Online MBA Course

Many working professional would like to pursue their MBA education but could not find time to attend full-time or part time classes. One of the options available to them now is to pursue an online MBA course. There are many online MBA courses around.

An online MBA course allows you to study at any time or at any place that is convenient to you. There are also some online MBA courses or distance learning MBA that requires minimum residency and face-to-face meeting with other students and faculty.

Online MBA course is not suitable for everyone. There are some students who had enrolled in an online MBA course only to criticise the online MBA university strongly. Others had excelled and given many positive reviews. If you would like to pursue your MBA online, then we suggest that you do a self-assessment to determine if an online MBA course is really suitable for you.

Perhaps, the first question that you should ask yourself is, why pursue an MBA. Different people pursue an MBA for different reason. Some pursue an MBA to be promoted. Others pursue an MBA to advance in their career. There are also those who pursue it just for the sake of getting business knowledge. If you are clear with why you wish to pursue an MBA, then the chances is higher that you will be able to determine if doing an online MBA course is really suitable for you.

No matter what your decision, it is undeniable that technology advancement had totally changed the way we do things. This includes the sphere of MBA education. Many online MBA universities had been able to deliver quality MBA education equivalent to those delivered full-time or part-time. Online MBA graduates get the same privilege and salary compared to other MBA graduates from executive MBA, full-time MBA or part-time MBA programs. If you can pursue an MBA degree online, why would you want to pursue it at part-time or full-time basis?

Benefits of Online MBA Courses

There are many benefits from a MBA degree. It is proven that MBA graduates have the skills to identify, analyse and resolve management and business problems. MBA graduates also have the skills to lead and manage people. In the pursuit of the online MBA course, students also form life-long professional relationship with other student, which is an important business networking.

All online MBA universities have as its fundamental aim, the teaching of analytical skills. Skills developed range from simple problem in human resource to important investment decision involving huge sums of money. Many employer who had employed MBA graduates had given feed-back that the attributes they were most satisfied with the graduates are their analytical skills.

Online MBA courses also trained its student the people skills, which is sorely lacking in many managers nowadays. People skills related to human resource is hard to teach. Hence, if you are looking for an online MBA course, look for one which its curriculum provide detailed training on human resource and people skills development. It is not surprising to find that more and more time of a manager is spent on resolving human-related issues within the working environment.

One of the major benefits of pursuing an MBA is the business networking developed while pursuing their online MBA courses. This is one aspect of online MBA course or distance learning MBA programs sorely lack. Some online MBA university attempted to overcome these weaknesses by having group project or limited residency hours. While attending campus classes may have destroy the purpose of doing an MBA online, it may actually be good to the networking process. This is something that you will have to think about before you jump on board the many who are pursuing their online MBA courses.

How to Choose the Right Online MBA Course

Choosing the right online MBA program is not an easy task. This is all the more true with so many online MBA universities offering online MBA courses. No two MBA programs are exactly the same as the other, and you should carefully scrutinize through the curriculums.

The timing and schedule of the online MBA course is also another important factor to consider. To earn an MBA online is a long-term commitment. Your lifestyle will definitely be affected. Then there is also the aspect of financing your online MBA course.

Accredited Online MBA Courses

You may also want to ask yourself if getting an online MBA that is accredited is important or not. It may not be important to you now, but what about the future? There are many accrediting agency for online MBA program.

If you are residing in the U.K. or Europe, then perhaps getting an AMBA accredited MBA program will be important to you.

The Association of MBAs, or commonly known as AMBA in short, was formed in 1967. Today, AMBA accredits MBA programs not only in the U.K. and Europe, but worldwide. The AMBA accreditation is recognized worldwide as a global standard of a good and quality MBA program.

When you graduate from an AMBA accredited online MBA program, you are entitled to join AMBA membership that has more than 9000 members living in 88 countries. This is a great way to develop you networking.

In accrediting an online MBA course, AMBA looks at the following factors: The college or university offering the online MBA course; the faculty; the students; the assessement, and the curriculum of the online MBA course. There are also other factors such as language, library and computer facilities.

Accreditation of the online MBA course by AMBA is not life-long. The accreditation has to be re-accredited after a maximum period of 5 years.

The followings are some of the universities that have been accredited by AMBA that has also been ranked highly by Financial Times 2008:
MBA at Open University Business School, UK
Global Distance Learning MBA at Henley Management College, UK
MBA at Manchester Business School, UK
The Warwick MBA by Distance Learning at Warwick Business School
MBA in International Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
The Durham MBA, Durham Business School, UK
Distance Learning MBA, Bradford School of Management, UK
Strathclyde Flexible Learning MBA at University of Strathclyde Business School, UK
eMBA and MBA Oil and Gas Management at Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University, UK
The Surrey MBA at University of Surrey, School of Management, US
Euro*MBA at Euro*MBA Consortium in France, Netherlands, Poland, Spain & Germany
MBA (Distance Learning) at Aston Business School, Aston University, UK

If you are residing in U.S. or Canada, then perhaps accreditation from AACSB is more relevant to you. There are many AACSB online MBA course available.

The AACSB International was formed in 1916 and has been accrediting MBA programs since 1919. Upon achieved AACSB accreditation, the business school or institution has to embark on continuous process of accreditation maintenance. This process includes: An annual report of data; An annual summary of strategic management; and a periodic five-year review of strategic progress.

The followings are some top-ranking online MBA courses that is accredited by AACSB:

MBA at Open University Business School, UK
Global Distance Learning MBA at Henley Management College, UK
MBA at Manchester Business School, UK
MBA at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico
The Warwick MBA by Distance Learning at Warwick Business School
MBA at Kelly School of Business, Indiana University, US
Global MBA for Latin American Managers at Thunderbird School of Global Management and Tecnologico de Monterrey, US
Fast Track MBA at Babson College, US
Strathclyde Flexible Learning MBA at University of Strathclyde Business School, UK
One-year Internet MBA at University of Florida, Hough Graduate School of Business, US
Northeastern University Online MBA Program at Northeastern University, US
Global On-line MBA Program at University of Texas at Dallas, US
iMBA at Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, US
W.P.Carey MBA – Online Program at Arizona State University, US
Healthcare MBA at The George Washington University, US
MBA Anywhere at Drexel University – LeBow College of Business, US
UNL Distance MBA at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, US
Global MBA On-Demand at Thunderbird School of Global Management, US
The Surrey MBA at University of Surrey, School of Management, US
Global MBA at IE Business School, Spain
Euro*MBA at Euro*MBA Consortium in France, Netherlands, Poland, Spain & Germany
MBA (Distance Learning) at Aston Business School, Aston University, UK
Thunderbird and Indiana University – Kelley Direct MBA/M-GM Dual Degree at Thunderbird School of Global Management and Indiana University, US

Rankings of Online MBA Course

One of the most recognised rankings of online MBA courses are those established by the Financial Times. The Financial Times ranked MBA programs, including online MBA courses on yearly basis.

Each year, the criteria used to rank the online MBA courses are different. For example, the Financial Times uses the following indexes for their ranking: weighted salary of MBA graduates; salary increase; value for money; aims achieved; placement success; employed at three months; and a few other indexes.

Salary of Online MBA graduates

The salary of online MBA graduates depend more on just the program that they graduated from. It also depends on other factors such as years of working experience, seniority, economic outlook, geographic location, the industry and others. An online MBA course from a branded MBA schools seem to provide a higher salary compared to others.

The followings are salaries of MBA graduates from the top 20 rank MBA schools:

Indian School of Business USD169355
Stanford University GSB USD167225
University of Pennsylvania: Wharton USD165859
Columbia Business School USD165123
Harvard Business School USD162316
MIT: Sloan U.S.A. USD155160
Ceibs China USD154144
Dartmouth College: Tuck U.S.A. USD151673
IMD Switzerland USD150775
University of Chicago GSB U.S.A. USD148978
University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business South Africa USD148975
Insead France / Singapore USD146878
London Business School U.K. USD144918
UCLA: Anderson U.S.A. USD140058
University of Oxford: Saïd U.K. USD139684
New York University: Stern U.S.A. USD137548
Yale School of Management U.S.A. USD136318
Northwestern University: Kellogg USD135646
Cranfield School of Management USD134125
UC Berkeley: Haas U.S.A. USD131830


Financing Your Online MBA Course

To earn an online MBA takes more than just time commitment and a change of lifestyle. It also entails much financial commitment. In the U.K. and U.S., the cost of an online MBA course is more than the average wages. The cost of an Online MBA course may be as cheap as $8,000 and as expensive as $60,000. The average cost of an online MBA course is $40,000.

There may be other cost involved too, such as the course of buying textbooks and course materials. Some online MBA course also requires that you spend some residency at the campus.

There are however, many ways how you can finance your online MBA course. Many MBA students had got their employer to finance their online MBA course. Since you are able to apply immediately to work what you have learnt, this may be a factor to persuade your employer to finance your online MBA course.

There are also other financial aid that you can consider. These include: grant/scholarship; loan, and taking up fellowships.

To conclude, the advancement of technology had certainly changed the way how MBA education is being delivered. Furthermore, since doing an online MBA course have the same outcomes and results compared to earning your MBA in a part-time or full-time course, you should give it some serious thoughts on pursuing in on online basis.

There are many universities and colleges that are offering online MBA courses. You should leave your choice open and look at as many options as possible.