<blockquote>
I wish I'd done MBA some 10 years back.. spent far too long contemplating :-)

</blockquote>

Hi George.... I'm having your same wish :-)

As I mentioned in the start of this thread couple of years back, I had 16+ yrs experience at the time of admission.

Maubia,
I notice that you are active in this forum. Did you start your MBA or not?. Go for it mate!, trust your intuition and commit to whatever school makes sense to you. There is no school that is perfect for everyone. Good luck.

Hi George:

Thank you so much for your prompt response. Highly appreciate it! Now even I am plan to attend the residency module too starting October at durham. So far, the acdemic work is intense but I am loving it :)

I also wanted to let you know that like many of us, your thread is the reason for me applying to Durham so thank you :)

Best,
Rakhee.

Thank you all so much on this post. I read through all contributions and i am happy to say Distance / on-line Learning is the way to go for a busy bee like me. I cannot afford to stay off work, i have family to look after, demanding husband and i aspire to be outstanding in my area. Now on the managerial role and distance learning is the best mode for me right now. George, this is a great one of help, i am in between Durham and Warrick, fingers cross.....

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of this post! 27K+ views!!
In the mean time I am 60% through my course. :-)

Good luck to everyone on your MBA search.

Interesting thread, as I'm considering the online MBA from Durham, but am also looking at the Manchester and Warwick MBAs as well. Being 60% done with the program, any more insight? Still feeling lonely and bored with the online components? :)

I started the Global MBA in Durham in April and I've been there twice already. I didn't do any distance learning module yet (by option) and I recommend it. I like the face-to-face approach.

So far, I'm very happy with the program and I have two more modules in October (one distance and one presence by option too).

Good luck with your choice(s).

Interesting posts made since I made my last contribution, and it's great to see people getting very useful feedback on here.
I am now approaching the end of my first year at Warwick. So far it has been fantastic, and the feature that I like most is actually the residential and F2F modules - which is a but weird because I was a critic of this when I was looking for an MBA. True it is very costly and inconvenient especially if you are not based in the UK, but the benefits far much outweigh the downsides. You get to meet your fellow students, and develop a wide network of colleagues. Makes the studying less stressful, because you can still link up with your colleagues online, but you also know them in person and that helps.
I notice even the originator of this post, George, has also changed his mind about the need for F2F attendance - it is a very essential part of the learning process.
As for the content, well interesting that some of the Professors teach at other UK business schools (including Durham), so I believe all schools in broadly the same brack (like DUBS and WBS) would be as good as each other.
Good luck to everyone still deciding - I would recommend Warwick (with a few things I am not happy about - but not essential) but from what I read Durham would be just as good too!

Hey every one,

I am writing from Göteborg Sweden.. I have been researching a lot for last two months. I am planning as well for DL MBA ... and like everyone else, my limitation is also my family, my little girls and a newly bought house :) .... I would like to choose Warwick based on their financial times rankings but their compulsory attendance is making me think again and again. Durham is offering this an option but not "A Must Do" and in the recent rankings it is not really far behind warwick now... So right now, I coming to no conclusion.

The other factor that I havent read anywhere is what are the costs of 3 compulsory warwick weeks in pure figures.... How many pounds or euros , one must keep aside when deciding to go for warwick week ... any real experience ?

If you extend your studies you will have to budget for an extension fee for each extra year of study. Does anyone know how much does this extension costs ?

Regards

That seems like a great question to ask the school.

The accommodation costs were also on their website, not sure if they are still there but pretty normal hotel prices.

<blockquote>
The other factor that I havent read anywhere is what are the costs of 3 compulsory warwick weeks in pure figures.... How many pounds or euros , one must keep aside when deciding to go for warwick week ... any real experience ?

If you extend your studies you will have to budget for an extension fee for each extra year of study. Does anyone know how much does this extension costs ?
</blockquote>

Hi Musse

I am a current Warwick MBA student so can answer. You don't pay extra to attend the Warwick Weeks, but you have to pay for accommodation and meals. If you stay on Campus you can get decent accommodation for around 50 pounds per day (not sure in euro). Warwick Week 1 is 5 days, Warwick Week 2 is 3 days, and Warwick Week 3 is minimum 1 day depending on electives. There is also a further 5 day face to face you have to do. It can be in Warwick or at a number of other locations in Europe, Asia or even US and Mexico. Again no extra tuition cost but you pay for accommodation and meals (and travel of course).
In short yes the cost is quite substantial and does add up. Some of us have also questioned the point of the Warwick Week in Year 3, only one day for the core module. A few students I know on some 5 day modules at international centres also complained about some lecturers who were not quite up to standard. Time for travel also means time off work, so it does all add up.
If these things are important to you then I don't think you will lose much by choosing Durham instead. But I am currently enjoying my studies at Warwick and I am glad I chose to study with them. I think you still need some face-to-face contact though, whether Warwick's model is a little bit over the top is debatable.

I got a reply from Warwick that the extension costs 750 pounds per year ...
Calcuating Warwick weeks costs to personal pocket, residence, food, travel (the most expensive in this factor, as air tickets can be very expensive) .. this must be 2500-3000 pounds , at the very least, for all te 3 warwick weeks.. this is quite a lot which is not showing anywhere in the costs for the moment. I havent included away from family factor, leaving job and other stuff which is the prime reason for choosing an online MBA.
I have started my application form to Durham now.
Lets see how things proceed.

Regards

Well, since you can estimate your costs, it shouldn't be hard to figure out the ROI, with the new FT online ranking. That shows that graduates of the Warwick online program tend to get around a 32 percent salary increase - the average salary today is just over $130k. Durham has a larger overall salary increase, but to a lower salary, meaning that students entering the Durham program probably have lower salaries when they start.

but that is not relevant at all if the starting salary is lower or not. What matters , atleast for me. is the salaray increase one sees with avergae salary 133k for Warwick and 123k for Durham. Not a huge difference in final salary from my point of view. So if I have understood the rankings correctly, they are both in same gradings and appear simultaneiously when ever online MBA is being considered by any one in UK. The program itself as I have read on internet has no big differences as well. The only difference is Warwick makes it compulsory to attend Warwick but Durham leaves it as a personal choice. With my family and job situation, Durham option is the best as it gives me independence to choose it at my time.

Is any one here who is currently enrolled or has graduated from Durham ? I would like to know what is the study schedule required for completing it on time .. and how hard the studies ?

Looking forward to advice and help regarding Durham ...
Regards

Hi every one ! This is Ahtisham. I am originally from Pakistan but working in Saudi Arabia. I am an engineer by profession and have 7 years of experience in KSA. I am an aspirant to distance learning MBA.
I have no words to appreciate the quality of discussion that i have seen in this post, I would like to appreciate also the great contributors (George, Duncan, Hudson, Canuck, ezra , and others.)
Honestly i came here to see the comparison between " Bradford and Durham" , George explained that Durham offer more flexibility as in scheduling courses as compared to Bradford.
Lot being said about the importance of face to face interaction in DL, and i have no doubt in it, but i am in the same delima as was (George and Hudson). considering my circumstances, i would not be able to afford time and cost for on campus sessions.

1) Can technology be the substitute to face to face interaction, can we know which of the following schools (Durham/wbs/bradford/henly) offer the best online experience ?
2) Can we compare these school on the level of technical support provided and response time of teachers to students quires?
3) Are we graded for our level of online engagement and collaboration in these schools.

Technology can't fully substitute for face-to-face interaction.

I think the FT's online MBA ranking is very good.

Thanks duncan,

I have seen the FT online mba ranking 2014.
If you filter by online interaction and experience you will find bradford ahead of dhuram and warwick ,,,but this is not complimented by the video available at the school website for online learning.

There's more to an MBA than the production quality of the video. Focus on the outcomes, not just the production quality of the video.

The question is of course not the quality of the videos, but the question is that if there is any other way to know more about the quality of online experience the school is providing to foster learning?

i asked the Bradford school about their online learning experience and they refereed me to the video !

Hey,
I just went through this process as well, so I though to give my feedback as well... As far as I have researched and talked with different people on different forums.. with current FT rankings, I dont think it matters much if you get enrolled in top 10 Online MBA programs ... There is a reason why people trust FT rankings and it is because they are an authentic entity. They dont pick top 10 programs just willy nilly, they put some effort & research before publishing their rankings. As for me, it was between Warwick & Durham, I chose Durham because I did not want to have f2f option as an compulsory option. Some people might say it is good to have f2f as an obligatory option then you are forced to do it but others have argued against as there are little too much f2f modules in warwick as compulsory option.
I dont know how is the career service for these 2 universities but only an alumni / recent graduate can tell you if university really helped in the end to make a career change or getting a new or better job.
I have just got admission offer from Durham and I am in the process of finalizing the process. I hope I made the right choice ...

Regards