The college was founded in 1964 by educational pioneer Audrey Cohen as the Women's Talent Corp and was renamed the College for Human Services in 1970, when it was granted a charter by the New York State Board of Regents. It started offering business programs in 1983 and its first graduate programs in 1988. It was renamed Audrey Cohen College in honor of its founder in 1992 and Metropolitan College of New York in 2002. In 2012, MCNY re-opened its doors in the Bronx after more than five years. The Bronx Extension Center, located at 529 Courtlandt Avenue, offered students living in surrounding areas a convenient campus where they could attend classes. In 2016, MCNY moved to new locations in both Manhattan and the Bronx.
Academics
The highest degrees offered are master's degrees. The college follows founder Audrey Cohen's Purpose-Centered Education philosophy. In contrast to colleges and universities that organize the school year according to semesters, MCNY refers to each term as a "purpose". Each term's purpose, or unifying theme, drives the coursework for the term, which includes a Constructive Action. CAs are unique clinical seminars in which students complete projects that combine classroom study with research-fieldwork projects that integrate lessons learned in all of the term's courses with hands-on experience. In 2012, the Associate and bachelor's degree in Business Administration and all MBA programs at Metropolitan College of New York were accredited by The Accreditation Council for Business Schools & Programs.
Campus
Metropolitan College of New York has two locations, the main campus, part of a building in lower Manhattan, and a second campus, also part of a building, in the Bronx. In 2016, the college moved into a new Manhattan campus, away from its previous rented space in Manhattan on Canal Street. MCNY purchased three floors of the commercial condominium at 40Rector Street in Manhattan, with 110,000 square feet of space and an entrance at 60 West Street. MCNY purchased the sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the 19-story building with a $68 million loan. The college also moved to a new Bronx campus at 463 East 149th Street. The new Bronx campus is a 26,000 square foot, part of a building, and has the capacity to serve approximately 500 students.
The MBA programs at MCNY have an international field study experience in their curricula and the experience is an inherent part of these curricula. This action-oriented experience is tailored to ensure that students have the opportunity to work collaboratively in a pan-cultural environment in which they are exposed to new cultures and given the opportunity to explore them. Students enrolled in the MBA programs will participate in the trip based on their credits completed and academic progress. The field study's goal is to immerse students in the global business environment and students participation are required as this is necessary to develop and apply the skills required to work effectively in the global economy. As part of the required international practicum course, students will be afforded the opportunity to work in a consultative capacity with an operating enterprise to address one or more existing business challenges.
