The 29 Secrets of the Online MBA

Or
The 29 Questions YOU should ask
about an Online MBA

by
Joan A Watson

This e-book is produced by mba-online-degree.com for free distribution as is. It may be

passed on in the form supplied by mba-online-degree.com but must not be modified in
any way. It is licensed to Study Online Ltd by Dr Philippa Kilburn and Joan A Watson
who retain the copyright and all rights to its presentation and distribution.

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Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008 Dr Philippa Kilburn

and Joan A Watson. All Rights Reserved

 Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: 29 Questions about the Online MBA>>

Chapter 2: Conclusions from a Large Independent Survey

Introduction

The General Structure of the Book

This book is written by in two parts, Chapters 1 and 2 being independent reviews of the Online MBA
world with Chapter 1 posing the key 29 Questions to be asked and Chapter 2 discussing some research into
the online MBA.

Introduction to Chapters 1 & 2

The decision to study for an MBA is one which faces all managers who are keen to advance both their
career prospects and their earning potential. Adding the three letters 'MBA' to your name will make a
difference to pretty-well everyone who does so. A few of the super-rich entrepreneurs will tell you that 'they
never finished their college degree’ – and they're now ‘worth billions' but are you prepared to hang on until
you get the stroke of luck that will turn you into a billionnaire or do you want to increase the odds of be-
coming a top earner by your own efforts? For most of us who lack a rich daddy, the answer's plain – the
MBA can push us a few rungs up the ladder and kickstart our career.
It should be simple then, the MBA will boost my chances of getting into the big league so let's get going!
Unfortunately, it's no longer quite that simple! As the number of MBA's on offer increases, the task of
making the choice of which one to go for becomes frighteningly complex! There are, indeed, masses of
MBA offerings around today – they're available in bewildering variety but this offers more opportunity than
ever before for you to choose one which suits both your career choice and your style of learning. This e-
book is intended to take away the fear and to offer some pointers for a route through the maze of choice.
Most reputable employers would look for a level of accreditation in a course which indicates that you
have studied hard for your MBA, in a disciplined and well-directed manner, that your work had been rigor-
ously and fairly assessed by an organisation which employed qualified personnel who reported back on
your performance in a timely, comprehensive and informative way – so as to guide your future studies and
help you to achieve your potential. They would expect to receive a clear and comprehensive account of your
studies. In addition to this, they would expect to see evidence that the institution is accredited by the
appropriate bodies as a teaching institution.
The whole exercise of completing an MBA involves more than just reading a few books and questions of
cost, relevancy, return on investment, etc., etc. all raise their heads. In terms of sheer investment, the
undertaking of an MBA ranks alongside the other major investments in life and may be second only to the
purchase of the real estate under which you rest your weary head!
When you set out to acquire your own MBA, you'll need to examine your motives very carefully and
take a hard, cold look at what you wish to achieve. A 'real' MBA will cost time, effort and money and, unlike
the bogus offerings around, can't be obtained in two weeks!
Most people see on-line or distance learning courses as fit only for loaners but most institutions now
make efforts to make students feel part of the student body and provide tutor-driven feedback to assist the
learning process. However, whatever they do, they cannot simulate the social aspects of on-campus study and
the opportunity which this offers to meet new people and make new friends. So, you must see an online
MBA as as a different way to achieve your goals and resist the temptation to make comparisons with the
routes which other people choose or have available to them. Your on-line study allows you to maintain your
existing social life - and there’s no bar on meeting new people and making new friends! There are enough
advantages in the distance-learning route to an MBA to enable you to do this and to rejoice that this is the route
you have chosen.
In reality, there aren't 29 totally-separate questions which you can ask about an online MBA but it's only
when you break the problem down into smaller chunks that it becomes a manageable one. Even then you can
keep thinking of new questions so there's a few more than 29 answered here!

Joan A Watson

What the Questions Cover

It might be that the question of the overall cost of the MBA Programme is the all-important one for you
(Question 1) and the reassurance that you can estimate the real cost when embarking upon the programme
(Question 16) If these are real issues then the ability to pay over an extended period could be of importance
(Question 6). You will be keen to know about the availability or (unfortunately) rather the lack of
bursaries/scholarships (Question 20) but heartened to know that there are ways to earn while studying and
possibly to pay for for some MBA programme as you progress through them (Question 21). If you are looking at
the programme from the perspective of its saleability to an employer, then its currency or up-to-dateness
becomes an issue (Question 4) as do its academic options (Question 7) and the programme's requirement for a
proctored examination or other physical appearance (Question 9). The employer will need to know that you have
not been duped into paying for a bogus degree (Question 28), that the college is properly accredited (Question
2) and you will need to be convinced that an online offering is valued as highly as its on-campus counterpart
(Question 29). Another useful feature for convincing an employer that you have striven over your study is a
transcript which describes your progress through your courses and it is wise to check whether you would receive
such a document from a prospective college (Questions 24 & 27). External acceptance, such as that offered by
membership of a professional body (Question 30) will also go some way to convincing an employer that the
qualification is not just some academic contrivance but that it's relevant, up to date and critically challenging.

If you have not previously studied up to bachelor's degree level, you will need to be aware of the requirements for
entry onto an MBA course (Question 12) and the opportunity to test a course out could help (Question 6a). The
possibility of gaining recognition for your previous qualifications or work experience should be of interest
(Question 15). Where a college does offer pre-MBA studies, you will need to know how seamlessly these integrate
with the MBA proper, i.e., is it a well-integrated programme which you are about to embark upon (Question 22)?
You may wish to look for variety in the materials supplied by the college so that you are more-likely to find a
learning style which suits you (Question 23). Part of such a learning package would be an e-library and you
should check on the availability of this (Question 25). You may also be concerned about assessment procedures
(Question 8) and how extensive the assistance is if you have difficulties in getting to grips with study at MBA
Level (Question 17 and 18), your taking breaks from study when it suits you (Question 6a), how long a course
takes (Question 3) and how well the programme integrates with your current job (Question 19).

It is helpful to ask questions about the college's background in what it does (Question 10) and to check if it is
possible to see samples of the course materials which they produce (Question 11). If you currently have a
demanding lifestyle, it would be helpful to know if the course has flexibility in start dates (Question 13) and
how flexible is the course itself, i.e. can it be completed at your own pace (Question 3)? A final and key question
– which may be the first one which you should ask is about the value of your future study – is it worth it
(Question 26)
The 29 Questions

Question 1: Cost

If you're one of those lucky people for whom price doesn't matter, you may skip this section! Unfortunately,
most of us aren't in this fortunate position and, for many students, the price of the MBA course itself is a prime
consideration when making a choice. However, it's not just the cost of the course itself that's of importance, it's
the overall opportunity cost which counts and, if you have to give up your present job to go full time as a student,
there's that to take into consideration too. Added to that are your extra living costs during your study period
which, if you have to go away to study, can add up to a tidy sum. The overall opportunity cost of an MBA is
discussed under question 26 – Is It Worth Doing an MBA?

Fees quoted for MBA's vary enormously, as do the ways in which they are quoted. This highlights the need
for considerable care in estimating what the overall programme will cost. The direct fee in many US Programs is
quoted per Credit Hour or by Credit Course and a bit of research may be needed to to arrive at the fee which you
will need to pay.

Taking the Financial Times Survey of 25 of the top distance learning providers (June 2006), the average
cost of a course was £16256 ($31, 262). This simple average was not a particularly reliable figure, however, as
there was a distinct smallish group of courses bunched around £9-10,000 ($17,300-$19,230) and a further,
more-sizeable group around £17-20,000 ($32,700-$38,500). The remainder – the majority lay between these
figures.

Question 2: Accreditation

When you get a qualification from a world-renowned university, you see part of its value as lying in the fact
that the qualification comes from a well-recognised institution, i.e. it's accredited by them. However, these insti-
tutions also know that this enables them to charge a premium for their qualification. In effect, therefore, you're
paying for their history – an expensive exercise!

Question 2a: So, how important is accreditation?

The term accreditation covers three different aspects of a college's operation viz:

1) academic content
2) teaching structure and resources
3) professional recognition

i) Academic Content

This accreditation is a measure of the ability of curriculum delivered to cover the breadth of business
administration adequately while still maintaining the depth of study which validates it as being an academic
standard worthy of the award of an MBA. This validation arises from the quality of the academic staff who devise,
deliver and assess the course's content.
ii) Teaching Structure and Resources

This accreditation recognises the administrative and quality arrangements which are put in place by
the organisation and is usually provided by an independent accreditation agency. In the UK such
accreditation is provided for private colleges offering UK qualifications by the British Accreditation
Council (BAC).

iii) Professional Recognition

This accreditation is the acid test of real-world acceptance of the material delivered by the college.
The importance of accreditation to an employer will vary from one employer to another or, indeed, from
one industry to another. The very large blue chip organisations will recruit from the world's top ten or 20
or 50 MBA providers. They do this partly in the belief that the 'top' institutions have the best recruitment
policies and can pick the best students. However, the only thing that they can justifiably claim to do is to
pick out the richest of the world's students. At $100,000 for a year's study you're sure to pick only those
with deep pockets.

What about those 'best' courses? How are they judged? Generally, one of the key criteria is salaries
earned by the graduates. However, in one recent study – in the Financial Times, the figures given for
salaries pre and post-MBA showed that the students registering for the top-rated courses were earning
around £50,000 ($90,000) when they started on their courses. There's clearly a circular argument
involved between the recruitment of MBA students by teaching institutions and by the subsequent
employers. The top colleges recruit students who are already big earners and, when they finish their MBA,
they are well prepared to carry on from where they left off - as big earners!

At the other end of the scale, there are unaccredited institutions aplenty. An MBA for only $600 may
seem good value – especially when you don't need to do any work for it! However, would you really want
to work for an employer who would employ bogus MBA's?

As the MBA is a qualification which signals prowess in the management of business, the recognition of
your work by an external business organisation – such as a professional body – would be an additional
benefit.

The evidence appears to be that employers generally seek a reasonable level of accreditation and wish
to be assured that your qualification did not come from a 'diploma mill'!

Question 3: How long does the course take?

MBA's vary quite a bit in length, the shortest taking a year or so while the longest can stretch over
three years. The full-time variety are the shortest ones and attendance full-time at a college might get you
an MBA in a little over a year. In a few cases, the dissertation will add to this time as it is scheduled to be
carried out after the period of full-time study. Some MBA's are offered on a part-time basis with students
attending weekends, the odd evening and occasionally at a summer school or other residential course. It is
these courses which take the longest, with a three year period of study being common.

Distance learning and online degrees measure time differently from the on-campus variety. They
recognise no long summer holidays nor fixed length terms and the period of study is expressed in straight
months or years of study. Using this distance-learning clock, several online MBA's may be completed in a
little over a year of study. When starting from a qualification which precedes a bachelor's degree, the time
scale is, of course, extended somewhat. A start from associate or foundation degree would add a further 10
– 12 months to the study while an even earlier start would add somewhat longer. It must be cautioned
that only few colleges offer the facility for a pre-bachelor's start to an MBA. A few colleges impose a mini-
mum time for completion of a course, stating that a student must spend at least 14, 18, or whatever
months before receiving the final award.
 In the Financial Times Survey of 25 of the top distance learning providers (June 2006), the lowest
figure for the average time to complete was 1.3 years at the Instituto de Empresa in Spain and the longest
was 3.8 years at the Henley Management College, although the UK's Open University quoted 3-5 years.
The overall average time to complete was 2.55 years.

Question 4: Must the MBA be up-to-date?

Global markets move fast and so do the criteria which employers use when recruiting MBA's. It's
important, therefore, that your MBA is up to date and totally relevant to today's market conditions. Take a
good look at its content and make sure that it contains just what you need.
One way to measure the relevance of a programme is to look at the recognition which it earns from the
relevant learned bodies or professional institutions. These are made up of business people who are out
there in the real world and who take a hard, cold look at the work of academics and who will accept
nothing that fails to make the grade in the present-day marketplace.

Question 5: Is the course offered as a campus-based degree?

Is it essential that the MBA you're looking at is also offered as a parallel, campus-based degree? Well,
perhaps ten years ago that was the case. Online offerings at that time were developed from tried and
tested on-campus courses with a few tweaks to modify them for some form of distance delivery. Truth to
tell, the majority were not on-line at all. Some utilised some form of electronic delivery but this often
needed
to take place at centres which were equipped to utilise this. In odd cases, the modified delivery patterns
may have improved the courses but, in most, they were little more than cosmetic and yielded rather
poorly-adapted courses.

How different today! The facilities available for the online presentation of courses have transformed
the task of designing on-line materials out of all recognition. In particular, the internet and its associated
technologies have brought about a dramatic convergence between the two modes of delivery and on-line
can now mimic on-campus in a myriad of ways. However, on-line can now offer possibilities not imagined
for on-campus deliveries and the flow of influence has reversed with the online offerings now influencing
their on-campus compatriots. So fast is the pace of development today that some pundits would equate
'well-tried' with 'out-of-date'.

Question 5a: Is it a specifically-designed online course?

Ten years ago, this question might have been relevant but with the complexity of modern business and
the large range of options for delivery, the medium is no longer the message. Media can be stretched and
tweaked to deliver conventional materials in novel and exciting ways blurring the distinction between
online and on-campus delivery.

Question 6: How can I pay?

Although some colleges insist on the full fee being paid at the time of admission, many allow students
to pay in an agreed number of instalments following an initial payment, the subsequent payments being
made by some form of standing order. However, they all seem to insist on your commitment to the course
being total. This means that, once you've committed the first payment, they will be expecting to see the
rest - come what may.

Question 6a: What if I don't like the course? Can I opt out and minimise my losses?

If you set off on a course and then decide that, even after all your careful research, it wasn't really the
right course for you, then it could prove to be quite a job to get your money back. Quite a few colleges have
some form of appeals procedure for dealing with the situation but it's a procedure which you have to go
through and will have have clear grounds for an appeal. Not liking a course is unlikely to be one of the
acceptable grounds for a refund! Possibly the worst situation would be the steady drip of the direct debits
leaving your bank account while attempting to resolve the issue.

A few colleges allow you to pay on a per-module (Pay-as-you-go) basis - but it is a few! If you can pay this
way, it’s a form of safeguard for you, should you find that the course is not to your liking. After all, when
you set off on a new course in a new institution, it’s bound to be a bit of a gamble. Add to this the fact that
you’re studying part time and you need to be able to tailor the time spent studying so as to fit in with the
remainder of your commitments and the flexibility of a flexible payments regime can be a blessing.
Question 7: What academic options are available?
The original idea of the MBA as general qualification held sway for a good number of years but the current
concept has moved to the qualification having a core pillar to which are attached options which tailor the
qualification to suit the needs of the individual student. Unfortunately, there is as yet no agreement on
what that core should be and, perhaps, there never should be! Perhaps, in this age of turbulence, there will
emerge a small number of cores which define utility in the major areas of business and reflect the fact that
we are all becoming specialist in a world where the sum total of business activities is far too complex for
any one person to embrace totally.

Some providers argue that the cores of finance and marketing must be met, together with a view of
operations and the human relations functions. Others consider that a good grasp of finance should be
gained at undergraduate level but that marketing, operations and human resources change so rapidly these
are essential topical subjects which need to be covered. Clearly, not everyone can be correct and there is no
single syllabus which can suit everyone so you must sit down, decide which career path you wish to take and
then ensure that your chosen MBA supports this. While you're doing this, you must be aware of the two
views of the MBA which are of importance.
One of these is the view which your potential employer will take. Are the right subjects spelt out? Will the
syllabus and your final transcript impress?

The second view is your personal one. This must look not only at what has been promised but also at
what is new in your head. What will you have learnt from the course? As an exercise, look at the subject
headings below and answer for yourself:

a) Am I interested in this topic and want to learn more?

i Do I want this to be a core subject?
ii Could this better be a subsidiary subject?

b) Will my ideal employer look for evidence of these in my MBA?

c) Does a syllabus:
iii Mention the subject as a key topic
iv Give any idea of the level of coverage
Once you have done this, sit back and look at your answers. For instance, are there topics which you wish to be
core subjects but would not be chosen by your ideal employer. If so then take another look. Ask yourself why
would your ideal employer ask for something in which you are not interested? Perhaps your idea of an ideal
employer is wrong. Surely the ideal is to have an employer who values the same things that interest you – that
way you have a job which is both interesting and profitable!

Question 8: What kind of assessment is there?

Distance-learning and online MBA's utilise a wide variety of assessments. The least common of these is the
sit-down examination as the college's students are likely to be scattered all over the globe. However, some
colleges insist on a residential period during which they can examine their students. Such a period excludes
many students from those courses as they are unwilling or unable to get away to study. Other colleges utilise
proctored/invigilated examinations, these being discussed below under 8a. In some cases, proctored
examinations are held on every module studied while, on others, such exams are only held on conclusion of the
course.
By far the most common mode of assessment is the assignment which is set by the college, undertaken by the
student and submitted electronically. Feedback on this is then provided electronically by the college. A few
colleges utilise online examinations in which a series of questions – often in the form of a multi-choice
examination - is answered online and marked electronically. For details of examinations in online courses, see
8a, below.

Question 8a: Are there examinations?

When colleges offer their qualifications as distance learning or online, the provision of sit-down
examinations becomes very difficult. For this reason, most dispense with exams and assess students by means of
coursework. Critics of online provision cite this as their strongest objection to the awarding of of qualifications
to students who have never been seen by the college. They argue that such a procedure is open to abuse and
that students may submit work which is not their own, for assessment.

One way around this problem is for the college to set some form of final assessment which monitors the
overall performance of the student in an 'examination' set at a centre near their home. This may be an
examination in a conventional sense or could be more in the way of a written paper which describes their overall
experience and learning in the MBA programme as a whole. An independent person is recruited to oversee this
process, their being referred to as a 'proctor' in the US and an 'invigilator' in the UK. In the US, the entire
procedure is referred to as a 'proctored examination'. Some colleges require proctored examinations in all
modules studied while others only call for such a procedure at the end of the entire course of study. In some
courses, the cost of the proctored examination is included in the overall fee but other colleges expect students to
actually set up the examination and to pay the fees incurred in the process. However, in general, these fees are
not great.
Proctored examinations may be conducted in schools, colleges, libraries or any other facility which offers the
requisite security and there are specific organisations set up to provide proctors or invigilators for such
examinations. One such body, the National College Testing Association (NCTA) is based in the USA and has a
number of testing sites in every state of the union, thus providing very extensive coverage in the USA. In
addition, they have arrangements in American Samoa, Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Japan, Korea and the UK.

Many UK institutions utilise the British Council's facilities which are located all over the globe and are set up
to provide suitable facilities and staff for proctored or invigilated examinations.
Most colleges sort out proctored examinations on an ad-hoc basis, enabling them to choose sites and
proctors to suit individual students.

In the Financial Times Survey of 25 of the top distance learning providers (June 2006), 28 of the courses
surveyed had 'examinations' although no details were given of the type of examinations involved, other than
whether these could be completed online. Of the 31 courses surveyed, 15 had online examinations.
Question 9: Do I have to appear anywhere in order to get the final MBA?

To many observers, this is the Achilles Heel of online education – did the person with the degree
actually earn it – or was it his brother, sister, friend or whoever? Even in on-campus education, the problem
of impersonation is a real one so when everything happens at a distance what chance is there that one
may be sure of who did what and who earned what. The question is one which could undermine the
validity of the qualifications gained by distance study and raise doubts in the minds of employers who
are faced with the prospect of employing MBA's obtained in this way. Many institutions who offer MBA
courses by distance learning or online seek to cover their position by the use of proctored/invigilated
examinations. Such tests call for a physical presence at the examination and, as long as the person
presenting them- selves can be identified adequately, offer some reassurance to all involved.

When viewing an MBA programme, the need for attendance at a proctored examination may be a
deterrent but the other side of the coin is that it will be a source of reassurance to someone who raises the
question of who actually earned the qualification.

Question 10: How much background does the college have in distance
education?

In the past, this may have been an absolutely key question which touched upon the ability of a college
to deliver their materials as distance or online courses. However, with the advent of the internet and the
growth of general learning environment providers, this becomes less of an issue. What does remain
important, though, is the use to which the college makes use of available resources. They may choose to
concentrate upon one specific mode of delivery or choose to utilise a wide range of delivery mechanisms.
In this latter case, you are more likely to to find one which suits you and allows you to study in an
environment in which you feel comfortable.

Question 11: Can I see sample materials?

If the organisation offering a course makes great play of its wide range of electronic materials then it's
quite reasonable to ask to see these. In most cases, it will not be too difficult to gain access to samples of
these. The problem is that, although you might be able to get a flavour of the materials which will be avail-
able – usually the best - you will be unable to see all of these, to measure the degree to which they contrib-
ute to the learning experience and to work out for yourself just what you will gain from their availability.
If the materials are well integrated into the course as a whole, just seeing the e-materials may fail to
give an adequate impression of their power and scope. That's not to say that you shouldn't try to take a
peek at what's on offer but don't kid yourself that it's easy to make a realistic appraisal of what you might
expect to receive once you've paid your money.

Question 12: Do I need a bachelor's degree to get onto the MBA?

As the MBA is a post-graduate qualification, this must be preceded by an under-graduate level

qualification but this doesn't have to be a conventional degree. Some UK and British Commonwealth
colleges offer an Advanced Professional Diploma In Management Studies (APDMS) (both online and on-
campus) as a bridging qualification, this being an internationally-recognised post-graduate qualification
(UK Government, level 7 qualification) which gives direct access onto an MBA but is also accepted in its
own right. An Associate Degree (US) or Foundation Degree (UK) is not, in itself, sufficient to gain entry
to an MBA but some colleges might consider this acceptable when combined with considerable high-level
management experience.
 The MBA as a qualification, tells an employer that you have studied management at a high level. In order to
do this, you need to have a good underpinning of academic understanding of the subject if you are to enter into
academic studies at an MBA level. You should be wary, therefore, of embarking on an MBA course which might
prove to be too much of a strain without adequate preparation. It's better to look for a bridging course to ease
you into the higher-level studies of the MBA.

If you look at the offerings of your potential college, you may well find that they offer bridging courses which lead
from your present qualification, directly or indirectly into an MBA. In an ideal case, these bridging courses will
themselves lead into recognised qualifications, adding to your armoury when looking for your next job.

Question 13: Does the course have a rigid start date?

It is surprising that so many online courses mimic their on-campus compatriots and have fixed starting
dates. Indeed, out of the 31 course in the Financial Times Survey of 25 of the top distance learning providers
(June 2006), only four had a rolling starting date (allowing study to commence at any time). The other 27
operated on a fixed timetable with rigid starting dates which seemed to be unduly constraining, indicating that
many of the online offerings had still not developed their own personality and were adjuncts of a pre-existing
on-campus course. However, for students who have the flexibility in their personal life and live geographically
near to one of the campuses, such courses may offer the opportunity for an online student to switch to full-time
study at some stage, given the need to dovetail the online study with the on-campus course dates.
Some further flexibility may be lost due to the constraints of progression timetables – See Question 14,
below.

Question 14: How Flexible is the Course ? Does it have to be completed in a

fixed timescale?

One of the key selling points of online study should be its flexibility. As a student, you should not be grouped
into a class and forced to start and finish at the same time. However, some online courses which have a
residential component, need to group students together and a great deal of their potential flexibility is lost. In
general, the course which will offer you a measure of flexibility will have been broken down into modules which
you may start when you wish and complete at your own pace. Look also at the possibility of taking short breaks
in your studies so that these may be slotted into the remainder of your life. In a conventionally-structured
course, the mid-term or mid-semester breaks punctuate the study and provide you with a breathing space.
Although you will be able to choose when these breaks occur in a flexibly-structured course, you will still need
breaks of some kind so the flexibility must extend to the scheduling of your own breaks when you need them.

Question 15: Can I pre-accredit my previous studies and management

experience?

Opinions differ about the pre-accreditation of students' earlier qualifications. The situation is complicated
by the presence of the so-called 'Diploma Mills' – organisations which issue bogus degrees on the basis of 'life
experience'. In reality, they seek only to sell a piece of paper for $300-$800, labelling it as a degree. These
organisations cloud the issue of pre-accreditation and make both institutions and employers wary of the
concept of offering exemptions from study in respect of work carried out earlier.
One opinion considers that it is wrong to pre-accredit learning or work experience which had led to one
qualification towards a second different qualification, the gist of the objection being that the same piece of work
is being recognised twice. However, when students move from one learning environment to another, it would
seem quite reasonable not to expect them to repeat work which they had already carried out, thus
demonstrating competency in an area and to exempt them from repeating this. Whether or not this is
possible would seem to depend very much upon the structure of the receiving course and upon the
flexibility of its entry procedures. Where an MBA is offered as a modular course, there may be more
room for flexibility and for the acceptance of prior qualifications. Just as clearly, the highly-structured,
monolithic courses are fixed in their content and unwilling or unable to accept content from elsewhere.

The transferability of studies is greatly enhanced when it results in the obtaining of externally-recognised
qualifications, such as those from an examining body such as Edexcel. Receiving organisations are much-
more ready to accept these than the awards of individual, often competing, institutions.

Question 16: Are there extras above the quoted price?

It's not always too easy to work out just what a course is going to cost you as there are frequently all
sorts of little extras to take into account. This tends to be more so with the larger organisations as they
are more bureaucratic and simply work things out in that way. It's not that they're trying to confuse or
cheat you, it's simply the way they work!

Question 17: Can I resit my coursework? If so how many resits do I get

and what are the academic penalties?

In many courses, when a piece of coursework is deemed not to have met the required standard,
feedback is provided and facilities exist for the resubmission of the assignment. It is common, in cases
like this, for the reassessment only to award a maximum grade of 'pass' and not a credit or distinction.
Some colleges charge a fee for the re-examination, frequently imposing a limit of one resit only.

Question 18: Is there feedback provided during my studies?

When studying independently, it is crucial that you receive constructive feedback on your efforts and
not be given a simple 'pass/fail' grade. The feedback itself should not just be comprehensive but should
also be appropriate in its frequency. It should not only let you know how you have done on this occasion
but to let you know what was expected and how you could improve on the next assignment. For students
returning to study, or for those who are just starting off in post-school education, this is probably the
most important type of feedback you can receive.
A few colleges make special provisions during the early part of your studies, allowing you to do extra
assignments which are then utilised as diagnostic pieces. This provides you with a great facility if you're
returning to education, allowing you to find your level and to gauge what's expected of you from the
college.

Question 19: Do I have to give up my current Job in order to study?

The sheer flexibility of distance or online study means that you control all the parameters of your
study - or you should do! You decide what you will study, when, how and at what pace! This means that
you can fit this around your current job and continue to enjoy the income from this. It also means that
you can hold onto the security of your job and its income while you study. In fact, if you wish to try out
the MBA first, you don't really need to tell your existing employer!
 Most students report that MBA study makes a major difference to the way they see their work and how
they carry it out. In many cases, it's the employer who notices and comments upon the difference! When they
do comment, that's a good time to reveal the fact of your MBA studies – if they don't already know – and
raise the question of their offering financial support to enable you to carry on to completion. Good employers
– or their HR departments – are pleased to encourage employees to improve their performance and realise
that a little financial help goes a long way.

Question 20: Are there bursaries/scholarships available?

Very occasionally, bursaries or scholarships are made available for specific groups of students but these
may need considerable work – or assistance – to locate them. It is more common in the current climate for
loans to be made available to students.

In the US, students may take out a 'Stafford' loan which is a low-interest loan which becomes repayable
some six months after graduation. These loans may be subsidised by the federal government (a Subsidized
Federal Stafford Loan) and these are granted on a basis of student financial need with no interest being
charged during the period of study. Where appropriate need cannot be demonstrated, an unsubsidised loan
may be granted (an Unsubsidized Federal Loan) and interest is charged on this from the time of its award,
although repayments are deferred until six months after graduation. One condition of these grants, which
impacts upon those students studying by distance or online learning, is that the study must qualify as at least
half-time study. This condition is generally interpreted as the studying of three graduate-level credits per
term. When taking this route, you need to study continuously and will not be free to to have gaps in your
study programme as these will be interpreted as cessation of study and break the condition of the loan.

Question 21: Are there other ways of earning while I learn?

The flexibility of online study means that you are free to continue with your current employment and to
keep earning while you learn.

Question 22: Do I have to register with different awarding bodies if I am

doing pre-MBA Studies?

If you do not have a bachelor's degree or equivalent, you are free to undertake such studies on your own
account. When you do this, you will be responsible for registering with the relevant awarding bodies.
However, you will need to be mindful of the entry requirements of the college which you seek to enter and
make absolutely sure that the qualification which you seek will give you entry to their course. This may prove
to be difficult as, although the college may state that it accepts the qualification which you undertake, they
may do so on an 'individual merit'. This means that, although they will accept the qualification as a mark of
academic eligibility, they may still maintain their right to reject you on some personal grounds.

A safer route is to look for one of the institutions which offers pre-MBA studies and guarantees a place for
students who successfully complete these. When you do this, it becomes the responsibility of the institution
to register you with the appropriate awarding bodies. The college or institution will get to know you during
your pre-MBA phase and, because they provide the curriculum at this stage, know that, on successful
completion, you will be a suitable candidate for their MBA Programme. Consider their pre-MBA offering to
be insurance and get yourself insured.
Question 23: Is the MBA entirely online or is there off-line support?
A few of the MBA offerings available are totally online but the majority blend a mixture of online and offline
materials – so-called 'blended learning'. This mixture offers scope for the college to utilise the most
appropriate format for each aspect of the course, and, therefore, to design a more comfortable environment
for you - the student.

Many courses utilise textbooks – sent in the post – as well as CD's, MP3's etc. with lectures and
presentations. Other materials such as e-books, e-learning materials etc. are presented online, offering the
opportunity to deliver some materials instantly to fill the gap while the post makes its way to your house.

Question 24: Do I just get a 'pass' mark or is my MBA graded?

There are numerous ways of grading MBA's with some institutions offering a pass/fail grade and others
utilising complex algorithms for computing a final grade from all those obtained for individual modules.
Within these two groups there is also considerable variation. Some of the institutions offering a pass/fail
option require that you pass all modules taken while others while others add up some kind of total score from
the modules and take this to give a pass/fail result.
With those which grade the final MBA, the overall grade is normally derived from an aggregate score –
sometimes weighted in some way - often with the proviso that no individual modules may have scored an un-
satisfactory or fail level.

Some commentators believe that, within a few years of your having gained your MBA, recruiters will have
stopped asking about the grades and often where you got it from and just see the term MBA!

Question 25: Do I get access to an e-library?

One of the features of an on-campus MBA is the availability of a comprehensive library within that campus.
Providers of online degrees attempt to remedy the lack of such a library by providing an online version.
However, these offerings vary enormously, some being little more than large e-books and others being
extremely valuable learning and research tools. A good e-library will act as a reference which supplements the
textbooks which you are using and will allow you to investigate the work of individual authors or to look up
concepts or ideas when the textbook's explanation passes over your head.

If your chosen course does not offer such an e- library, all is not lost as it is possible to find a considerable
amount of very-comprehensive information for free on the internet, as well as to subscribe for a relatively
modest fee to one of the libraries belonging to learned institutions.
Wherever you live, you are likely to have public libraries in your area and these can provide substantial
support for your studies. Reading around a subject by consulting different text books from those
recommended can often be very enlightening and, where there do not appear to be appropriate text books,
just ask. Librarians can be very helpful and in the larger public libraries, there are often business specialists
who will have a surprisingly comprehensive knowledge of the literature.

Question 26: Is it really worth doing an MBA?

The answer to this question really hinges upon the meaning of the word 'worth'. To some people, the
question is really only about money while others take a much-broader view.
From the financial point of view, there seems to be no question, the answer is an unequivocal 'Yes'! An
MBA does increase your earning power. A recent survey showed that, even on the shortest of MBA's, students
saw their earnings beat those of their non-MBA colleagues by 63%. In this survey of 4830 recent graduates,
carried out by Business Week and analysed by the associate professor Jens Stephen and his colleague Chris
Allen at the University of Cincinnati's College of business showed that, whether you stay in your present
position or move to another job, the results are the same.
 However, the evidence doesn't stop there, as another report from the vice-dean of Columbia
University, Safwan Masri, states that MBA students enjoy higher than average salary increases which
enable them to triple their starting salaries within a few years.
The annual survey from the Graduate Admission Council® for 2005-6 investigated the level of salaries
of MBA's, questioning several thousand students. This revealed that, with an average salary of $81,000,
they were grossing only $363 short of the magic $100,000 p.a., when taking into account bonuses, fringe
benefits and the like!
In this same survey, they also talked to some 1300 employers and their recruiters reported that they
would be recruiting MBA's for their top positions and that 34% of their consulting positions would be filled
by MBA's.
What of the evidence of other benefits? Well, that's much harder to tie down but most MBA's report
that their course had changed the way they saw their job as their self-confidence increased and they gained
new skills and insights into the world of business.

Question 27: Do I get full documentation on my progress?

During the course of your MBA, you will pursue many avenues of study and write a fair number of
assignments on a wide variety of topics. It is the breadth of study in an MBA which makes it such a
valuable commodity and a key element in your portfolio when job hunting. It is vital, therefore, that you
get good documentation on your course of study and a comprehensive account of your achievements.
Only with such a document can a prospective employer take real account of your MBA studies and, as
discussed in Question 15, the pre-accreditation process requires that you have really precise information
about the nature of your studies and the grades attained.

Question 28: How do I Recognise a BOGUS MBA?

There's a lot written about bogus degrees from the so-called Diploma Mills and how to recognise them.
However, there are a few key features which should jump out at you and scream BOGUS! A few of these
are:

· No assessment necessary
· Very cheap programmes
· No accreditation for the institution or their programmes
· Grades obtained are dependent upon the fees paid
· You choose the title of your award from a vast list of options

No Assessment Necessary

This is the biggest giveaway of a bogus MBA! You get the award for 'past experience'. The institution will
make a pretence of asking you for your previous work experience, etc. but all they really want is your
money! For that, they promise along list of impressive documents, along with a transcript of your study
programme. What they actually deliver is a load of paper with nothing behind it. Ethics apart, you'd
actually be better off buying a good DTP package and creating your own diploma! There is actually a
program around which will do just that and produce a transcript as well - but that’s another story!

Very Cheap Programmes

Well, they're very cheap for an MBA but, not for a portfolio of bogus documents. You're likely to pay
several hundred dollars for 50-cents worth of paper.
No Accreditation
In most cases, some accreditation will be claimed - but from fictitious or bogus accrediting bodies. A brief
glance at the background of these bodies will soon reveal their status. Some will claim that their accreditation
arises from from the organisations which employ their graduates and to re-enforce this, they will provide a list of
employers. This might well be an accurate statement of fact and their graduates might well be found in all the
Fortune 500 companies – they're sweeping the floor and sorting the mail! Companies like these employ
professional recruiters and you can bet that they can all reel off a list of Diploma Mills in their sleep!
Grades Dependent upon the Fee for the Course
Pay an extra $50 to get the top grade! It beats working for a good grade, doesn't it! It's not just laughable, it's
totally unethical!
You Choose the Title for your Award
If you are being offered an MD (Doctor of Medicine) for a few hundred dollars, you don't need to be a genius
to recognise that this is bogus. Not only is it bogus but it's downright dangerous. If you attempted to use such an
MD qualification, it would be a criminal act in most jurisdictions and you could end up behind bars – and so
should the people who sold you the 'degree'!

Question 29: Are online degrees recognised as equivalent to on-campus

degrees?
In the past, there has been a reluctance to accept online qualifications as equivalent to their on-campus
counterparts. However, with the increased acceptance of online activities in general, this prejudice has all but
disappeared. Few people distinguish between the two any more and the use of proctored/invigilated
examinations to ensure that the right person gets the degree has helped to ensure that online is now acceptable.

Well that's the 29 questions you need to ask but I'm sure you'll excuse me when I say that I've just
thought of one more - no, two more!

Question 30: Can I get professional qualifications?

Management is not controlled to anything-like the same degree as engineering or accounting, etc. but there are
professional bodies and membership of one of these will enhance your status and improve your job prospects.
It's a good idea, therefore, to check out the qualification which you are aiming for and make sure that it will gain
you the professional recognition which you would like.

Question 31: Isn't it an enormously-long job getting an MBA by distance

learning?
Perhaps that question should be re-phrased as 'Doesn't it take a long time to complete an MBA?' When you study
for an MBA by whatever means, you may need to fit into a time framework which is determined by the college
which offers the course. If you survey the market, you will see that time scales for MBA's vary enormously from
about 15 months to around three years. You do, therefore, have a measure of freedom in making your choice as
to which course to join. When choosing to study by distance learning, you should be giving yourself even more
choice as geographical factors no longer play a part – it no longer matters where you live! However a key feature
of the distance-learning offering should lie in its time flexibility. It should be able to start when you want and to
take as long as you wish – within reason. Because of this innate flexibility, the average time for completion by
distance learning can be somewhat longer than on-campus offerings but, as the time taken to complete the study
is fixed by the student, this must be interpreted as flexibility.

In the Financial Times survey quoted above, the average time taken to complete an online MBA was 2.55 years,
somewhat longer, one would guess, than the average for on-campus offerings but possibly not enormously so.
 All students look for something different from their MBA but one survey carried out by S Murgatroyd – the
Executive Director of Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada queried 4,000 students who reported that they were
looking for distance learning which was:

Flexible
Relevant to their work situation
Current
Personalised
Portable
Focused
just in time
Affordable
A jumping-off point
· Valued

Many of these factors have been discussed under several headings of the 29+ questions but in the summary,
below there are some general questions which might be derived from these.

Flexibility
The material is broken down into units of part learning which makes it flexible in delivery as it may be packaged
for presentation in several different ways. A number of different entry points are available, opening the
qualification up to to students at a wide variety of educational levels.
Flexibility is touched upon in: Question 6, Question 7, Question 12, Question 13, Question 14, Question 15,
Question 16, Question 19, Question 21, Question 23, Question 30.

Relevance
Any course which you choose has to be both relevant to your own personal needs and to those of your prospective
employer. Assessments, assignments, projects and dissertations should all be work related, as should be the
examples in the teaching materials, cases, etc.

Among the key personal criteria are cost and the ability for the course to be paid for on reasonable terms while
the duration of the course and its flexibility are all of importance when it comes to integrating study into
everyday life. For the potential employer, accreditation may well be a feature when they seek reassurance that
the course is valid while the possession of a professional qualification might also help to persuade them of your
credibility.
Relevance is touched upon in Questions 1, 3, 4 6, 9, 13, 14, 15, 21, 30.

Currency
All materials are up to date and are constantly revised to take current events into account. Texts from external
sources are reviewed regularly so as to take advantage of the latest editions.

Currency is touched upon in Question 4.

Personalised
The extent to which the content of a course may be personalised is dependent upon the number of options
available and, perhaps, it's a case of shopping around to get the course which suits you best. However, when an
institution is open-minded in its approach to to the assessment of assignments, this will provide an opportunity
for you to personalise your work and to interpret it in a way which suits your circumstances. In general, you can
expect the smaller institutions to to accept a personal slant on your work with the larger institutions looking for a
more stereotypical view. However, that's not a hard and fast rule and many of the large institutions would claim
to be open to new, innovative and even off-the-wall interpretations. A key element in the personalisation of your
work will be in its timing. When you can personalise the timetable so as to start when you want and progress at
your own pace, you can integrate your study into life much more seamlessly and – for a few years at least –
accept it as a part of you.

Personalisation is touched upon in: Questions 7, 13, 14 and 30.

Portable
The portability of a qualification is related very-much to its credibility – which, in turn, relates to accreditation.
If a qualification, or a range of qualifications, is universally recognised then it becomes portable and accepted
everywhere.
Another important factor in portability is the nature of the qualification itself. The original idea of the MBA was
of a completely-general qualification which embraced all aspects of business life, providing the student with a
solid overview of the workings of business. In this form, the MBA is at its most portable. With the more-
specialised offerings, such as an MBA in Marketing, some of this portability is lost. This places you, the student,
in a dilemma which is only solved by taking a good hard look at where you are and where you want to be in the
future. If you're not sure what branch of management you wish to be in in the long term then you should avoid
the specialist MBA and look for for something which is general – and portable.
Portability is touched upon in Questions 2, 9, 24, 26, 27, 28 29 and 30.

Focused
When you are sure where your long-term future lies in business, then it's time to look for a focused offering. In
many ways, you can read the entry on portability and put the word 'not' in all over the place as focus and
portability are in many ways opposites! A focused MBA specialises in in some aspect of business and will be great
for progressing your career in marketing, accounting, or such specialisms but may actually hinder you if you
wished to change direction. So choose – focus or portability!
The question of focus is touched upon in Question 7.

Just in time
In operations terms, this phrase refers to a process in which resources become available just when they're need-
ed, the right quantity at the right time, the process being triggered by the consumption of the preceding resource.
This ensure that resources are not paid for before they are utilised. Presumably, the students who were asking for
this in their MBA were seeking a responsive programme which enabled them to dictate when their resources –
modules, textbooks, e-books, etc. - were delivered and paid for and when they could deliver their assignments i.e.
A flexible approach to the delivery of their MBA.
Because of the close links with flexibility, the links below are identical to those provided for the heading
flexibility.
Timeliness is touched upon in Questions 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 23 and 30.

Affordable
Affordability seems a pretty straightforward sort of concept. Just look in your purse or wallet and check what's
there! However, it's complicated a little when different payment options come into play and a just-in-time
delivery pattern enables you to pay as you 'consume' - but still, the depth of your pocket counts!
As with many things in life, there's a payoff between what you pay and what you get. If you want to get into the
big-league universities, then they call the shots – you have to pay. They have the most-recognised – and portable
offerings and they know it! So, what's best to do? Save and save until you can get into the big league and risk
spending your life waiting or to go for something which you can afford now and get moving towards the future
which you desire. There seems to be no question really – an MBA in the hand is worth two in the bush! Find an
MBA programme which will recognise the effort which you put in, record this and offer you the possibility of
gaining future professional recognition. It may not be the programme which you would ideally choose but make
it yours, work at it enthusiastically and future employers will recognise your enterprise and enthusiasm.
For questions touching upon affordability see Questions 1, 6, 16, 20, 21 and 26.

A Jumping-off Point
Pretty-well whatever MBA you choose will provide a jumping-off point. Ownership of the three letters tells your
future employer that you mean business and that they'd be wise to have you on board. If the programme also
offers the opportunity for you to gain some form of professional recognition then this will be a further benefit
from your studies. Currency of the MBA will also improve its value as a stepping stone into the future and if the
programme which you've undertaken has striven to remain up to date, then it’s a stepping stone that's well
above high-water mark.
For questions which touch upon the qualification being a jumping-off point, see Questions 2, 4, 24, 27 and 30.

Valued
Two people need to value your MBA – you and your employer or potential employer. Of the two, the employer is
probably the easiest one to satisfy. They will look for a reasonable level of accreditation, the breadth of the
qualification and your performance when studying.
You, however, that's another matter! Human beings are strange things! Most of us would really not value an
MBA bought for $600. It seems that we need to work for something if we are to really value it.
A recent survey of graduates correlated the value they placed upon their course with the way they had chosen
this. It came up with the intriguing conclusion that the students who had made their choice on a basis of
published league table results valued their MBA least. Strange things people!
Questions which touch upon the value of a qualification are Question 2, 9, 24, 26, 27,29 and 30.