Hi,

I have offers from Durham and Manchester and I’m trying to decide which one to accept. I have also applied to Warwick and am waiting to hear back after my interview.

The program at MBS seems more applied and interactive than the program at Durham. I also think that MBS is the stronger brand.

The MBS global MBA is ranked higher than the Durham MBA in the QS online MBA rankings but it is not ranked in the FT online rankings (and Durham is ranked 5th). I know rankings aren’t everything but they aren’t nothing either.

The program at MBS is more expensive and I live and work in Canada so the face-to-face time at MBS (which I’m sure will be valuable) adds to the cost considerably.

Since I live in Canada I’m not sure how important the relative rankings of the programs will be. MBS might be better because people have at least heard of Manchester.

My reasoning for doing the MBA is career progression. I have a technical background but work in a marketing department. I’m nearing the ceiling of my current career trajectory.

I chose to do a distance MBA because the part-time options where I live are not very strong (Wilfrid Laurier University) or very expensive.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Manchester is much better. It's much closer to the full time MBA experience. It's doesn't fit the FT ranking easily because of its flexible timetable. The FT looks for cohort programmes.

Given you are in North America, isn't Illinois the obvious choice? It's iMBA is too young to be in the rankings but that is a great school and, I assume, a more famous uni with a better alumni association for you.

Thanks for the reply. I had never seriously looked into the iMBA for some reason, probably because it isn’t on the rankings. It does look like a great program.

Any thoughts on how it would compare to MBS. The two programs are so different I find them hard to compare. I’m not sure which would school would have the better brand in Canada.

Hi jsinc,

Since iam already in the iMBA program i can give you all the details you need.
So what would you like to know about the program?

Hey Abdo. What are the surprises of the program for far? Do you have much interaction with other students? Is there group work? What careers support is there? Are there any connections with the Illinois alumni network?

Also, how do you feel about Coursera launching a second MBA? How do the two degrees compare to you?

Hey Duncan, first of all thank you the guidance you provide through the discussion board.
Regarding iMBA, i finished 5 courses already and in the middle of 6th and 7th.
as you know the program is divided into 2 portion ( coursera where you will find videos,quizzez and peer graded assignments and suggested readings) the second portion is the high engagement part)
so every course is divided into 8 modules through 8 weeks. every week there is a live session (some subjects has 3 repeated live sessions to accommodate different time zones and the number of registered students). during the live session we discuss case study mainly , the prof. sometimes provide brief content or extra content about the subject, we go into breakout rooms to discuss material, Q&A, articles. so, live session is highly interactive and engaging but it has a problem with high enrolled student numbers but, there is also office hours where you can ask the prof. anything you want or he can explain concepts again for you.
for group work part. let me say like this: As far as my experience with 7 subjects already no subject we did not have group work. even for financial accounting we have group work :), so group work is critical part of the program. there is also individual assignments and sometimes exams.
for the career support till now its not provided by the iMBA program as you can see the website did not mentioned anything like this.
we have free access to the library, illinois store where you can have microsoft office,etc. for free. and we have free access to Lynda. (Educational part of linkedin).
every year there is an event called iConverge where student will travel to the university to network and meet each other and the university provides some session and workshop but not mandatory.

about coursera launching second MBA as i can understand you are talking about Macquarie University global mba. i think this model (providing mba through coursera) will grow since the universities doing this to decrease the cost of operating their mba. i recently read article about universities partnering with 2U education system and 2U gets 50% of tuition fees.

I hope that clarified some of what you asked about the program. if you have any questions iam happy to answer it as well.

about coursera launching second MBA as i can understand you are talking about Macquarie University global mba. i think this model (providing mba through coursera) will grow since the universities doing this to decrease the cost of operating their mba. i recently read article about universities partnering with 2U education system and 2U gets 50% of tuition fees.

I'm checking out the Manchester Global MBA program and am very interested to hear more about the 'brand' reputation of this school. Before I started looking into an MBA I had heard of Manchester but to me it always seemed like it had a bit less of a reputation than some other schools in the UK.

I like the format of the program, especially that there are centres in several of the places that I have to travel for work each year (Shanghai, Dubai.)

I am interested in doing a quality program preferably at a UK school but need to make sure it lines up with my life. This school seems to stand out in this respect. But I am open to suggestions.

These are very different program formats with different pedagogy. MBS is very much applied, focussed on projects and group work, and similar to a full time MBA. Durham is more academic, focussed on individual assessment and less extensive. Don't let Durham's undergraduate snob appeal conceal Manchester's reality as a more powerful and higher ranked institution, both as a university and as a business school.

Dear Duncan,

Can you please guide me on is Durham MBA good ? how is the faculty ? simultaneously could you also speak about cranfield ?

I can't think of anything to say that has not already been written in the board.

Dear Duncan,

Can you please guide me on is Durham MBA good ? how is the faculty ? simultaneously could you also speak about cranfield ?