What’s challenging, you might ask, about taking corporate strategy quizzes from your kitchen table or while commuting to work? What’s the point of an MBA if you can’t shake hands with your cohort and network with peers?
Perhaps these criticisms were true at the dawn of distance learning when online courses were more akin to independent study.
But if you were to listen to them now, you might just miss out on a world-class program. Times have changed in our hyper-connected digital age—today, online learning is highly social and interactive.
The new online MBA from Victoria University’s (VU) Victoria Graduate School of Business (VGSB) in Melbourne, Australia, is one such course.
At VGSB, the online MBA delivers the exact same teaching of the full-time course, but on a flexible online platform. The MBA offers units on essential topics like financial analysis, marketing management and the art and practice of leadership, as well as trending topics such as entrepreneurship and sustainability.
VU Online’s MBA is also accelerated, meaning that students can take six units a year and graduate in just two years part-time.
But what is it about an online MBA that makes it a sound investment in your career?
An online MBA helps students acquire and sharpen their digital literacy skills as they network online, something less likely to happen in on-campus courses.
Collaborating with others online is a skill and experience that is gaining increasing currency as business becomes progressively more tech-based.
Leading a team that’s sitting in front of you is one thing; creating meaningful connections with business colleagues around the world is entirely different. As business becomes inevitably more globalised and internet-based, business skills like virtual self-presentation and conflict resolution accrue value.
It is precisely these skills that students will gain through an online MBA course like the one at the Victoria Graduate School of Business.
Despite being offered 100% online, the course prioritizes a community learning experience, grounding teaching in an intuitive online learning environment that supports everything from video content to discussion forums and virtual seminars.
This makes it easy for students to connect with like-minded classmates, seek feedback from academics, and form meaningful professional connections across the online cohort—an important skill in the current digital business climate.
In an era where business connections are occurring more and more frequently online on social networking platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, knowing how to start, carry, and build a connection from a virtual conversation is increasingly important.
All students of the online MBA who complete the degree at VGSB are awarded the same qualification as students of the on-campus course, with no specification of delivery method.
Despite this, however, there might be more advantages for recruiters in employing someone who told them they’d studied their MBA online.
An online MBA is evidence that a candidate knows how to use technology to accomplish their business goals—and this is especially true from an institution like Victoria University (VU).
In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018, VU was ranked in the top 2% of universities worldwide. The ranking is a list of the best universities globally and is the only international performance ranking to evaluate universities across their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.
Indeed, many of VU’s past MBA students have stepped up to middle or senior management roles after completing their online MBA degrees.
From small startups to multinational corporations, VGSB grads are leveraging their new skills to secure the jobs of their dreams, with common job titles including Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Human Resources Director, and Financial Manager.
Couple this with the fact that, according to QS, Australian MBA graduates lead the Asia-Pacific region with their salaries and bonuses. Hiring forecasts putting MBA graduates ahead of the global average, making it clear that an online MBA from Victoria Graduate School of Business is a safe investment for an elevated career.
