

Our students are highly committed to each other and successful mastery of their coursework. In addition, students meet in virtual rooms (again face-to-face) to work on projects and other assignments as well as the normal interaction that occurs in a traditional delivery system.Īs far as commitment, class attendance is mandatory. Professors also hold office hours where they meet face-to-face on the computer with students. The professor and the students (no more than 15 per class) see each other on the computer screen and interact as they would in a traditional classroom.

However, the two concerns (interaction and commitment) are not relevant in our programme. However, the traditional MBA or business school accreditors - AACSB, Amba and EFMD will always look at the online degree as part of their accreditation.ĭoug: began in July 2011 and thus we have had no graduates to date. Cel, as it is called, now accredits 10 organisations in what it calls “ICT-based learning.”
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Studying by distance learning requires high levels of self-motivation and commitment to devote between 10-15 hours to studying each week when also juggling professional and family responsibilities is no easy feat! They have to be very focused and determined – traits that employers will also value.ĭella: On the first part of your question, EFMD does accredit online degrees through a partnership with a group at St Gallen University. In terms of commitment, online learners are no more or less committed than full-time MBA students. In fact, the feedback from employers is that our distance learning students are particularly impressive because they are still in the workplace, will often have high levels of commercial awareness of the challenges and issues potentially facing the sectors involved and are able to utilise up-to-date and applied experience. We see no evidence that recruiters discriminate between the way in which someone has studied their MBA. So you should expect a high quality online or distance MBA to have at least two of these and preferably all three then you can be sure that they have been externally judged to be of a high academic quality and professional relevant. Mark: Both EQUIS and AACSB accredit institutions as a whole, whereas AMBA will accredit individual programmes. I have heard most people say that online MBAs are not as well recognised by employers as the ones pursued on campus, especially because you don’t interact in real time with other people or involve the same commitment. Therefore mobile devices certainly do help students in gaining access to content in a convenient way, but it is likely to remain just one aspect of your studies for some time yet.Īre there any European organisations that accredit online MBAs from European business schools such as EFMD? What kind of accreditations should an online MBA have?

Reflecting, communicating, engaging and collaborating with a network of academics and peers are equally important. This is a tremendous benefit, but don’t forget that the MBA is an educational experience rather than a training course - and accessing and digesting content is only one aspect of the programme.

Mark: Mobile will be increasingly important over the next two years in providing students with the ability to access and transport content wherever they are, for example on a train or in a taxi, and our systems at WBS are already geared to providing this kind of access. I am not sure any research has been done on how this “leaning back” will influence the way course participants interact with their peers or professors. To use an industry expression: laptops are “lean forward” devices, tablets are “lean back” devices. Tablets and smart phones are great for delivering materials, but my concern is how students will learn using these devices. While we are the first world-class business school to provide an uncompromised educational experience, we do not expect to be the last.ĭella: Online learning is all about flexibility and mobile devices can only increase that. The admission standards, the quality of the faculty and the breadth and depth of the curriculum equal our residential MBA programme. Doug: We are the vanguard of a revolution in business education that will spread to the world’s other leading business schools as they recognise that quality does not have to be compromised to provide the flexibility that today’s students need and want.Īt state-of-the-art technology enables us to provide students across the globe with the same extraordinary education associated with UNC Kenan-Flagler’s residential MBA programme.
