Why is an MBA still a vital part of executive education?

In our continuing series on issues in business, finance and law, we ask Deakin University MBA Director, Associate Professor Colin Higgins, how the top-rated institution has adapted its MBA offering in response to the rise of low-cost or free online courses and why a university credential remains invaluable.

Why is studying an MBA more relevant than ever?

Deakin University is “really excited about the changes happening in management education”, says Associate Professor Colin Higgins. “In contrast to the trepidation in some business schools around where students might go, particularly as the environment becomes more global”, the shift has been the spark for the business school to modify its MBA program.

“We pride ourselves on pushing the boundaries,” says Higgins. “Our mission is to enable education to support the jobs of the future and the digital frontier and to meet students where they are.”

CloudDeakin, the university’s online campus, is a leader in accessible education but Higgins cautions that “it’s important to remember good management enables companies to flourish. An MBA remains absolutely relevant, especially in the face of the changes going on around us… Today, it’s more around skills than knowledge; we’ve scaled a lot of our theory back to be about application of the knowledge frameworks.”

How have you adapted the Deakin MBA program to suit students’ varied lifestyles?

“In the MBA program, the majority of our students are working full-time and studying part-time; they’re in their late 30s or early 40s, with kids, jobs, sport and other lifestyle commitments,” says Higgins. Deakin’s Start Anytime is a unique feature of its MBA that takes advantage of its online capabilities. “We have rich material available digitally so we can have students starting their course anytime, with tutors available to work with students wherever they are in the program.” Higgins says that if you want to invest in your career, it should be a business school’s role to organise itself to suit you.

How do you see the Deakin MBA continuing to evolve?

“We’ve launched innovations to make our education stackable because our students come to us with a lot of experience,” says Higgins. “They want to be able to curate their program and do short bursts of courses of topical subjects that are relevant to what they need right now.” The MBA includes standard core requirements but Deakin students “can choose their own adventure, using microcredentials, masterclasses… or study in the traditional way, if they prefer”.

Higgins expects it will mean students take longer to complete an MBA. “They will come to the course because they need professional development for a particular role. Then they’ll take a break and return when they’re at the next critical juncture of their career. We’re exploring what that self-paced model might look like right now.”