Imperial College Business School, which is part of a global top-ten university, is launching a new part-time, online MBA program that will allow students to gain core business knowledge without having to be physically present in the classroom for the majority of the program.

“Online education has really taken off all over the world, especially in business education. Our Global MBA takes advantage of significant developments in technology and how people learn in the modern world. It will allow students all over the globe to gain a world-class MBA,” says Professor G. ‘Anand’ Anandalingam, Dean of Imperial College Business School, in London.

Using the 'Hub', an online learning platform which the school has painstakingly built, students will be able to track their progress with their studies in real-time and benchmark their work against other classmates. They will be encouraged to collaborate on projects and assignments. Live online lectures are held at multiple time zones so you can choose a time that is convenient for you.

Interestingly, the two year program will combine a mix of online and face-to-face learning. Students will spend three weeks on-campus getting to know their fellow students and faculty: an induction week at the start of the MBA and two weeks at the start of year 2 for the Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Design course. Students can also opt to attend electives on campus to be more integrated with the school. There are opportunities to network with alumni and corporate partners through interactive forums and social media platforms.

Imperial Global MBA programme overview

Applications for the course are now being accepted with the first classes taking place in January 2015.

“It is only over the past two years that Stanford, Harvard and MIT are thinking “maybe we should do more online teaching”. So some of the top business schools are scrambling around deciding what to do, really just dipping their toe in the water. We have decided to go all in. It is a risk. But if we do it really well we will be the gold standard for the top universities,” Anandalingamsaid in an interview with the “Economist.”
 

Uttara Choudhury is Editor, North America for TV 18’s Firstpost news site and a writer for Forbes India. In 1997, she went on the British Chevening Scholarship to study Journalism at the University of Westminster, in London.

Tags: Global MBA, Applications, Imperial College, Business School, Hub, Online program, London, UK