Business School Deans Confirm: COVID-19 Continues to Boost Online MBA Applications

According to Professor Federico Frattini, Dean at MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business, the COVID-19 pandemic forced business schools to rethink the extent of their digitalisation progress.

He said: “The business schools that were best prepared for this shift towards online learning had already demonstrated in the years prior to the pandemic that they understood that online teaching required educational models and approaches that are completely different from traditional methods – and at MIP Politecnico di Milano we were certainly prepared.”

Professor Markus Perkmann, Academic Director of the Global Online MBA at Imperial College Business School, echoes this sentiment.

He said: “We have found that our Global Online MBA programme has been the least affected by the pandemic and we have therefore seen a very significant increase in applications.

“However, online MBAs like our Imperial Global Online MBA had already seen growing interest before the pandemic, and we will continue to see this growth trend after the worst of the pandemic is over. There is a difference in pedagogical design between programmes that have been designed for largely online delivery, and what would otherwise be full-time on-campus programmes that have adapted to remote delivery due to COVID. The Imperial Global Online MBA has been designed to optimise the MBA curriculum for online delivery.”

Another feature of online MBA programmes that all business schools’ representatives consider crucial to a programme’s success is the provision of online opportunities for personal and professional development.

Professor Monica Powell, Senior Associate Dean at Naveen Jindal School of Management, said: “The pandemic gave our programme the opportunity to build on more virtual engagement opportunities. Suddenly, engagement outside the classroom became very important to our students and they were asking for more co-curricular opportunities. We were creative in designing networking events that students would value and participate in.

“We have nuanced the student experience creating a nice blend between the technologies used to deliver the courses and the engagement formats between faculty and students. We have also figured out the formula to engage students in co-curricular opportunities, helping them balance their busy jobs, their personal lives and the MBA at the same time.”

Professor Nick Wailes, Director of the online MBA at AGSM, agrees. He adds that, during the pandemic, the school’s faculty and staff had to make changes to the programme to increase interaction between students.

He said: “We have traditionally delivered our online programme asynchronously, allowing students to study anytime and anywhere. During COVID-19, however, we noticed that students had more control over their schedule and really valued direct interaction, so we added synchronous options as well. They proved to be very popular.

“We [also] have made a very significant investment in career development in this programme. All students have access to on demand and one-to-one career support that is designed to help them clearly identify where they want to go next in their career and the skills and capabilities they need to develop.”

Business school deans unanimously agree that online MBA programmes will continue to see interest grow in the future. However, they also believe schools must continue to invest in their development and offer increasingly hybrid learning methods.

Micheli said: “Certainly, technology is pointing to more education being done online, and the global pandemic may well have accelerated this trend. The flexibility of online helps people continue their education around their increasingly busy lives.

“However, I think increasingly it will be a combination of both online and offline to bring a truly immersive experience to students. Putting lectures on video means more time can be given to discussion and seminars where ideas and theories are analysed more. It also frees up time for more innovative learning such as using drama, acting out case studies, music, theatre, design, and other creative techniques to bring learning to life. This will also improve students’ interpersonal skills and leadership qualities, the soft skills that are needed to motivate and work within a team.”

He added: “This means constant innovation, experimenting and seeing how the blend between the digital and physical worlds affects the learning experience for students.”