The Rise of the Flexible and Customizable MBA

Sponsored by Deakin Business School

The MBA still remains the most popular choice when it comes to graduate management education according to GMAC’s latest Demand for MBA and Business Master’s Programs: Insights on Candidate Decision Making Summary Report.

However, those who do decide to pursue a professional MBA are now beginning to place greater importance on specific program aspects, such as program length and format, which is something the current MBA needs to tend to urgently – and not in the sense of distance learning or online programs either.

Whether it’s to help boost career prospects, offer a change of career direction, or simply to better their knowledge of the subject, individuals are no longer willing to hit the pause button on their lives in order to focus solely on their academic pursuits.

Juggling a family, career, or both whilst studying is becoming the norm, so it’s critical that business schools and universities are aware of this in order to adapt to these changing trends.

Although there’s no one straight path to study an MBA, nor is there a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to studying an MBA, the introduction of more flexible and customizable MBAs such as the one offered at Deakin Business School in Melbourne, Australia, offers an intriguing insight into the future of flexible learning.

“As a full-time employee I found that the technology used and the flexibility of the course helped me in completing my MBA within a year and half,” said Harsha Maligaspe, who returned to Deakin Business School to study his MBA in 2014.

With alternative teaching methods and learning tools such as masterclasses and Cloud Deakin, the school’s refreshing approach to the traditional Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is a benchmark for today’s study, work, live culture.

“Most of our students are working professionals […] so working while they’re studying, they’re balancing a lot – families, jobs, travelling.And so this shorter, stackable, punchier, approach to their learning provides them with the way to manage those pressures, but it also gives them the bursts they want when they need it, and when they want it,” said Colin Higgins, Director of the MBA at Deakin Business School.

“The student learning management system that we call ‘Cloud Deakin’ provides a lot of opportunities for student interaction. They’re interacting with each other and they’re interacting with us on a 24/7 environment. The materials we’ve developed now are a lot more digitally rich and there’s a lot more social learning that takes place on our learning platform,” he added.