Studying an online MBA

An Online Master of Business Administration (MBA) will allow you to study and gain advanced business and management skills, whilst maintaining your current career.

Studying a fully online course also means that you can choose a degree from an institution anywhere in the world, without having to worry about relocating.

You will still have the same opportunities to network with other future business leaders, utilising the internet to its full extent. Your time management skills will be challenged, as you will be expected to learn and progress in a self-sufficient manner.

Online MBAs will have a higher proportion of mature students, as they mostly come to education after gaining several years of work experience.

An online MBA will provide you with all the knowledge and skills you need to take your career to the next level, without removing you from that working environment.

Your learning will not be restricted to classrooms, and you will be able to immediately put your newly learned practices into place. This ability to see the almost instant implications of your learning will help to make your education experience more constructive and applicable in the real world.

Your degree will be delivered through a mixture of online methods. These will include online lectures and seminars, one-to-one meetings with your tutors, and potential opportunities to network with the other students.

Depending on where you choose to study, you may be able to specialise throughout your degree. This specialisation may influence the way in which your career progresses after you have graduated. Common specialisations include:

• Organisational Behaviour
• Strategic Management
• Financial Management
• Business in Society
• Management of Change
• Accounting and Finance

If your degree requires you to write a dissertation or submit a final research project, this will give you the opportunity to further explore a favoured area of business.

The accreditation of an MBA is internationally standardised. This means that no matter what country or institution you choose to study at, you will be awarded a Master of Business Administration. The only element of your award that may be different is if you choose to study an MBA in a specific field, such as an MBA in Finance.

Some degrees might be accredited or approved by professional bodies of business and management. These might include the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), or the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

The duration of your online MBA will be highly dependent on how you choose to fit your studies around your work and life. Online students will find that programmes are flexible, and can be tailored to your needs. Typically, you can expect to be studying for between 3 and 8 years.

An MBA is normally studied as a final degree, so further study is not common. However, you could choose to continue to broaden your studies. This could be in the form of a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), a different masters degree, or a graduate diploma or certificate.

Online MBA students will generally either already be in their chosen career, or have an idea of their career path. You might wish to progress in your current career, for example moving from middle management to senior management.

You may also wish to change your career completely, perhaps even relocating to a new country. Being able to study entirely remotely can help any of these transitions, and studying an MBA is a great way to display to potential employers that you have a well-developed understanding of business.