Online degrees and careers ..........

Got an interesting question from a friend in Nigeria that got me thinking:

How many of you have an online qualification and how have you found its acceptability when applying for a job? And if you are a recruiter/ hr professional reading this, how do you view online degrees vs classroom degrees? It would be interesting to hear your take on this, so please drop me a line. But for my view, see below! Cheers guys! (p.s. a few references are Nigeria specific)

QUESTION: “From a recruitment angle, what do you feel about online MBA & its acceptance in Nigeria. I have offers for MBA from universities in 3 countries namely PANAMA, LATVIA & NETHERLAND ANTILLES via a professional body I belong to here in Nigeria. Would such MBA be acceptable frm developing countries like such? I have lost some highly qualified jobs due to not having an MBA & my present job makes it impossible for a classroom MBA and feel this is much more convenient, meanwhile UK & US online MBA which are highly rated are not options because of the high fee?”

ANSWER:  Good question! I feel you completely, its one of the reason I upped sticks and moved to the UK to study AND work, which I have been doing and will be concluding my MSc and CIPD this year (I can smell the bubbly as we speak!!!)

Here’s the truth: Point 1 - in terms of content the MBA offered by a lot of these universities (e.g. Open university UK; Robert Gordon University Online MBA – Scotland, Harvard University - via the iTunes site . Access demo here) they are good quality content and because it is just that – content NOT experience – easily delivered. An MBA, when it comes down to recruitment, boils down to the realities of pedigree, brand and ranking. These are the 3 things I consider when I look at a cv that has an MBA on it.

• What is the universities pedigree/ history/ successes? Its academic faculty and links it has to business, government and research organisations build up this pedigree as well.
• What is its brand worth? London school of economics has more clout than Kingston University, regardless of what they say in the brochure! LSE can get you into an FTSE 500 company as an intern and regularly places its students into such companies. Kingston cannot do the same!
• What is its ranking on Financial Times (see latest rankings here)?

Now in Nigeria, we don’t religiously follow the rankings…. But recruiters in employers of choice KNOW the big names (LSE, London Busines School, MIT, Havard, Kellogs) and the popular ones (Cranfield, Bradford, Leeds, Robert Gordon) that tends to ring a bell and they count even at Bachelors level too (e.g. I recruited for a bank that would not accept any graduates outside the big 5 – UI, Unilag, OAU, UNN and ABU). Gone are the days when any old foreign MBA would do. Which leads me to point 2: the same rules apply to the online options.

Again if you are doing this for just knowledge then” affordable but good” will do; if it is to get ahead in career – look for the best.  The best for you would be a University with a good pedigree, brand and ok ranking that offers its MBA as an online option. At the end of the day – You got an MBA, how it is delivered doesn’t impact really. FT ranks online MBAs so have a look at that too.

Having said all this, can I ask MUST you do it abroad? Have you considered Lagos Business School – part time option? LBS have very good pedigree with recruiters there. It is flexible and if you speak with them, they may have a payment plan option. Have you investigated that option? I think it is worth taking a look at. It might not be as cheap as an online degree,  but the returns are quite good.