Fully online graduate education programs have surged in popularity as the profile of the average higher education consumer has changed: a large part of the world’s student body is no longer made up your average 25 year-old full-time student living at home, but many are mid-career employees with professional and private commitments that limit their access to traditional campus-based programs. The following points illustrate the advantages online education can bring to this demographic.
1. Stay in job
Studying an MBA online allows students to schedule their academic responsibilities to accommodate their work load, which gives them the opportunity to maintain their position while enrolling in a fully accredited graduate program. This not only ensures financial stability, but also gives participants the freedom to follow courses from wherever their employers might require them to travel.
2. Flexibility
A module-based online MBA requires participants to balance their courses with their work load which in the hospitality industry often means long and irregular hours. It can be challenging to reconcile the two, but the full flexibility of an online course is a lot easier to accommodate than a typical campus-based program.
3. Advance career
Many online students are seasoned hospitality professionals who either already hold a leading position and wish to complete the degree they never had the chance to take, or they are middle management employees who lack the academic background to further advance their careers. For both, an online MBA can prove a rewarding experience.
4. Range of diplomas
Apart from the full online MBA degree, Glion offers a MBA for Executives with campus based learning periods, and shorter Executive Certificates that consist of four course modules tailored to specific area of interest such as Finance, Marketing or Leadership. After completing a certificate program, students have the opportunity to transfer their credits towards the pursuit of a full online MBA.
5. Tailored curriculum
The curriculum and course content of Glion’s online MBA is identical to the campus-based MBA program, devised in collaboration with hospitality experts and tailored to address the latest developments and trends of the industry and are delivered by a faculty made up of international experts in the area.
6. Networking
Since the latest technological advances allow for numerous modes of interaction between faculty and course participants, students have the opportunity to exchange with a number of peers from around the world holding advanced positions within the industry and in this way build a strong network and establish lifelong friendships by the time they graduate.
7. Cost efficiency
As there are now additional costs for travel, housing and facilities and other expenses are divided by a large student body, tuition for online MBA programs are usually less than half of the campus-based program. Upon completion, both online and campus-based students are awarded the same diploma.
8. Direct applicability
Since online students remain in the workforce, they have the unique opportunity to directly implement the lessons learnt during their courses and provide real-world examples to class discussions and group work, which in turn contributes to the course’s content and interaction.
Fabrice Blondeau, Vice President Global, Food & Beverage Luxury and Upscale Brands – Accor HotelServices, Singapore.
“After 20 years of professional experience, it became important for me to be just a specialist in my career but to have a new, improved approach to my work. I was also interested in studying new topics and integrating them into my work, such as e-marketing and the impact of technology on guest experiences. The Glion Online MBA program is very flexible. You can arrange your studies according the time spent working for your hotel or your company. The online system allows students to log in from any computer around the globe. Although my fellow classmates and I were concerned about the potential lack of human contact within the program, we had strong interaction between us right from the first week.”
Source: Glion Institute of Higher Education
