New Zealand’s only Online MBA ranked among the world’s best

New Zealand’s only Online MBA ranked among the world’s best

The University of Otago’s Online MBA, the only one in New Zealand, has been ranked fourth best in the world by London-based CEO Magazine.

Other top business schools with online MBAs in the rankings include the IE Business School in Spain in third position and The Open University in the United Kingdom in seventh place.

The magazine ranked the MBA programmes on 11 factors, including quality of staff, international diversity, class size, staff-student ratio, tuition fees, international exposure, professional development and gender parity.

The Otago Business School programme started two years ago. The Director of Executive Programmes, Ian Lafferty, says for a relatively new programme, the ranking is “a significant recognition”.

“I am absolutely delighted that the vast amount of work which the team has put in has paid dividends. The Otago Online MBA represents a major breakthrough in business education in New Zealand.

“This ranking also speaks volumes for the students of our online MBA programme. They are very busy people, but busy people get things done, and in this case that amounts to around 20 hours every week dedicated to their own professional development.”

About 150 students are currently enrolled in the online programme. They have a range of different work experience and come from different professional and cultural backgrounds, with an average of 17 years work experience.

“With the Otago Online MBA, students can study from wherever they are while enjoying the same level of engagement available in traditional classroom-style education. All they need is a good internet connection,” he says.

The Otago Online MBA runs its lectures live over the internet. The course has run for two years in and by the end of this month we will have had 14 lecturers in 10 locations around the world deliver 444 three-hour live lectures to 160 students in 40 locations around the world.

Students study exactly the same curriculum as the on-campus students, submit similar assignments and sit similar examinations. They also go through the same entry requirements and selection process.

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