News » Article

Hybrids: Mix of online instruction with on-campus stints attracts students

News Barbara Bierach - 07.29.2010

MBA programs which combine online instruction with limited on-campus time are becoming a popular option for students who want to attend brand-name schools without giving up their jobs, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Babson College’s Fast Track MBA for example, a seven-year-old part-time program in Wellesley, Massachusetts that blends a limited amount of on-campus time with a concentrated online component uses the same professors as the full-time program. This so-called hybrid program even includes group project work—a hallmark of many MBA programs—which is done virtually via conference call or Skype.

Schools report that applications in these hybrid programs are up significantly in the past year. Duke University's Cross Continent MBA which is delivered 60 percent online, for example, saw a 50 percent increase in applications over last year for the class beginning in August. Schools embrace the hybrid programs, since they cost students roughly as much as a traditional full-time program but are less expensive to run partly because students in the programs use fewer campus services and resources.

There are, however, notable differences between hybrids and traditional campus MBA programs. For one, hybrid programs often have less stringent admission standards-Babson College doesn't require the GMAT, for example-though there are some exceptions. These programs also tend to cut out elective courses, which can be valuable to career-changers. And students who want to take advantage of the school's offerings find they have less access to faculty or campus resources, such as career services, because they're not regularly on campus.

Since upward of 70 per cent of class time is online for most programs, there is little face time with faculty and fewer opportunities for personal interaction, something many graduates say is the most valuable part of an MBA. Andy Policano, Dean of the University of California at Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business, says that lack of togetherness is one reason more business schools haven't launched hybrids.

Duke and other schools that offer these combo programs, like Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh or Babson insist that despite the differences, the option provides the same training as a typical MBA program. Bill Boulding, deputy dean at Duke, says the school's hybrid program appeals to internationally based professionals who don't want to relocate to rural North Carolina for two years but do want a Duke education.

Nevertheless, Brett Good, district president of Robert Half International, a staffing firm, says many corporate hiring managers still have misgivings about the integrity of programs that rely heavily on web-based technology. However, Mr. Good says that view has softened somewhat as those offering jobs become more comfortable with technology.

John Williams, a 2005 grad of Duke's Cross Continent MBA program, says he was able to command a higher salary and position at a technology-market-research firm after completing the program. "For most employers, they said it was a good school, it sounds like a good program, and that's good enough for them."