention here, as the entirety of it is concerned with transhumanism and posthumanism (albeit from the perspective of a man in the 1930s). It also is a somewhat less disturbing and semi-psychopathic work that many others in the field, owing partially to it's (unusal for the genre) disregard for the pursuit of personal immortality.

How do you go about looking for a better source?
I ask because it says the following line on the main article needs a better source: "Another topic of transhumanist research is how to protect humanity against existential risks, such as nuclear war or asteroid collision."

Why is this source not adequate: Kirsch, Adam (June 20, 2020). "Looking Forward to the End of Humanity". Wall Street Journal. And how should a user look for a better one? FireInMe (talk) 21:14, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

The new logo
Why was the "Humanity Plus" logo changed? SWeinblatt (talk) 00:47, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

Jesuitry
... DNA/genome stewardship by an institution analogous to the Jesuits' 400-year vigil ...

Vigil over what? —Tamfang (talk) 02:52, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Transhumanism


text:
Movable type

Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuation marks) usually on the medium of paper.

Overview
The world's first movable type printing technology for paper books was made of porcelain materials and was invented around 1040 AD in China during the Northern Song dynasty by the inventor Bi Sheng (990–1051). The earliest printed paper money with movable metal type to print the identifying code of the money was made in 1161 during the Song dynasty. In 1193, a book in the Song dynasty documented how to use the copper movable type. The oldest extant book printed with movable metal type, Jikji, was printed in Korea in 1377 during the Goryeo dynasty.

The spread of both movable-type systems was, to some degree, limited to primarily East Asia. The creation of the printing press in Europe may have been influenced by various sporadic reports of movable type technology brought back to Europe by returning business people and missionaries to China. Some of these medieval European accounts are still preserved in the library archives of the Vatican and Oxford University among many others.

Around 1450, German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the metal movable-type printing press, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. The small number of alphabetic characters needed for European languages was an important factor. Gutenberg was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony—and these materials remained standard for 550 years.

For alphabetic scripts, movable-type page setting was quicker than woodblock printing. The metal type pieces were more durable and the lettering was more uniform, leading to typography and fonts. The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible (1455) established the superiority of movable type in Europe and the use of printing presses spread rapidly. The printing press may be regarded as one of the key factors fostering the Renaissance and, due to its effectiveness, its use spread around the globe.

The 19th-century invention of hot metal typesetting and its successors caused movable type to decline in the 20th century.

Letter punch and coins
The technique of imprinting multiple copies of symbols or glyphs with a master type punch made of hard metal first developed around 3000 BC in ancient Sumer. These metal punch types can be seen as precursors of the letter punches adapted in later millennia to printing with movable metal type. Cylinder seals were used in Mesopotamia to create an impression on a surface by rolling the seal on wet clay.

Seals and stamps
Seals and stamps may have been precursors to movable type. The uneven spacing of the impressions on brick stamps found in the Mesopotamian cities of Uruk and Larsa, dating from the 2nd millennium BC, has been conjectured by some archaeologists as evidence that the stamps were made using movable type. The enigmatic Minoan Phaistos Disc of c. 1800–1600 BC has been considered by one scholar as an early example of a body of text being reproduced with reusable characters: it may have been produced by pressing pre-formed hieroglyphic "seals" into the soft clay. A few authors even view the disc as technically meeting all definitional criteria to represent an early incidence of movable-type printing.

Woodblock printing
Bones, shells, bamboo slips, metal tablets, stone tablets, silk, as well as other materials were previously used for writing. However, following the invention of paper during the Chinese Han dynasty, writing materials became more portable and economical. Yet, copying books by hand was still labour-consuming. Not until the Xiping Era (172–178 AD), towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, did sealing print and monotype appear. These were used to print designs on fabrics and to print texts.

By about the 8th century during the Tang dynasty, woodblock printing was invented and worked as follows. First, the neat hand-copied script was stuck on a relatively thick and smooth board, with the front of the paper sticking to the board, the paper being so thin it was transparent, the characters showing in reverse distinctly so that every stroke could be easily recognized. Then, carvers cut away the parts of the board that were not part of the character, so that the characters were cut in relief, completely differently from those cut intaglio. When printing, the bulging characters would have some ink spread on them and be covered by paper. With workers' hands moving on the back of paper gently, characters would be printed on the paper. By the Song dynasty, woodblock printing came to its heyday. Although woodblock printing played an influential role in spreading culture, there were some significant drawbacks. Carving the printing plate required considerable time, labour, and materials. It also was not convenient to store these plates and was difficult to correct mistakes.

Ceramic movable type

Bi Sheng (畢昇) (990–1051) developed the first known movable-type system for printing in China around 1040 AD during the Northern Song dynasty, using ceramic materials. As described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (沈括) (1031–1095):

"When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

For each character there were several types, and for certain common characters there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases.

If one were to print only two or three copies, this method would be neither simple nor easy. But for printing hundreds or thousands of copies, it was marvelously quick. As a rule he kept two forms going. While the impression was being made from the one form, the type was being put in place on the other. When the printing of the one form was finished, the other was then ready. In this way the two forms alternated and the printing was done with great rapidity."

After his death, the ceramic movable-type passed onto his descendants. In 1193, Zhou Bida, an officer of the Southern Song dynasty, made a set of clay movable-type method according to the method described by Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays, and printed his book Notes of The Jade Hall (《玉堂雜記》). The ceramic movable type was also mentioned by Kublai Khan's counsellor Yao Shu, who convinced his pupil Yang Gu to print language primers using this method.

The claim that Bi Sheng's clay types were "fragile" and "not practical for large-scale printing" and "short lived" was refuted by later experiments. Bao Shicheng (1775–1885) wrote that baked clay moveable type was "as hard and tough as horn"; experiments show that clay type, after being baked in an oven, becomes hard and difficult to break, such that it remains intact after being dropped from a height of two metres onto a marble floor. The length of clay movable types in China was 1 to 2 centimetres, not 2 mm, thus hard as horn. But similar to metal type, ceramic type did not hold the water-based Chinese calligraphic ink well, and had an added disadvantage of uneven matching of the type which could sometimes result from the uneven changes in size of the type during the baking process.

There has been an ongoing debate regarding the success of ceramic printing technology as there have been no printed materials found with ceramic movable types. However, it is historically recorded to have been used as late as 1844 in China from the Song dynasty through the Qing dynasty.

Wooden movable type

Bi Sheng (990–1051) of the Song dynasty also pioneered the use of wooden movable type around 1040 AD, as described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095). However, this technology was abandoned in favour of clay movable types due to the presence of wood grains and the unevenness of the wooden type after being soaked in ink.

In 1298, Wang Zhen (王禎), a Yuan dynasty governmental official of Jingde County, Anhui Province, China, re-invented a method of making movable wooden types. He made more than 30,000 wooden movable types and printed 100 copies of Records of Jingde County (《旌德縣志》), a book of more than 60,000 Chinese characters. Soon afterwards, he summarized his invention in his book A method of making moveable wooden types for printing books. Although the wooden type was more durable under the mechanical rigors of handling, repeated printing wore down the character faces, and the types could only be replaced by carving new pieces. This system was later enhanced by pressing wooden blocks into sand and casting metal types from the depression in copper, bronze, iron or tin. This new method overcame many of the shortcomings of woodblock printing. Rather than manually carving an individual block to print a single page, movable type printing allowed for the quick assembly of a page of text. Furthermore, these new, more compact type fonts could be reused and stored. Wang Zhen used two rotating circular tables as trays for laying out his type. The first table was separated into 24 trays in which each movable type was categorized based on a number corresponding with a rhyming pattern. The second table contained miscellaneous characters.

The set of wafer-like metal stamp types could be assembled to form pages, inked, and page impressions taken from rubbings on cloth or paper. In 1322, a Fenghua county officer Ma Chengde (馬称德) in Zhejiang, made 100,000 wooden movable types and printed the 43-volume Daxue Yanyi (《大學衍義》). Wooden movable types were used continually in China. Even as late as 1733, a 2300-volume Wuying Palace Collected Gems Edition (《武英殿聚珍版叢書》) was printed with 253,500 wooden movable types on order of the Qianlong Emperor, and completed in one year.

A number of books printed in Tangut script during the Western Xia (1038–1227) period are known, of which the Auspicious Tantra of All-Reaching Union, which was discovered in the ruins of Baisigou Square Pagoda in 1991 is believed to have been printed sometime during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Western Xia (1139–1193). It is considered by many Chinese experts to be the earliest extant example of a book printed using wooden movable type.

China

At least 13 material finds in China indicate the invention of bronze movable type printing in China no later than the 12th century, with the country producing large-scale bronze-plate-printed paper money and formal official documents issued by the Jin (1115–1234) and Southern Song (1127–1279) dynasties with embedded bronze metal types for anti-counterfeit markers. Such paper-money printing might date back to the 11th-century jiaozi of Northern Song (960–1127).

The typical example of this kind of bronze movable type embedded copper-block printing is a printed "check" of the Jin dynasty with two square holes for embedding two bronze movable-type characters, each selected from 1,000 different characters, such that each printed paper note has a different combination of markers. A copper-block printed note dated between 1215 and 1216 in the collection of Luo Zhenyu's Pictorial Paper Money of the Four Dynasties, 1914, shows two special characters—one called Ziliao, the other called Zihao—for the purpose of preventing counterfeiting; over the Ziliao there is a small character (輶) printed with movable copper type, while over the Zihao there is an empty square hole—apparently the associated copper metal type was lost. Another sample of Song dynasty money of the same period in the collection of the Shanghai Museum has two empty square holes above Ziliao as well as Zihou, due to the loss of the two copper movable types. Song dynasty bronze block embedded with bronze metal movable type printed paper money was issued on a large scale and remained in circulation for a long time.

The 1298 book Zao Huozi Yinshufa (《造活字印書法》) by the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) official Wang Zhen mentions tin movable type, used probably since the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), but this was largely experimental. It was unsatisfactory due to its incompatibility with the inking process. But by the late 15th century these concerns were resolved and bronze type was widely used in Chinese printing.

During the Mongol Empire (1206–1405), printing using movable type spread from China to Central Asia. The Uyghurs of Central Asia used movable type, their script type adopted from the Mongol language, some with Chinese words printed between the pages—strong evidence that the books were printed in China.

During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Hua Sui in 1490 used bronze type in printing books. In 1574 the massive 1000-volume encyclopedia Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era (《太平御覧》) was printed with bronze movable type.

In 1725 the Qing dynasty government made 250,000 bronze movable-type characters and printed 64 sets of the encyclopedic Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China (《古今圖書集成》). Each set consisted of 5,040 volumes, making a total of 322,560 volumes printed using movable type.

Korea

In 1234 the first books known to have been printed in metallic type set were published in Goryeo dynasty Korea. They form a set of ritual books, Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun, compiled by Ch'oe Yun-ŭi.

While these books have not survived, the oldest book existing in the world printed in metallic movable types is Jikji, printed in Korea in 1377. The Asian Reading Room of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., displays examples of this metal type. Commenting on the invention of metallic types by Koreans, French scholar Henri-Jean Martin described this as "[extremely similar] to Gutenberg's". However, Korean movable metal type printing differed from European printing in the materials used for the type, punch, matrix, mould and in method of making an impression.

The techniques for bronze casting, used at the time for making coins (as well as bells and statues) were adapted to making metal type. The Joseon dynasty scholar Seong Hyeon (성현, 成俔, 1439–1504) records the following description of the Korean font-casting process: "At first, one cuts letters in beech wood. One fills a trough level with fine sandy [clay] of the reed-growing seashore. Wood-cut letters are pressed into the sand, then the impressions become negative and form letters [moulds]. At this step, placing one trough together with another, one pours the molten bronze down into an opening. The fluid flows in, filling these negative moulds, one by one becoming type. Lastly, one scrapes and files off the irregularities, and piles them up to be arranged."

A potential solution to the linguistic and cultural bottleneck that held back movable type in Korea for 200 years appeared in the early 15th century—a generation before Gutenberg would begin working on his own movable-type invention in Europe—when Sejong the Great devised a simplified alphabet of 24 characters (hangul) for use by the common people, which could have made the typecasting and compositing process more feasible. But Korea's cultural elite, "appalled at the idea of losing hanja, the badge of their elitism", stifled the adoption of the new alphabet.

A "Confucian prohibition on the commercialization of printing" also obstructed the proliferation of movable type, restricting the distribution of books produced using the new method to the government. The technique was restricted to use by the royal foundry for official state publications only, where the focus was on reprinting Chinese classics lost in 1126 when Korea's libraries and palaces had perished in a conflict between dynasties.

Scholarly debate and speculation has occurred as to whether Eastern movable type spread to Europe between the late 14th century and early 15th centuries. For example, authoritative historians Frances Gies and Joseph Gies claimed that "The Asian priority of invention movable type is now firmly established, and that Chinese-Korean technique, or a report of it traveled westward is almost certain." However, Joseph P. McDermott claimed that "No text indicates the presence or knowledge of any kind of Asian movable type or movable type imprint in Europe before 1450. The material evidence is even more conclusive."

Europe

Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany, invented the printing press, using a metal movable type system. Gutenberg, as a goldsmith, knew techniques of cutting punches for making coins from moulds. Between 1436 and 1450 he developed hardware and techniques for casting letters from matrices using a device called the hand mould. Gutenberg's key invention and contribution to movable-type printing in Europe, the hand mould, was the first practical means of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print complete books, making the movable-type printing process a viable enterprise.

Before Gutenberg, scribes copied books by hand on scrolls and paper, or print-makers printed texts from hand-carved wooden blocks. Either process took a long time; even a small book could take months to complete. Because carved letters or blocks were flimsy and the wood susceptible to ink, the blocks had a limited lifespan.

Gutenberg and his associates developed oil-based inks ideally suited to printing with a press on paper, and the first Latin typefaces. His method of casting type may have differed from the hand-mould used in subsequent decades. Detailed analysis of the type used in his 42-line Bible has revealed irregularities in some of the characters that cannot be attributed to ink spread or type wear under the pressure of the press. Scholars conjecture that the type pieces may have been cast from a series of matrices made with a series of individual stroke punches, producing many different versions of the same glyph. It has also been suggested that the method used by Gutenberg involved using a single punch to make a mould, but the mould was such that the process of taking the type out disturbed the casting, causing variants and anomalies, and that the punch-matrix system came into use possibly around the 1470s. This raises the possibility that the development of movable type in the West may have been progressive rather than a single innovation.

Gutenberg's movable-type printing system spread rapidly across Europe, from the single Mainz printing press in 1457 to 110 presses by 1480, with 50 of them in Italy. Venice quickly became the centre of typographic and printing activity. Significant contributions came from Nicolas Jenson, Francesco Griffo, Aldus Manutius, and other printers of late 15th-century Europe. Gutenberg's movable type printing system offered a number of advantages over previous movable type techniques. The lead-antimony-tin alloy used by Gutenberg had half the melting temperature of bronze, making it easier to cast the type and aided the use of reusable metal matrix moulds instead of the expendable sand and clay moulds. The use of antimony alloy increased hardness of the type compared to lead and tin for improved durability of the type. The reusable metal matrix allowed a single experienced worker to produce 4,000 to 5,000 individual types a day, while Wang Chen had artisans working 2 years to make 60,000 wooden types.

Stages
Type-founding as practised in Europe and the West consists of three stages:

 * Punchcutting: If the glyph design includes enclosed spaces (counters) then a counterpunch is made. The counter shapes are transferred in relief (cameo) onto the end of a rectangular bar of carbon steel using a specialized engraving tool called a graver. The finished counterpunch is hardened by heating and quenching (tempering), or exposure to a hot cyanide compound (case hardening). The counterpunch is then struck against the end of a similar rectangular steel bar—the letterpunch—to impress the counter shapes as recessed spaces (intaglio). The outer profile of the glyph is completed by scraping away with a graver the material outside the counter spaces, leaving only the stroke or lines of the glyph. Progress toward the finished design is checked by successive smoke proofs; temporary prints made from a thin coating of carbon deposited on the punch surface by a candle flame. The finished letter punch is finally hardened to withstand the rigours of reproduction by striking. One counterpunch and one letterpunch are produced for every letter or glyph making up a complete font.
 * Matrix: The letterpunch is used to strike a blank die of soft metal to make a negative letter mould, called a matrix.
 * Casting: The matrix is inserted into the bottom of a device called a hand mould. The mould is clamped shut and molten type metal alloy (consisting mostly of lead and tin, with a small amount of antimony for hardening) is poured into a cavity from the top. Antimony has the rare property of expanding as it cools, giving the casting sharp edges. When the type metal has sufficiently cooled, the mould is unlocked and a rectangular block approximately 4 cm long, called a sort, is extracted. Excess casting on the end of the sort, called the tang, is later removed to make the sort the precise height required for printing, known as "type height".

National traditions
The type-height varied in different countries. The Monotype Corporation Limited in London UK produced moulds in various heights:
 * 0.918 in: United Kingdom, Canada, U.S.
 * 0.928 in: France, Germany, Switzerland and most other European countries
 * 0.933 in: Belgium height
 * 0.9785 in: Dutch height

A Dutch printer's manual mentions a tiny difference between French and German Height:
 * 62.027 points Didot = 23.30 mm = English height
 * 62.666 points Didot = 23.55 mm = French height
 * 62.685 points Didot = 23.56 mm = German height
 * 66.047 points Didot = 24.85 mm = Dutch Height

Tiny differences in type-height can cause quite bold images of characters.

At the end of the 19th century there were only two typefoundries left in the Netherlands: Johan Enschedé & Zonen, at Haarlem, and Lettergieterij Amsterdam, voorheen Tetterode. They both had their own type-height: Enschedé: 65 23/24 points Didot, and Amsterdam: 66 1/24 points Didot—enough difference to prevent a combined use of fonts from the two typefoundries: Enschede would be too light, or otherwise the Amsterdam-font would print rather bold. This was a way of keeping clients.

In 1905 the Dutch governmental Algemeene Landsdrukkerij, later: "State-printery" (Staatsdrukkerij) decided during a reorganisation to use a standard type-height of 63 points Didot. Staatsdrukkerij-hoogte, actually Belgium-height, but this fact was not widely known.

Typesetting
Modern, factory-produced movable type was available in the late 19th century. It was held in the printing shop in a job case, a drawer about 2 inches high, a yard wide, and about two feet deep, with many small compartments for the various letters and ligatures. The most popular and accepted of the job case designs in America was the California Job Case, which took its name from the Pacific coast location of the foundries that made the case popular.

Traditionally, the capital letters were stored in a separate drawer or case that was located above the case that held the other letters; this is why capital letters are called "upper case" characters while the non-capitals are "lower case".

Compartments also held spacers, which are blocks of blank type used to separate words and fill out a line of type, such as em and en quads (quadrats, or spaces. A quadrat is a block of type whose face is lower than the printing letters so that it does not itself print.). An em space was the width of a capital letter "M"—as wide as it was high—while an en space referred to a space half the width of its height (usually the dimensions for a capital "N").

Individual letters are assembled into words and lines of text with the aid of a composing stick, and the whole assembly is tightly bound together to make up a page image called a forme, where all letter faces are exactly the same height to form a flat surface of type. The forme is mounted on a printing press, a thin coating of viscous ink is applied, and impressions are made on paper under great pressure in the press. "Sorts" is the term given to special characters not freely available in the typical type case, such as the "@" mark.

Metal type combined with other methods

Sometimes, it is erroneously stated that printing with metal type replaced the earlier methods. In the industrial era printing methods would be chosen to suit the purpose. For example, when printing large scale letters in posters etc. the metal type would have proved too heavy and economically unviable. Thus, large scale type was made as carved wood blocks as well as ceramics plates. Also in many cases where large scale text was required, it was simpler to hand the job to a sign painter than a printer. Images could be printed together with movable type if they were made as woodcuts or wood engravings as long as the blocks were made to the same type height. If intaglio methods, such as copper plates, were used for the images, then images and the text would have required separate print runs on different machines.

title: Movable type


text:
Closure

Closure may refer to:

Psychology

 * Closure (psychology), the state of experiencing an emotional conclusion to a difficult life event

Computer science

 * Closure (computer programming), an abstraction binding a function to its scope
 * Relational database model: Set-theoretic formulation and Armstrong's axioms for its use in database theory

Mathematics

 * Closure (mathematics), the result of applying a closure operator
 * Closure (topology), for a set, the smallest closed set containing that set

Philosophy

 * Epistemic closure, a principle in epistemology
 * Deductive closure, a principle in logic
 * Cognitive closure, a principle in philosophy of mind
 * Closure: A Short History of Everything, a philosophical book by Hilary Lawson

Sociology

 * Closure (sociology)
 * Closure, a concept in the social construction of technology

Physical objects

 * Closure (container) used to seal a bottle, jug, jar, can, or other container
 * Closure (wine bottle), a stopper
 * Hook-and-eye closure

Film and television

 * Straightheads, a 2007 British thriller film, US release title Closure
 * "Closure" (The X-Files), a 2000 episode of the television series The X-Files
 * "Closure" (8 Simple Rules episode), a 2005 episode of the sitcom 8 Simple Rules
 * "Closure" (Raines), a 2007 episode of the crime drama Raines
 * "Closure" (Tru Calling), a 2004 episode of the supernatural drama Tru Calling
 * A two-part episode, split between seasons 1 and 2 of Law and Order: SVU
 * "Closure" (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), a 2015 episode of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Music

 * Closure (band), Canadian rock band
 * Closure (video), a 1997 Nine Inch Nails video set

Albums and EPs

 * Closure (Attila album), 2021 album by Attila
 * Closure (Closure album), 2003 album by Closure
 * Closure, 2004 EP by Everclear
 * Closure (Integrity album), 2001 album by Integrity
 * Closure (Spahn Ranch album), 2001
 * Closure: Live, 2001 live album by Theatre of Tragedy

Songs

 * "Closure", by Aly & AJ from Insomniatic, 2007
 * "Closure", by Asking Alexandria from Reckless & Relentless, 2011
 * "Closure", by Botch from The Unifying Themes of Sex, Death and Religion, 1997
 * "Closure" (Cadet song), single by Cadet, 2017
 * "Closure" (Chevelle song), by Chevelle from Wonder What's Next, 2002
 * "Closure", by Chris Brown featuring H.E.R. from Breezy, 2022
 * "Closure", by Divine Heresy from Bleed the Fifth, 2007
 * "Closure", by Gabrielle from Always, 2007
 * "Closure", single by Hayley Warner, 2015
 * "Closure", by Hood from Outside Closer, 2005
 * "Closure", by Maroon 5 from Red Pill Blues, 2017
 * "Closure", by Opeth from Damnation, 2003
 * "Closure" (Scarlett Belle song), single by Scarlett Belle, 2010
 * "Closure", by The Story So Far from Under Soil and Dirt, 2011
 * "Closure", by Taylor Swift from Evermore, 2020
 * "Closure", by Jack & Jack, 2018
 * "Closure", by I Prevail from "True Power", 2022

Other arts and entertainment

 * Closure (video game), a 2012 puzzle game
 * Closure: A Short History of Everything, a philosophical book by Hilary Lawson
 * Poetic closure, the sense of conclusion given at the end of a poem

Other uses

 * Closure or cloture, a motion in parliamentary procedure to bring debate to a quick end
 * Closure (business), the process by which an organization ceases operations

 * Closure (atmospheric science), a type of experiment in aerosol and cloud studies
 * Google Closure Tools, a set of tools for web development

title: Closure


text:
Regular open set

A subset $$S$$ of a topological space $$X$$ is called a regular open set if it is equal to the interior of its closure; expressed symbolically, if $$\operatorname{Int}(\overline{S}) = S$$ or, equivalently, if $$\partial(\overline{S})=\partial S,$$ where $$\operatorname{Int} S,$$ $$\overline{S}$$ and $$\partial S$$ denote, respectively, the interior, closure and boundary of $$S.$$

A subset $$S$$ of $$X$$ is called a regular closed set if it is equal to the closure of its interior; expressed symbolically, if $$\overline{\operatorname{Int} S} = S$$ or, equivalently, if $$\partial(\operatorname{Int}S)=\partial S.$$

Examples
If $$\Reals$$ has its usual Euclidean topology then the open set $$S = (0,1) \cup (1,2)$$ is not a regular open set, since $$\operatorname{Int}(\overline{S}) = (0,2) \neq S.$$ Every open interval in $$\R$$ is a regular open set and every non-degenerate closed interval (that is, a closed interval containing at least two distinct points) is a regular closed set. A singleton $$\{x\}$$ is a closed subset of $$\R$$ but not a regular closed set because its interior is the empty set $$\varnothing,$$ so that $$\overline{\operatorname{Int} \{x\}} = \overline{\varnothing} = \varnothing \neq \{x\}.$$

Properties
A subset of $$X$$ is a regular open set if and only if its complement in $$X$$ is a regular closed set. Every regular open set is an open set and every regular closed set is a closed set.

Each clopen subset of $$X$$ (which includes $$\varnothing$$ and $$X$$ itself) is simultaneously a regular open subset and regular closed subset.

The interior of a closed subset of $$X$$ is a regular open subset of $$X$$ and likewise, the closure of an open subset of $$X$$ is a regular closed subset of $$X.$$ The intersection (but not necessarily the union) of two regular open sets is a regular open set. Similarly, the union (but not necessarily the intersection) of two regular closed sets is a regular closed set.

The collection of all regular open sets in $$X$$ forms a complete Boolean algebra; the join operation is given by $$U \vee V = \operatorname{Int}(\overline{U \cup V}),$$ the meet is $$U \and V = U \cap V$$ and the complement is $$\neg U = \operatorname{Int}(X \setminus U).$$

title: Regular open set