The online option
It’s more flexible than a regular university schedule – and you still get to interact with other students
For the working professional, an MBA can benefit career mobility and advancement. However, for the majority of adults, particularly those with children, returning to university full time is not an option. For many, online MBA programs offer a viable solution.
“Studying online allows for a great deal of flexibility. Our course allows you to pick the time of day to interact with other students so is well suited for students with demanding j obs or who are on the road for work. It’s also highly interactive – more than a regular classroom. In our model, everyone participates, with no one student monopolizing classroom time. So, you’re studying at a high level, but with flexibility,” said Alex Kondra, dean, Faculty of Business, Athabasca University.
Athabasca University has been a pioneer in the field of online studies. Founded in 1970, it quickly earned a reputation as a top Canadian university. In 1994, its Centre for Innovative Management offered the world’s first fully interactive online MBA program and in 2009 Canada’s first online Doctor of Business Administration (DBA). AU has since grown into the largest MBA program in the country. The school has between 12,000 and 13,000 undergraduate students at the Faculty of Business and a total of 40,000 students worldwide.
“For me, flexibility was my No. 1 reason for choosing AU. I have five daughters and I travel quite a lot for work so it was physically impossible for me to attend scheduled classes,” said Pascal Bécotte, consultant, Spencer Stuart.
“My career did progress after receiving my MBA.” Bécotte graduated from the program in 2006 and is currently completing his DBA at AU.
A major concern is the authenticity of online MBA schools. Kondra advises people start off by looking to see if information on faculty, courses and fees is easily accessible. “Other private and forprofit MBA online courses don’t have transparency and don’t supply much information. You give them your email address and are bombarded by sales people,” Kondra cautioned.
After accreditation, program rankings can be another indication of quality. Bloomberg Businessweek, the Economist, the Financial Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Princeton all publish annual rankings of the best business schools, which also include online MBA programs.
Athabasca has the distinction of being the only Canadian online MBA program. In the States, wellrespected online MBA programs can be found at Pennsylvania State University, North Carolina’s Duke University, University of Florida and Babson College in Massachusetts. For those looking overseas, there’s Britain’s Warwick Business School or the Manchester Business School and Spain’s IE Business School in Madrid. For Canadians, price is the major drawback to foreign long distance schools since you’re looking at fees in either U.S. dollars or euros, which can make the course considerably more expensive. You may also be ineligible for loans or bursaries.
Legitimate online MBA programs offer the same curriculum found at traditional universities with the same academic standards. Students are expected to devote between 20 and 25 hours a week to study, accessing course material through Web portals, online discussions, video streams, instant messages, emails and downloaded assignments. Teamwork is vital.
“The thing that attracted me most to the program was the collaborative learning environment with the necessary flexibility. I am a mother of four kids and I travel a lot for work. AU really fit the bill. I also liked the fact they had international students from all over the world,” said Stefanie Ruel, mission manager, Canadian Space Agency, and a 2011 graduate from AU. “Having the international aspect opened up all our minds.”
In a global economy, diversity has become an important asset and traditional universities have followed suit by including an international component in their MBA programs. Many are also looking at the same technology as online MBA programs. Frank Crooks, director of the Executive MBA program at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business, says there is a “very relevant place for online education.” His faculty is “examining situations where distance learning will be advantageous to the education process.”
Critics caution that online learning may lack interaction that can only be found face-to-face. Both Ruel and Bécotte found the opposite was true and actually connected more with their online peers because they were all learning from each other. “We were testing out different theories and trying to move forward collectively, which is such a fascinating way to learn rather than the trad- itional way of sitting in front of a professor,” Ruel said.
The one thing that both online and traditional MBA programs share is a heavy workload. Ruel and Bécotte both credit their families for helping them get through the course.
“I couldn’t have done this without the help from my husband and the support of my children. We jumped in with both feet and went with the flow,” Ruel said. “Things have changed very quickly for me since I graduated. I have become an active member and secretary to the CSA Women in Science, Technology and Management Steering Committee. I have also been elected to the board of directors at the MABMackay Rehabilitation Centre. Without my MBA, I don’t think I would have been prepared to help the organization move forward with its strategic vision. It’s opened up so many doors that I wouldn’t have predicted.”