The MBA degree may have been established in the USA, the world’s biggest economy, but a number of business schools in emerging markets across the globe have quietly been building up their expertise in online learning in recent years, acquiring accreditations from top awarding bodies and high positions in rankings.
From Latin America to Southeast Asia, and from Africa to the UAE and Central and Eastern Europe, Online MBA degrees have truly gone global, a process that has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. Covid has forced many institutions to launch new digital degrees as travel restrictions and Covid lockdowns make campus teaching more complicated.
But most of the institutions ranked below offer a blend of online and in-person instruction, which reflects the many benefits of connecting in real life, not least stronger networking opportunities. The list reflects the incredible geographic diversity of the best Online MBA courses. And there are numerous advantages to studying in emerging markets, including tuition fees that are far lower than alternatives in developed countries.
IAE is Argentina’s leading business school, based in Buenos Aires. It recently launched a new Online MBA with the first classes starting in March 2022. A fully online degree, students will study for 20 hours per week over two years to finish their studies. IAE is the only business school in Argentina to have achieved “triple crown” accreditation from the AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA awarding bodies.
View School ProfileHKUST Business School in Hong Kong launched a fully Online MBA earlier this year, the first of its kind in Asia among the top-25 business schools ranked by the Financial Times. The course has been designed for working professionals in Asia who want flexibility in their schedule or geographical mobility. They can study without compromising their career, family or personal priorities.
View School ProfileLagos Business school, in Nigeria, Africa, runs a Modular MBA. The degree’s blended structure, with online and on-campus classes, requires students to come to campus for a week of intensive study once every three months. There are four of these residential periods each year.
View School ProfileISB offers the Post Graduate Programme In Management for Working Professionals. The 18-month, part-time program starts with online preparatory courses. The degree includes online classes delivered either synchronously or asynchronously. This helps students clarify concepts, with time in class reserved for group discussion. Students come to the ISB campuses in Hyderabad or Mohali for periodic residential modules.
View School ProfileChina Europe International Business School is the highest ranked emerging market based institution according to the Financial Times. It offers an EMBA program that is blended — delivered partly online and partly in-person in Shanghai. But participants can take modules in 11 cities around the world, offering them a truly global perspective on business.
View School ProfileAlliance Manchester Business School, a UK institution, opened its Middle East Center in 2006. Its part-time, two-year Global MBA is taught in Dubai. Students, mostly executives from across the UAE and Gulf countries, take core courses on campus but study electives online.
View School ProfileThe Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, in Thailand, offers an EMBA that is taught both online and in person. Students are expected to attend classes on campus in Bangkok on a regular basis, but can watch recorded lectures online to balance study with their professional and personal commitments.
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The EGADE MBA program is delivered in a flexible and digital format over an 18-month period. The course is taught part-time, in both Spanish and English. EGADE is based in Mexico and is one of Latin America’s best-known business schools, with an especially good reputation for entrepreneurship.
View School ProfileThe GIBS full-time MBA program is delivered in a hybrid format, via a blend of online and classroom-based teaching methods. The business school is based in Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub. It has been ranked among the world’s best MBA providers by a bevy of rankings agencies such as Quacquarelli Symonds and the Financial Times.
View School ProfileAIM in the Philippines offers an EMBA program with flexible delivery methods. The course runs for 18 months with classes held over the weekends. Applicants can take the classes on campus or online via Zoom. With this high degree of flexibility, the school’s EMBA students come from all over Asia to study at the Asian Institute of Management.
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