Learn why top-ranking schools are adopting distance learning formats, including information about the online MBA programs offered by popular universities and colleges.
Many famous for-profit online schools offer online MBA programs. However, their lack of accreditations from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) makes the graduate degree appear lackluster in comparison to the traditional MBA programs. Recently, many traditional colleges, even prestigious schools, have recently ventured into the realm of distance learning, offering graduate management programs completely online.
Even high-ranking MBA programs at top schools such as Indiana University, Pennsylvania State University and University of North Carolina now offer online MBA programs. This allows online students to receive a diploma with the same prestige as those who attend personally in campuses. The standards for admission to traditional and online programs stay the same.
In fact, a lot of courses are even lectured by on-campus instructors, giving the same quality of education across the board. Schools such as Penn State implement even higher standards for their admission requirements for online learners. As such, only a small percentage of students are allowed to participate in the online MBA degree program than the traditional, on-campus MBA program.
In particular, the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School launched their online MBA program last fall of 2011. But before it was released, UNC ensured their technology could keep the regular online experience in line with their traditional program. A Kenan-Flagler spokesperson has said that the quality of the curriculum, faculty and the students of their online MBA programs stay the same and the only thing that differs is the teaching delivery.
Still, some schools are not convinced that online learning does offer sufficient training for their MBA students. One example is the Harvard Business School. The school statement has said that the idea of an online MBA is not considered due to the nature of their teaching pedagogy and that their discussion-based learning method could not be replicated in online courses.
Indiana University’s business program, the Kelley Direct online MBA, have decided on a compromise in their distance MBA programs. They require a certain amount of on-campus time particularly when working for group projects and creating business plans for companies. The Kelly Direct program uses a teaching program called ‘blended’ learning.
This technique is based on a scheme supported by the US Department of Education, which released a study showing that a blend of in-person and online teaching is the most effective type of education. Kelly Direct Program revealed that the demographic of online learners varies from the on-campus demographics. The online MBA programs have an average student age of 31, which is three years older than the on-campus demographic.
In Kelly Direct, online students start the program with an average income equal to the campus-based student’s income when they graduated the program. This makes sense if you consider that majority of online MBA students have more experience in the career field. Often they enter online programs with the hopes of moving their existing careers up rather than quickly changing the course of their future.
Nowadays, more and more B-schools in the US have established online programs to branch out a new analytical system of online education than the traditional MBA programs. For example, the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University are two for-profit schools that boast large online colleges. These universities have gathered big attention in the past years.
Currently, brick and mortar universities with AACSB accreditation have exerted weight in fostering online MBA programs that are similar to the ones they offer traditionally. Earning an MBA degree online in a highly regarded university can develop a student’s career quickly. Included in the benefits, students can study the course modules at their own time and convenience and take exams according to the schedule that best fits them.
