EARN DEGREE WHILE KEEPING CAREER
Top MBA school’s online learning is tailored to the student’s schedule
Having earned its place among the top MBA programs in the world and one of the largest in Canada, Athabasca University’s (AU) MBA program has graduated almost 4,000 students since its inception 25 years ago. The hallmark of the program’s success: flexibility and academic quality.
In today’s competitive work environment, it’s becoming less viable for people to take time away from their careers to go back to school, even for an all-important career-advancing degree, such as an MBA.
But Athabasca University found a solution. In 1994, the school broke new ground with the world’s first interactive online MBA program.
“We were disruptive groundbreakers back in the day when our students had to deal with dial-up modems and slow Internet service,” says Dr. Deborah Hurst, dean of Athabasca University’s Faculty of Business. “Those outside and even within the university said it couldn’t be done, but our innovators said, ‘Yes we can, and here’s how.’”
Its students come from across Canada and around the world — 30 per cent are from the GTA — drawn to the school’s “asynchronous” education, meaning the school offers communication technology that lets students study on their schedule.
“Asynchronous learning can happen any time of day or night, in any location,” Hurst explains. “Coursework is delivered online and completed within a paced schedule.”
For busy managers who may be travelling and trying to fit everything into their lives, it may be impossible for them to drop their responsibilities and go back to school.
“This is a program they can do when it’s most fitting,” says Hurst. “You download the content and work at your pace within a structured schedule. Our learners can work on their studies at the hockey rink, or even on an airplane. They can do their work from anywhere in the world. We have organized the program so it fits with anyone’s life.”
None of this takes away from the collaborative or interactive nature of the program. “Students are constantly in discussion with one another. They post their thoughts to questions posed on a discussion board and share perspectives with each other as they apply theory and put lesson materials into practice.”
The program is coached with faculty members facilitating learning and helping students make the connections from theory to practice.
“The magic happens within peerto-peer collaborative discussions, with students coming from a rich variety of different industries, applying the same concepts into practice and sharing experiences.”
What comes out of all this — working in teams, learning to deal with conflict, all within the digital space — is an “uncanny ability to lead in a distributed world, says Hurst. “This environment is teaching them to learn and work within this space.”
This gives Athabasca University graduates a leg up in today’s digital work environment. It’s about applying theory to practice in a collaborative way, facilitated by faculty, offering maximum flexibility and opportunities to learn to work effectively in a digital world.
“The goal we’ve always strived toward is to provide excellent, relevant, and current management education that empowers our students to disrupt, innovate, and transform their organizations. All in all, it’s a program that’s very creative, innovative, responsive and courageous.”