The annual QS Distance Online MBA Rankings grades 40 online MBA programs based on a variety of factors including graduate employability, class diversity, the quality of students and faculty, and the level of interaction between classmates and professors.
Among them, graduate employability is key – QS surveys global employers who identify the business schools from which they prefer to recruit.
“We are honored, not only that we were able to reach top spot, but that global recruiters recognize the quality of our graduates,” says Martin Boehm, IE Business School’s dean.
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55% of QS’ 40 top-ranked online MBA programs are offered by US-based schools. 20% by schools in the UK. Outside the rankings, UK schools are at the forefront of educational technology – edtech – innovation. Last year, Birmingham Business School’s Online MBA became the first 100% online MBA program to be accredited by AMBA.
The Thunderbird School’s Online Master of Global Management and Fox School of Business’ Online MBA are the only two new entrants to QS’ global top 10. Just outside, are the UK’s Aston Business School in 12th, EU Business School a new entry in 14th, and the George Washington University School of Business in 15th.
Asia’s top-ranked distance-learning MBA – ranked 39th globally by QS - is offered by India’s Amity University. Peru’s CENTRUM Católica – ranked 23rd – is the only Latin American business school to feature in the ranking.
Online MBAs offer a flexible, more affordable alternative to traditional classroom-based courses. Across the 40 online MBA programs ranked by QS, the average tuition was just over $39,000.
The US average is almost $10,000 higher at $48,700, but still considerably less expensive that many executive programs and two-year full-time MBA programs which can cost upwards of $100,000.
According to GMAC’s latest applicant trends report, demand for online MBA programs is high, with applications for online MBAs outstripping those for traditional part-time and executive programs.
Still, it’s those with a residential component that feature highest in the rankings. IE Business School’s 15-month Global MBA combines distance-learning with three residential weeks in Madrid and an optional international week in cities like San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.
Its current class have an average of eight years of work experience between them. 95% of the class come from outside Spain, representing 33 different nationalities.
“We are constantly striving to offer our Global MBA students a learning experience which is highly interactive and social in nature,” says Martin. “Experiential learning is key for knowledge to stick. Hence, we design all our learning interventions as experiential as possible.”
Here’s the world’s 10 best online MBA programs of 2017, according to QS:
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