The Legitimacy of an MBA Online
One of the biggest concerns for prospective students is the legitimacy of an MBA degree online. Nothing could be worse than spending your finances, time and effort on obtaining an MBA online just to have it dismissed as an illegitimate degree by prospective employers.
Survey Says
In a 2001 Vault survey conducted to gauge the general perception of online degrees versus traditional degrees, 61% of the participants rated online degrees as having less credibility than traditional degrees but still being generally acceptable.
Such a lukewarm response may put certain doubt in your mind about the legitimacy of an MBA online. However, genuine online MBA programs are now held to high educational standards to provide new business students and experienced professionals looking to boost their careers with legitimate online MBA degrees respected by employers and recruiters alike.
How MBA Online Programs Become Legitimate
Employers conduct job position interviews and sift through countless resumes to check the legitimacy and accreditations of prospective employees. They want to know who you are, where you’ve been educated and who can vouch for you. Online institutions require the same type of accreditation in order to be considered a serious and genuine MBA degree program.
Institute accreditation is achieved with the help of third party agencies who effectively investigate the program’s education and business processes before the organization can become accredited. Naturally, it’s easy to think that an online MBA program could become accredited under false pretenses by simply hiring an accrediting organization to give them the rubber stamp of approval. The truth is that accreditation mills, who offer accredited status for a mere fee, are as common and worthless as online degree mills.
The prevalence of degree and accreditation mills online makes the task of finding a legitimate MBA online program that much harder. However, there are genuine accrediting agencies and organizations that strive to improve the legitimacy of online degree programs.
Genuine Accrediting Agencies
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is the leading US based organization. The council is essentially designed to recognize the highest quality accrediting agencies available. They keep track of approximately 60 accrediting organizations, including the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) – a highly regarded accrediting agent for business schools.
There are over 500 accredited members in AACSB and over 18,700 programs that hold recognition from CHEA’s rigorous standards or the US’ Department of Education so there is no shortage of legitimate online institutions to choose from.
Most importantly though is the fact that online only MBA programs are quickly being joined by long established traditional universities interested in offering their MBA programs online. Universities such as Duke, East Carolina, Texas A&M, Houston Victoria, Oklahoma State and several others all operate online MBA programs and there is little doubt about their legitimacy and reputation.
How the Job Market Views Online MBAs
Online MBA programs have made leaps and bounds over the past decade but receiving an MBA degree through distance learning or online programs is not universally accepted in the business world.
Top tier business sectors such as venture capitalist, hedge funds and other Fortune 500-centric fields still give priority to MBA degrees obtained from full time in-residence at a renown university. Human resources departments for business specific companies will know whether an MBA degree comes from a traditional MBA program or an online program and may readily prefer the former.
However, this leaves plenty of job sectors and opportunities where legitimate online MBA programs are looked upon as solid career building tools. According to a Vault’s 2001 study on online degrees, job industries embedded into the online world such as Internet media, information technology and high-tech sectors have much greater acceptance ratings for online degrees like an MBA when compared to the more traditional medicine, law and marketing industries.
The Choice is Yours
Ultimately, the true legitimacy of an MBA online depends on how serious you are about obtaining a quality level of education that carries academic prestige. Top tier accreditation agencies for business degrees make sure that your online MBA is worth its financial value and won’t be dismissed by employers and recruiters who truly know the difference between legitimate online MBAs and phony degrees.
About the Author: This article was written by Anthony Benedict who helps run and maintain OnlineMBA.com, which is a website that directs people to the best ways of obtaining an MBA on the internet
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There’s the accreditation of an online MBA programme, and then there’s the quality of graduates. I did one via the University of Phoenix and I had people in my final classes who could barely string a sentence together, and copied the vast majority of material from online sources without bothering to quote them, yet they were getting passed through every subject. And these were native English speakers, so no excuses at all on that front. Prime example of a university just taking the cash and pushing people through, no matter how bad they were. My money completely wasted, might as well have a certificate which says CornFlakes University
I remember when University of Phoenix was the only major institution offering online degree programs. Now, major colleges like Berkeley are following suit and adapting to the online wave.
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The fact that so many people are interested in online MBA courses shows that there’s a market for it. Unfortunately the level of quality can fluctuate dramatically as well. Scott’s experience just highlights this aspect. So it’s in the interest of prospective MBA students to do their background research before signing up.
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Judging by the number of ‘online MBA’ advertisements that pop up on various MBA related websites, there clearly is a huge market for online management degrees. But there are also quality issues to be aware of. Scott’s experience only highlights these pitfalls. So it’s in the interest of prospective MBA students to do their background research before signing up.
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