Can someone answer my question of whats the major difference between online business courses taken on coursera and online MBA? Is the only difference is in networking? Or something else

I feel that you can get the knowledge from the free online courses without paying lot of money but still i feel that there is an implicit difference that i cant recognize so please help
Thanks

[Edited by Afelbassiouny on Jun 21, 2018]

That is not how the illinois program works (the one on coursera)
Each of the 18 courses is like this:

"One segment is self-directed, noncredit, and covers basic foundational content, imagine it to be your interactive textbook. This segment, housed on the Coursera platform, includes involvement in an open, global classroom. This segement for each course is free for knowledge sake....."

"The other segment is the advanced graduate-level for-credit segment, that corresponds to the foundational material in the noncredit segment. This segment, based in the Illinois Compass platform, will take you deeper into the material with personal interaction with faculty in the form of live classes, personal feedback, office hours and advanced case studies. You will also do project work with teams of fellow students."

source: https://onlinemba.illinois.edu/admissions/access-points/enroll-credit-course/ section "How it works"

As you see, the whole material for an MBA is not online in any case.

Moocs are great source of knowledge and many of them are on par with graduate or undergraduate level (mostly those at edX-micromasters or coursera-MasterTrack)
But I don't think anyone offers the whole (or even 1/4) of the MBA knowledge for free

I mean, anyone can buy the books (most MBAs clearly state what books are used in the curriculum, it is no secret) and study on his/own but the experience is really really really nowhere near the same as in a business school - or that of an online MBA designed with interactions, feedback, case studies, live hours etc

[Edited by George Patsoulis on Jun 21, 2018]

That is not how the illinois program works (the one on coursera)
Each of the 18 courses is like this:

"One segment is self-directed, noncredit, and covers basic foundational content, imagine it to be your interactive textbook. This segment, housed on the Coursera platform, includes involvement in an open, global classroom. This segement for each course is free for knowledge sake....."

"The other segment is the advanced graduate-level for-credit segment, that corresponds to the foundational material in the noncredit segment. This segment, based in the Illinois Compass platform, will take you deeper into the material with personal interaction with faculty in the form of live classes, personal feedback, office hours and advanced case studies. You will also do project work with teams of fellow students."

source: https://onlinemba.illinois.edu/admissions/access-points/enroll-credit-course/ section "How it works"

As you see, the whole material for an MBA is not online in any case.

Moocs are great source of knowledge and many of them are on par with graduate or undergraduate level (mostly those at edX-micromasters or coursera-MasterTrack)
But I don't think anyone offers the whole (or even 1/4) of the MBA knowledge for free

I mean, anyone can buy the books (most MBAs clearly state what books are used in the curriculum, it is no secret) and study on his/own but the experience is really really really nowhere near the same as in a business school - or that of an online MBA designed with interactions, feedback, case studies, live hours etc

many many thanks for your advice Mr. George, so you dont think that if i will go to education website (such as coursera or edx) and studied for example managerial acoounting online course (learning balance sheets, profit and loss account,..etc) or corporate finance or marketing or.... isnt the same as if i will apply to imperial online MBA?

In the Imperial program, you'll at least have real feedback from professors, etc. and interact with other students who are at similar levels in terms of experience and the ability to articulate clearly. From my experience taking (free) online courses, this is not usually the case.

It varies a lot. On the heriot Watt MBA, for example, when I looked up the "faculty", the authors of the study packs, some were dead or long retired. So, maybe not too much feedback from professors on that course.

My question is, in terms of Online MBA programs, the Illinois program seems to be highly recommended. However, am I correct in understanding that it has never been included in the Online MBA ranking from the Financial Times? If not, I am wondering about its reputation compared to the programs which are ranked in this publication.

Inclusion in FT rankings has prerequisites. It's not a problem that Illinois isn't listed.

My question is, in terms of Online MBA programs, the Illinois program seems to be highly recommended. However, am I correct in understanding that it has never been included in the Online MBA ranking from the Financial Times? If not, I am wondering about its reputation compared to the programs which are ranked in this publication.