BY Sydney LakeJanuary 09, 2023, 2:08 PM
Downtown Dubuque, Iowa, seen from the Julien Dubuque Monument, in June 2018. (Photograph by Lauren Justice—The Washington Put up/Getty Photos)
Full-time, in-person MBA packages proceed to be a preferred selection for graduate research, however on-line choices have truly grown to enroll extra college students. Through the 2020-2021 educational 12 months, 45,038 college students have been enrolled in on-line MBAs packages within the U.S., whereas 43,740 have been enrolled in full-time packages, based on the Affiliation to Advance Collegiate Colleges of Enterprise (AACSB).
That shift isn’t shocking provided that many enterprise colleges each massive and small have launched on-line MBA packages previously couple of years, together with New York College Stern Faculty of Enterprise and the College of Tennessee–Knoxville. Even the Wharton Faculty of the College of Pennsylvania introduced its hybrid govt MBA program final 12 months. Becoming a member of the litany of enterprise colleges beginning a web-based MBA providing is the College of Dubuque, a non-public faculty positioned in its namesake metropolis in Iowa.
The varsity introduced in early January the inception of its on-line MBA by means of a partnership with on-line training supplier upGrad. Whereas some on-line MBA packages can value anyplace between $20,000 and greater than $100,000, Dubuque is touting a comparatively low sticker value. On-line MBA college students at Dubuque can full their diploma for lower than $15,000. Fortune ranks the most reasonably priced on-line MBA packages—a lot of that are additionally on this value vary.
“We hope that by delivering an reasonably priced, high-quality, and extremely accessible on-line MBA, we will help quickly broaden our rising Dubuque neighborhood to learners throughout the nation and even globally,” Ricardo Cunningham, College of Dubuque’s dean for graduate and grownup research, tells Fortune. “At a complete value of beneath $15,000, we would like aspiring enterprise leaders to be geared up with the data they should succeed with out breaking the financial institution.”
How the web MBA program works
The MBA program at Dubuque is 100% on-line and may be accomplished in as little as 15 months. Programs can have each synchronous (reside) and asynchronous content material, together with weekly reside on-line courses. College students can work together on dialogue boards and ask questions of different college students, school, or educating assistants.
Whereas some MBA packages supply specializations, Dubuque college students can have the chance to earn “abilities badges” along with pursuing a specialization in analytics, finance, advertising, management, or common enterprise. Among the badges embody data-driven advertising, monetary analytics, advertising management, and finance administration.
These badges are shareable, that means they are often hooked up to résumés or on LinkedIn. As a result of they’re linked to particular pairings of elective programs and are constructed into the curriculum, there isn’t any further value in pursuing a abilities badge, Cunningham says.
“We additionally perceive that if we actually wish to construct a program that places college students first, we have to present avenues for them to speed up their careers as quick as potential,” he provides. “Badges give our learners the possibility to show extremely in-demand competencies as they study, making them extra worthwhile to present and potential employers.”
The way to apply to the web MBA program
To use to the 36-credit-hour program, potential college students should have a bachelor’s diploma from a regionally accredited college and be capable of present official transcripts. Candidates additionally want an undergraduate GPA of at the very least 2.5. There isn’t any price to use, and candidates don’t must submit a GMAT or GRE rating.
“We wish our graduates to stroll away with an training that lives as much as our mission by offering them with a program curriculum related to at the moment’s workforce that permits them to answer points they at the moment face,” Cunningham says. “We perceive that the world is altering, as is the office, so we needed a program that displays that.”
Try all of Fortune’s rankings of diploma packages, and study extra about particular profession paths.