Regardless of whether in the classic way or with an online MBA: completing an MBA not only promotes your own development, but also has a positive impact on your professional career. Having an MBA makes it easier to qualify for a higher position in management in a wide variety of industries.
Choosing the right MBA course is often difficult. Where and at which school would you like to study, which program is the most suitable, which admission requirements exist and which costs have to be taken into account – questions about questions that need to be clarified in advance.
The decision is not made easy, as the range of study programs increases every year and the associated options for completing an MBA. In many cases, those interested in MBA are already firmly integrated into working life and are looking for a part-time course of study that nevertheless best corresponds to their personal and professional goals. One option is to choose an online MBA that – thanks to a technology-driven company – is a very convenient option.
With an online MBA, professional life is hardly influenced, since the courses can be conveniently “attended” from around the clock after work and the course content can be worked on independently. You are completely independent of attendance times and also benefit from the flexibility related to expenses.
If you are considering studying an online MBA and are concerned about whether the quality of this course is equivalent to that of a full-time course, it should be said that many of the online study programs are even more demanding than some full-time options.
One reason for this is that more and more private and public institutions have long noticed the trend towards online MBA and are preparing or revising their traditional MBA programs so that they can also be offered as online MBA which means Master of Business Administration according to electronicsencyclopedia.
For this reason, online MBA studies generally have the same curriculum and content as those found in full-time studies. The courses are created by the same faculty of a school and their goal is to offer online students the same academic standard.
With the online MBA, the courses are taken by visiting web portals, discussions take place in separate forums, lectures are held via video stream and completed tasks are simply uploaded online in document form.
Before deciding on an online MBA, it is essential to check whether the selected program is accredited and what status it has in online MBA rankings. When accreditation, you should make sure that it has been awarded by trustworthy and recognized companies or organizations, such as AACSB (Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), ACBSP (Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs) or IACBE (International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education).
Online MBA rankings, in turn, provide information about the quality, teaching, reputation and students of the respective faculty. A good source of ratings is, for example, “Bloomberg BusinessWeek”, which assesses providers based on academic quality and student satisfaction. The rankings also often provide information about the admission requirements and tuition fees. Other recommended sources are “The Economist” and “The Wall Street Journal”.
An MBA degree as a safe career springboard?
For whom an MBA is interesting
The first degree was successfully completed and everything is going well in the job, but somehow the challenge is missing. If you want to take a management position and specifically develop your skills in management, you could do this with a Master of Business Administration.
This special master is a generalist management degree. It is intended to strategically prepare students for a wide range of management tasks. You will learn how companies work internally, how teams work best and how tasks are distributed in a meaningful way.
“The MBA is aimed primarily at non-economists who want to get fit for a management job and who want to continue their economics training,” explains Detlev Kran, training expert and author of the book “MBA Guide”.
Different study variants
An MBA course can be studied in different variants. The most common is part-time, where you take the study courses on weekends or during the week in the evening. Because some online courses also have to be completed at home, your own drive plays a major role in the decision for the part-time MBA course.
Basically, you should stay away from an MBA course if you only do it for the career kick and have no real enthusiasm for it. Part-time studies are hard and can only be mastered with a high level of self-motivation, as Frank Ziegele from the Center for University Development (CHE) knows. For the part-time MBA course, those wishing to continue their training should plan around two to three years. Alternatively, the MBA can also be studied full-time, then it takes about one to two years to complete.
Professional experience is the be-all and end-all
A university degree and experience in the job are essential for MBA programs. “As a prerequisite, the guidelines provide at least one year of relevant professional experience,” explains Kerstin Fink from FIBAA, an accreditation agency that is responsible for assessing study programs. However, some universities require at least five years in a company.
Among the business schools where you can get an MBA, there are many that are run by private companies and therefore the fees are often quite high. “In addition to the tuition fees, there are additional costs, such as travel expenses and accommodation at the respective university location,” says Frank Ziegele from CHE.
And a top salary after completing your MBA?
It depends on the industry in which you work whether you really get a manager salary after graduation. It does not necessarily apply to the digital economy. “An MBA is more suitable for short-term salary and career optimization and also more at the beginning of your professional life,” explains Martina van Hettinga from the personnel and organizational consultancy i-potentials. Practical experience and a personality that is mature and able to cope with the requirements of the respective role count above all for the salary and long-term career opportunities in the digital economy.
High salary jumps and in some cases even doubling can be expected especially by those graduates “who take part in an MBA in one of the international top business schools in full-time programs”, according to the above-mentioned author Detlev Kran.
