MBA- Now Faster, Shorter and Cheaper

Do you want to earn a management diploma or degree, but don’t have the time needed for a full time course? Can an online programme help you achieve your targets?

First let’s look at some facts....

The demand for MBA degrees is increasing wildly among students, professionals and employers across the globe. A new survey from the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) reveals that employers plan to recruit more business graduates in 2014. According to the study, around 80 per cent of recruiters plan to hire MBAs, which is a 7 per cent increase from last year.

According to the President and CEO of GMAC, Sangeet Chowfla, the growth in demand is seen across all sectors, industries and countries. He says, “MBAs have always been valued by employers, but this survey shows that as the economy improves, employers see MBAs as a good investment into their future.”

Now that we know about the prospects of studying business, let’s find out what type of MBA programmes will allow you to learn what you want as quickly as possible?

Luckily a number of institutes and B-schools are offering one year business management programmes, both online and on-campus, that will allow you to get the qualification you want within the time you want. Short postgraduate diploma courses are perhaps the perfect option for those who don’t have the time to invest in a full time course. You can complete these courses within a few months and start your career fast.

Why choose short MBA programmes?

Postgraduate Diploma in Management and other short MBA courses help you to gain knowledge about your area of specialisation and enable you to develop specific skills. As the courses focus on the basics of each subject matter, you can develop a comprehensive idea about business management in a short period of time.

On the other hand, full time MBA courses take a lot of time to complete and are much longer than the short courses. Moreover pursuing a traditional MBA degree from a recognised B-school in US or UK will cost you a lot of cash. However, the return on investment is much lower than that of online courses and other shorter programmes. Graduates from US business schools get jobs that offer only minimal increment from their previous careers. According to the latest MBA rankings published by The Economist, graduates from Harvard Business School get only a $10,000 increment in their immediate post-MBA careers.

Are shorter MBA courses financially beneficial?

Currently the demand for shorter management programmes, particularly online Executive MBA programmes, is increasing exponentially worldwide. According to The Economist, recent studies show that shorter and affordable MBA programmes offer you more value for your money. The latest MBA rankings, which are entirely based on return on investment, published by the newspaper supports this claim.

Generally, MBA students are compelled to move out of employment in order to pursue their qualification. Moreover business school students tend to spend more than $100,000 in getting a recognised MBA degree from a reputed institute. Hence it is important that you get proper returns on your business management tuition fees.

Here comes the advantage of cheaper and smaller schools which offer you the best value for your investment. HEC Paris is in top of the new MBA rankings list and is regarded as the most economical business school in the world. Although the institute maintains a lower profile than leading B-schools in the US, it is still a reputed and prestigious institution. Graduates from HEC Paris are able to earn enough money that they can pay off their student debts within just 2 years.

What benefits can you expect from short online MBA programmes?

Shorter and cheaper online MBA degrees and Business diploma programs offer much better returns to students across the globe. However, these online programmes also offer various other benefits for the graduates. After earning an online postgraduate diploma or degree in business, you will get much better job opportunities and make smoother career transition. Moreover you will able to build a rewarding career in your desired industry without having any geographical restrictions.

Online Courses: What is so attractive about them?

Online education is making its presence felt in a big way throughout the world. India is no exception to this worldwide trend. Take the example of Milan Sharma who is a software engineer and works at a travel firm. Though keen to gain new skills in upcoming technologies like big data analytics, his day job prevented him from fulfilling his wish. But that was before he opted for an online course with Edureka. As he says"The beauty of online courses is that it gives you flexibility and easy access to course content.” Lack of qualified teachers, professionals pressed for time and high education fees are all contributing to a rising demand for online learning that is catered to by a number of new startup ventures.

"We have more than 20,000 paid students right from Seoul in South Korea to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh," said Lovleen Bhatia, co-founder of Bangalore-based Edureka. According to his expectation his company will earn a revenue to the tune Rs 30 crore in fiscal 2015.  Edureka started its operations in 2012 and offers courses in areas such as development of mobile applications and big data for professionals at fees ranging from 12,000 to 30,000. Edureka along with other online educators like handa ka funda and Jigsaw Academy put into good use a combination of live interactive sessions, animation to explain a concept in addition to flexible schedules and constant feedback.

The cost of online courses is just another incentive for students to sign up for such courses. "A typical course for CAT preparation offline would cost around Rs 30,000 to Rs 45,000 depending on the city. The costliest course we offer through our online platform is priced at Rs 4,000," said Ravi Handa, founder of handa ka funda.com, which had its inception in January 2013.

"We have seen tremendous response to online education," said Jigsaw Academy co-founder Gaurav Vohra, who started the company to offer courses in analytics.

The expectation of the company is to earn a revenue to the tune of Rs 40 crore in the next two years. According to experts courses have a market with tremendous potential with its reach of students from small town to metropolitan cities.

"Education is a lifelong investment, everyone wants the best in class education," said Pragya Singh, assistant vice president for retail at advisory firm Technopak. The lure of online courses isn’t limited to professionals, even school kids are looking forward to online help. One firm which caters to such students is the Bangalore-based Vedantu.com, founded by five childhood friends Anand Prakash, 33, Pulkit Jain, 30, Saurabh Saxena, 31, Vamsi Krishna, 30, and Ujjawal Misra, 30 . Vedantu is the second educational venture for this team of IITians, who sold traditional physical entrance preparation institute Lakshya to MTEducare in 2012.

"Online tutorial is catching up not only in India but globally, and I see potential for great scale," said angel investor VN Ramaswamy, who invested Rs 2 crore in Vedantu.com last year. Having an annual turnover of Rs.30 lakh, its expectations are to earn Rs 1 crore in fiscal 2015.