Top 10 Online MBAs for Experiential Learning

Warwick’s top-ranked Online MBA takes teaching and learning beyond the classroom through having executives as visiting lecturers, who bring real-world theory and help students to build links with international organizations such as Amazon, Gallup and CAPCO. Online students also join professional networks that regularly host business leaders.

UNC Kenan-Flagler takes an active approach to learning through in-person Summits that bring online students face-to-face in Chapel Hill and global business hubs. There’s also the STAR experiential learning course that sees students apply coursework and skills to a real-world, management consulting project. And the DBI course gives students an opportunity to study abroad at one of UNC Kenan-Flagler’s partner schools.

Kelley offers a number of experiences designed to enrich the Online MBA program, from residential modules on campus in Bloomington, to Immersion Courses that deepen understanding of a particular business area, such as advertising and branding in New York. Students can also visit an emerging economy such as Cuba to work with a small business on a team consulting project. 

The UF Online MBA program offers a wide range of practical activities that encourage leadership and professional development. These include Global Immersion Experiences, an opportunity to visit an international business destination for a week, and the Career Transformation Weekend: a series of workshops on topics like leadership, business communication and social networking.

At USC, Online MBA students are required to spend a week on campus in order to connect with their peers and develop a cohesive student cohort. The school’s Experiential Learning Center promotes learning through active and engaging exercises such as consultancy projects with real companies.

At D’Amore-McKim, Online students put the knowledge gained from the MBA curriculum to work at startups and leading corporations worldwide, or pursue research interests with faculty members. A number of experiential projects amplify classroom learning, such as Co-op, in which students work full-time at leading companies across 40 countries, typically for six months.

IE in Madrid, Spain, delivers an Online MBA that combines distance learning with face-to-face periods around the world to discover a new destination and learn about the local business environment. In the past these trips have included San Francisco, Sao Paolo, Singapore, Shanghai, Miami and Mumbai.

The Carlson School runs a number of Enterprise Programs, in which students take on real projects for paying clients ranging from non-profits to Fortune 500 companies. Students can develop brand and marketing strategy, analyze and solve complex business challenges, manage more than $30 in real investments, or identify, evaluate and implement new business ideas as an entrepreneur. 

Students on the Cox Online MBA gain hands-on opportunities to build leadership and teamwork skills through case-based coursework, consulting projects, virtual simulations and global immersion trips abroad. One example is War Games, a high-intensity course that simulates the moves of companies in the marketplace in response to changing dynamics. Students have also previously visited Brazil on a global study trip.

GWSB’s location in Washington D.C enables the school to provide distance-learning students with opportunities to immerse themselves in a residency course as well as class projects and co-curricula experiences. This includes overseas study on an academic exchange program, the consulting abroad program and overseas study trips to various global locations.