Saturday, March 31, 2012

Today's Online Universities and MBAs: From Where Did They Come?

Online universities are indeed among the later developments in educational technology. After all, the Net was not in existence before the 20th century. However, you would be surprised to know that online universities can be traced back to as early as year 1728.

People even centuries in the past were already interested in being educated out of university. This started distance learning, as seen in the first mail-mediating learning program for shorthand writers. He posted the modules regularly to the members of the course.

Perhaps among the more forward-looking institutions back then was the University of London, which was why it was so quick to get on board the distance learning boat: in fact, it was among the formal pioneers of it. And as for the Americans, they started with the University of Chicago getting on board the distance learning wagon. The new formats were embraced too by educators in the land Down Under soon enough.

There were some changes in the way the education was provided to distance learners when people invented things like TV. Soon, more universities got on the bandwagon for this kind of education. Merely a few years past, educators were treated to the creation of an accredited online establishment for learning too.

Meanwhile, the MBA takes its primary root from Dartmouth, which was the establishment that first came out with a true graduate-level school for the degree. Back then, it was referred to by an alternative term, although the program eventually came to take the name we know it by today. Harvard then created the masters in business administration program for several participants.

However, the field of graduate studies experienced some bad publicity in 1959 when programs were criticized for their irrelevance and quality. There were many who argued too that the masters in business was of little usage to practicing businessmen. It was continuously assumed at the time that educators and students of graduate programs were always lacking in quality.

That was why the masters in business administration began to include the core courses of the undergraduate, to some extent, in order to combat the general perception. Specializing in a particular area suddenly became an option. The skill sets of the degree-holders suddenly became formidable.

Unfortunately, the critique did not exactly stop: it simply changed. The lack of experience of students was widely criticized by detractors. Because some courses were taught by purely "theoretical business experts", there was further flak thrown at the programs.

Companies slowed down in their hiring of masters of business administration degree-holders. Colleges saw the need for fresh alterations. The courses of the moment are thus not entirely similar to the ones they had at the outset.

Online MBA programs are continuously adapting to the changing needs of the corporate world. In fact, experts have realized that
online universities and conventional MBA training will need to shift focus to business ethics, morality and leadership. It is crucial to enter a university that actually cares about what the real business world demands of graduates.