Editorial
distance learning
Distance learning:
a suitable way to gain an MBA?
By Richard Wheatcroft, Open University, UK
T
he MBA degree has been with us for a In the same way that a
little over a century, but for more than two degree course in geology or
thirds of that time it was only available by art history must include an
studying for two years full time. While this was element of field work for
suitable for people in their early or mid-twenties validity whether it be taught
with relatively few responsibilities – such as face-to-face or by distance
mortgages or children to support – it meant that learning, so too must a
many managers were, effectively, prevented from management qualification
achieving an MBA. From about the late ‘70s we be based in practical
saw the rise of part time MBA programs. This experience – and to a greater
enabled many people, unable to cope with the cost extent than for the more
of 18-24 months without a salary, to take up the abstruse, academic
challenge of MBA study. disciplines. The field for an
But while part time study is a useful solution, MBA student is the business
it still requires a person to have a good quality organization, and so is it not appropriate that Knowledge and capability
business school nearby and that he or she can students should spend the majority of their time Working towards an MBA through distance
commit to regular attendance over an extended out practising what is being learnt rather than learning also involves the student being a worker
period. The latter often proves difficult for many just theorising about it in a classroom? in an organization, and so he or she is able to see
managers whose work involves travel and/or an This is by no means an original idea or one the use and validity, or otherwise, of their course’s
unpredictable schedule, and the former is more a propounded by an employee of a distance learning ideas in the only setting that really matters: the
matter of fortune than personal planning. So, university – “talking one’s own book” as it is put in workplace. In Handy’s terms, by the time they
towards the end of the 1980s, distance learning financial trading jargon. Charles Handy, a highly graduate, a distance learning MBA has
began to be introduced as a viable way for respected thinker about business, commented demonstrated knowledge and capability.
managers and professionals to gain the premier about this crucial link – more, this intertwining – It should be remembered that this is not a
business qualification: an MBA. for management education between theory and new concept. The original meaning of a masters
practice in Business Week (http://www. qualification was that a member of a trade guild
No easy path businessweek.com/bschools/content/jan2008/ had proven mastery of their craft and could now
That distance learning (done properly) was a bs20080125_786369.htm). go and practice. How did they demonstrate
suitable mode for higher m a s t e r y ? B y
education had been p r o d u c i n g a n
proven in the 1970s by
“So, towards the end of the 1980s, distance
example – literally,
institutions in a number of the ‘masterpiece’ –
countries, for example the
learning began to be introduced as a viable way for
that proved
Open University in the knowledge and
UK or UNISA in South
managers and professionals to gain the premier
capability. For an
Africa. Successful students MBA student
from distance learning
business qualification: an MBA.”
approaching
universities around the graduation the best
world demonstrated that example is
they could gain an d e m o n s t r a b l y
education in subjects from archaeology to As he says: “You can bring the world into the improved management capability, and that
astrophysics as good as anything available from a classroom but you cannot replicate it there. The requires one to be an active practitioner of the
‘traditional’ institution. An easy path to a degree? new MBA graduate should carry a white flag as she ‘craft’ in the workplace. It was for the medieval
No. A valid one? Most definitely. And in some or he goes to work for the first time— ‘I know how guilds and is still for managers an intensely
subjects perhaps even a better method than to count,’ it would say. ‘Now teach me how to functional fusion of theory and practice.
spending two years in a ‘face-to-face’ university; do.’” However, this optimum blend of conceptual
business or management studies falls into this learning and practical application is not easy to
‘potentially better’ group. achieve. Distance learning can provide an excellent
82 TopMBA CAreer Guide www.topmba.com
MBA_FALL_08_pp_066-287.indd 82 14/8/08 17:37:50
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