Top 10 Online MBA Programs for Residential Modules

Many Online MBA programs now include a variety of periodic residential modules. This blended format helps students forge valuable connections with students and professors, but without having to sacrifice personal and professional commitments.

The “bricks and clicks” format has been adopted by many of the world’s leading Online MBA programs.  At some institutions, core courses are competed on campus, while in other cases, online students have the option to take electives on campus and deepen their knowledge in diverse fields such as finance, real estate, or entrepreneurship.

Students often study alongside candidates from other degree programs including the full-time MBA and Executive MBA courses. There could also be executive speaker sessions too, and a variety of social events.

These experiences are sometimes rolled into the tuition fees, but other programs charge students extra for them. They are generally available on a first-come, first-serve basis, with limited availability for places.

Typically, residential experiences are offered at the beginning of the Online MBA so that students can build up a rapport, or at the end as part of a capstone course where they put the theory into practice. Sometimes, they are offered in multiple global locations as well as the school’s main campus. […]

Students on the Online MBA program at MIP, which is focused on digital transformation, visit the innovation centers of the business school in Milan. They also go on company visits to leading technology companies such as Amazon and Microsoft. There’s also a bootcamp on digital transformation, while students can also go on international exchanges to visit the campuses of other business schools across the world.

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Luxury and sustainability: that’s Closet Relay, winner of The Mark Challenge

They are four, they have a deep knowledge of the luxury industry, and their business project is quite promising.  Their names are Marco Di Salvio, Alessandro Calvino – International Part Time MBA candidates at MIP, Marco Postorino and Elisa Serra, and they have won The Mark Challenge 2021. This business competition is held by the International University of Monaco and connects students, Alumni, academics, and business leaders from around the world.

Closet Relay – that’s the name of the project awarded in Monaco – explores the niche of the luxury clothing for kids (0-12 years) through a new sustainable business idea.
The project was born at MIP, inspired by the Innovation Leadership course attended by Marco and Alessandro, which taught them new ways to innovate.
Just as they learned in class, they started from a disruptive idea to conceived Closet Relay. Actually, they pushed it ahead, creating a business project that meets consumers’ and market’s needs.
Costumers are more and more concerned about sustainability, and this also affects the fashion industry. Moreover, fast fashion almost halved the life cycle of products, increasing the surplus. A trend that is even more significant for kids’ luxury clothing.

Closet Relay offers to companies a sustainable – both economically and environmentally – solution to companies, while exploring the niche of luxury clothing for kids and the trend of clothing as a service.

Closet Relay aims at buying the surplus from luxury brands at discounted rates to lease them. As baby clothes are usually dismissed after few months, their life cycle would be substantially increased. Closet Relay’s marketplace would also sell second-hand items.

The idea is innovative also because of the financial and strategy tools that our Part Time MBAs applied. Thanks to the skills developed at MIP, they applied advanced techniques that highlighted risk, profits and potential of this business. An approach awarded also by The Mark Challenge’s jury.

Gool luck to our MBA candidates and their teammates for their entrepreneurial challenge! Be this award just the first step towards success.

Covid-19 Hastens the Growth in Online MBAs in Europe

The pandemic has convinced a clutch of locked-down institutions to launch Online MBA programs, especially in Europe. The trend looks set to continue

While many academic institutions across Asia are resuming face-to-face teaching, those in Europe are having to introduce tighter restrictions because of rising coronavirus cases and fresh national lockdowns.

The pandemic has convinced a clutch of locked-down European institutions to launch Online MBA programs in the past 12 months. The trend looks set to continue, as the Otto Beisheim School of Management recently announced plans for an Online MBA, with classes starting in August this year.

In Germany, where the school is based, infection numbers are rising from a third wave of coronavirus.

For Rebecca Winkelmann, director of the school’s new Online MBA, the pandemic crystallized the choice to go viral, which was made before Covid-19 struck.

She brought forward the launch of the program from 2022. “The main reason was the shift to digital teaching for all degree programs right at the beginning of the global crisis,” Winkelmann says. “We strongly felt we had everything in place to launch the program much quicker than initially planned.” […]

The trend looks set to continue, as the research group Carrington Crisp’s Tomorrow’s MBA Study from late 2020 showed that 78 percent of applicants are more likely to pursue a degree that gives them greater flexibility. “It’s likely that market acceptance of online learning has grown significantly over the past 12 months,” says Barniville. ESMT, for example, announced a new Online MBA in March this year, with sessions starting in September.

The forerunner to ESMT’s course is the Online MBA offered by MIP Politecnico di Milano in Italy, which launched back in 2014. The school’s dean, Federico Frattini, thinks the pandemic has changed perceptions among applicants and companies, and opened their minds to the possibilities of remote teaching.

“Something has changed,” he says. “The pandemic forced people to get used to online meetings. Thus, candidates are now more aware of the potential of digital education. The same applies to recruiters, who now perceive online learning to be as good as on-campus programs.”

On the other hand, some potential applicants are experiencing “Zoom fatigue”, which has only strengthened their belief in the value of campus teaching. “Those who already preferred on-campus programs are now even more” entrenched in that belief, says Frattini. […]

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More MBA students are Studying Closer to Home in the Pandemic

For some, localization undermines the cosmopolitan experience of business school

A growing number of working professionals are fleeing the economic downturn and enrolling in business schools to upgrade their credentials. However, unlike in past recessions, many of those flocking to MBA programs this year are staying closer to home in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The trend of localization is problematic for business schools because it undermines the cosmopolitan experience, one of the hallmarks of a top MBA degree. In a globalized world, executives will travel across the world to study together with a diverse cohort of high fliers to gain a global perspective.

However, that diversity is now under threat, at least in the short-term. Last year, two thirds of MBA programs around the world reported a rise in domestic demand, but only half noted an increase in overseas applications, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council.

“The Covid-19 restrictions induced some candidates to choose programs closer to their home,” says Andrea Masini, associate dean for MBA programs at HEC Paris. He reports a 36 percent increase in applications from France in 2020. This led to a “significant” uptick in the number of European students compared to 2019.

He puts this down to a number of international candidates deferring their entrance due to travel constraints. This undermined strong overseas demand, with HEC noting that applications from Africa and Latin America were up by 47 percent and 43 percent, respectively. The challenge now will be to convince these students to take up their place next year. […]

At MIP, the Graduate School of Business of Politecnico di Milano, the dean Federico Frattini says there are enough Italian students to substitute for the school’s overseas exposure. He reports a slight decrease in international applications, but insists that the drop was offset by a 13 percent rise in domestic demand due to coronavirus uncertainty.

“In the last few years, we focused mainly on international candidates. Now, we are back to Italian students. But we hope the situation will be temporary,” says Frattini, noting that students may be keen to return to in-person study when the crisis, which has underscored the need for human connection, abates. […]

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How to Pay for an Online MBA

Budget cuts caused by coronavirus are (sometimes) making corporate sponsorship scarcer, and scholarships can be hard to find. Here’s some tips on how you can pay for your Online MBA. Although the payoff can be huge, studying for an MBA, even an online program, is a long-term investment that requires significant sums of money, time and effort.

With coronavirus roiling the world economy, record numbers of people are applying to business schools to improve their credentials. But many of these students, while by no means poor in most cases, will face a harder time funding their studies during a sharp global recession.

“Funding seems to be a pressing concern for candidates. Indeed, we are receiving more requests about loans than in the past,” says Greta Maiocchi, chief customer management officer at MIP Politecnico di Milano, the Italian business school.

Is employer funding for Online MBA programs drying up?

Traditionally, employers have been more willing to pay for their staff to complete a part-time program, such as an Online MBA, over a full-time degree. That’s because online students continue to work, applying their insights on the job in real-time.

However, employer funding is now drying up because of coronavirus. In a recession, companies will cut costs to shore up their bottom line, though not all organizations.

“Some companies have increased their investment in education despite the pandemic, while others — which used to pay for their employees to do a part-time program — are now slowing down,” says Maiocchi.

Matt Wakeman, director of student financial services at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in the US, notices a reduction in the level of corporate sponsorship for students working in the oil and gas sector, which is reeling from the collapse in the price of oil.

It hasn’t been all doom and gloom, though. “Several companies with prominent education programs haven’t scaled back at all; some have actually expanded their benefits,” says Wakeman. “Even during difficult economic times, they understand how beneficial it can be to attracting and retaining employees.”

Online MBA funding: loans and other options

Wakeman says his office has seen an increase in the number of students with questions about funding their education.

He is getting more queries about loans, but for opportunistic reasons. “With federal interest rates at historic lows, even students who are fortunate enough to be in a position to pay for their education out of pocket are considering taking out federal loans,” he says.

Last March, America’s Department of Education set student loan interest rates to zero until the end of September 2021. However, such loans are unavailable to overseas students, who make up a minority of students on most Online MBA programs, which tend to attract people who want to study closer to home.

Even bank loans can be difficult to obtain for international students, usually requiring a domestic citizen to co-sign the loan. For this reason, some business schools have struck partnerships with alternative lenders that provide loans with favorable terms for its students.

MIP, for example, works with Prodigy Finance, a peer-to-peer lender which does not require a co-signer, nor collateral. MIP also works with Germany’s Deutsche Bildung, which offers loans with income-linked repayments over a number of years after graduation.

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Top 10 Online MBA Programs for International Diversity

Despite the potential for technology to tear down the geographical barriers to graduate business education, the proportion of overseas students on many Online MBA programs is slim. The exception is in Europe and especially in the UK market, which dominates rankings of Online MBAs and boasts highly diverse student intakes.

In the US, by far the most students live locally to the campus or elsewhere in the country, but they value the flexibility an Online MBA provides: most students continue to earn while they learn on a part-time basis.

Levels of diversity are much higher on Online MBA programs on the European continent, with schools in the UK in particular enrolling the vast majority of their students from overseas. This is the promise of online education, which in theory allows anyone to tune into classes from anywhere in the world.

The reality is that many business schools struggle to do this, because they lack brand recognition overseas with online education still very much in its infancy in some corners of the world. There are exceptions though, and below we’ve ranked the top 10 Online MBAs for international diversity. This diversity can significantly enhance the learning experience of all the students in a program. […]

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Top 10 Online MBA Programs in Europe

North America dominates rankings of the world’s leading full-time MBAs, but Europe has a strong reputation when it comes to digital degrees. The continent is home to a myriad of highly ranked Online MBA programs in several countries from the UK to the Netherlands.

Many of the top digital degrees in Europe are clustered in the UK, which is home to many reputable business schools such as Imperial College in London and Edinburgh Business School in Scotland. But the options for online students span the entire European continent, from Madrid to Milan and Berlin.

A common theme on these courses is innovation, with Online MBAs seen as good preparation for an increasingly digital workplace. Studying online, students can apply what they learn directly into the workplace without delay.

But many of these Online MBAs combine online and offline elements on campus, giving students a chance to sample some of the major European business climates and rich cultures. This helps to form bonds among classes and that translates into a powerful global alumni network. […]

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MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business and BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas together for your future

BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas is offering MIP Graduate School of Business students resident in Italy the possibility of accessing a loan to enable you to plan your future with greater freedom and security.

The BNL Futuriamo loan is designed to help you deal with the needs your study programme entails, both in Italy and abroad: tuition fees, study materials, housing and transport costs, the purchase of a PC or tablet.

BNL Futuriamo can finance from 5,000 to 70,000 euros in a single payment, repayable over a period of up to 10 years, with the possibility of postponing the repayment of the capital from 12 to 36 months from the disbursement.

For younger students, there will be joint registration with a parent/guardian resident in Italy.

The loan is managed entirely by BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas. The granting of the loan is subject to the approval of the bank. For all information, together with contractual and economic conditions, please visit BNL.it or make an appointment at one of the BNL branches.

 

Are you a Junior candidate? For further information click here

Are you an Executive candidate? For further information click here

 

To contact the BNL consultants and request a loan, simply click on “Call me back” and fill in the request form.

Employers Warm to Online MBAs in Coronavirus Pandemic

Once seen as second-rate, online education is gaining favor as the corporate world shifts to remote working

The perception among hiring managers that an Online MBA is a second-rate qualification is improving. Historically, companies were skeptical about the early iterations of online learning. Concerns centered on the fact that these degrees often lacked interactivity between participants and teaching faculty.

However, the perception of online programs has certainly evolved in the past few years, according to Julie Neill, assistant director of the Office of Career Services at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “The fact is that graduates receive the same MBA degree and diploma from the institution regardless of the format,” she says. “What does matter greatly, though, is the reputation of the institution which grants the degree and of course, its accreditation.”

Phil Heavilin, executive director of the Career Development Office at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, agrees. “Indeed, perceptions of quality are closely tied to the program’s institution,” he says. “As more business schools with strong brand reputations, selective admissions and rigorous curriculums launch degrees, the reputation of Online MBA programs will continue to rise.” […]

“The digital transformation imperative for most companies requires the bringing together of technology and management skills,” says Tommaso Agasisti, associate dean for internationalization, quality and services at MIP Politecnico di Milano. “An Online MBA encompasses all of these skills. Therefore, employers perceive the programs as having a great value.”

Coronavirus has forced MIP, like many schools, to invest in career resources to support students who face the difficult task of finding a job during a global economic slump and a pandemic. At most institutions, Online MBA students have access to all the same resources as their counterparts who are studying on campus. This includes individual career coaching, webinars, job postings, networking events and company information sessions.

MIP has added to this roster of support. The Italian school recently hosted a two-day virtual careers fair to connect companies with students. It also created an online portal where companies, students and alumni could access advice, articles and live webinars to help them overcome their current corporate challenges.

Agasisti says: “The support students receive online had, and will continue to be, just as extensive as it would be in person – and, paradoxically, even more.”

He points out that Online MBA students also have distinct advantages, including the chance to have more flexibility in their personal and professional life and the freedom to be unconfined to geographical locations.

“In our hectic world, technology has enhanced our human capability to learn and to engage with each other, and being able to learn online is a privilege that can reap excellent benefits if incorporated into your life effectively,” he says.

At the same time, attending an Online MBA does not mean that you can’t immerse yourself in the community of the school, he concludes. “Online learning is a rich, international experience, and it permits people to break down cultural barriers and to connect from all corners of the world.”

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86 candidates from 24 different countries have just begun the digital journey of MIP’s International Flex EMBA

The new edition of our International Flex EMBA has just begun with a large number of participants from all over the world, each ready to live an unforgettable distance learning experience.

Dozens of candidates, connected from 26 different countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, officially started the MIP’s distance-learning Executive MBA on Friday, 6 November, providing tangible proof of the unstoppable nature of training!

Our Business School has set up a class made up on average of professionals aged between 30 and 40, primarily with an educational background in engineering and economics and over 10 years of experience chiefly in the fields of Information Technology and Construction, in their various capacities as Project, Sales or General Managers.

This success goes to show that plenty of professionals continue to be driven by the desire to improve, to refine their managerial skills and above all, to look to the future with positivity and far-sightedness. But it is also shows the perseverance with which MIP Politecnico di Milano intends to exploit the potential of digital learning to pursue its goal of training innovators capable of leveraging digital technologies to drive economic and social development. This commitment has helped us scale major global rankings, coming in 5th in the QS Online MBA Ranking 2020 and 9th in the Financial Times Online MBA Ranking 2020.

Our School is delighted with the diversity of this year’s EMBA, its international reach and the varied backgrounds of its participants, all of which will undoubtedly enrich the participants’ cultural and personal baggage. At the Master’s opening ceremony, the students themselves commented profusely on the class’s “incredible blend of skills and experiences” and on its “representation of the entire business world”, also in geographical terms.

Congratulations to everyone involved for deciding to invest in training!

And congratulations to the hundreds of young graduates and professionals who, since September, have chosen MIP for their professional and human growth.