You shop online, you pay your bills online, and you can even find the love of your life online. So why not study online? Online MBA programmes are freely available at business schools around the world, and there are numerous advantages to doing one. Here are the top 5 reasons you should consider doing an Online MBA.

1. Flexibility, accessibility, availability

“Number one reason students say they choose to go for an Online MBA is the flexibility and accessibility” says Sheri McKillop from Sandermoen School of Business in Canada. 

Flexibility is “the new black” in the world of education, and especially in that of MBA. More and more, MBA candidates find themselves strapped for time and money, realising the benefits of MBA education, but ultimately finding it impossible to find the necessary resources to complete it. The option to stay in the workforce, as well as being able to choose when and what to study during off-time, is enticing an increasing amount of business students into following the Online MBA format.

Work-wise, an Online MBA also allows students to apply their knowledge at the workplace immediately after gaining it in the digital classroom. You can literally take a class in operations management in the evening, and propose a new supply chain strategy on the next morning

In terms of accessibility and availability, it is enough to say “online” out loud, and the advantages become apparent instantly. There are no visas or travel plans and costs involved in doing something from the comfort of your home. This also means that education can reach a much larger and diverse share of people, who would have otherwise never made it to the classroom.

Speaking about home, the ability to take care of family obligations would further motivate those with a cute little baby on their hands, whose future, by the way, would definitely look brighter with an MBA super-mom or dad.   

Just saying.

2. Academic uniformity

“There is no difference, academically speaking, between a Full-time MBA, Part-time MBA or Online MBA”, says Elsa Perez from EU Business School in Spain. 

It is almost too good to be true, but it is. You can acquire the same level of education and management preparation from an Online MBA programme that you would get from the classic formats.  

That is especially true for schools with good traditions in online education or such that are exclusively digital. Yes, there are business schools that offer nothing but online degrees, meaning they literally exist “only in the cloud”. We’re not going to name them, but a little research will help you figure it out. 

Accountings, Finance, HR, Economics, Marketing, Leadership, Ethics – typical MBA subject matters – are taught exactly as you would expect them to from a teacher in the classroom. In fact, classes could be led by a top lecturer, just not in front of you, but through your headsets.

Talk about being in the loop, right?

3. Robustness

For all of these reasons, there is an increasing amount of people taking Online MBA courses.

This, in turn, raises the legitimacy and robustness of Online MBAs. 

Here is a quick comparison with Full-time MBA programmes: Entry requirements are the same. Curricula are the same. Degrees and accreditation – they are all the same.

True, there are still those who remain sceptical, even if the statistics not only show an improvement across the board, but a genuine trend and an actual niche for such education.

The fact of the matter is that online education has come a long way. Employers have realised the value of online education, and would not question its authenticity, as long as you can back up your diploma with actual skills. 

People in the industry tell us that the US is more open to Online MBA degree-holders, while Europe follows closely. 

You might want to keep that in mind.

Read: MOOC Education: How Does It Compare to an MBA?

4. More likely to receive corporate sponsorship

Companies are more likely to provide sponsorship to promising employees willing to follow an Online MBA programme. 

This is in contrast to any other type of format, besides maybe the Executive MBA, and the reason for that is the flexible study schedule coupled with the work availability of said employee. 

Also, if there are no business schools in your immediate area, which would allow you to follow a Part-time MBA, there is simply no other way for you to be able to combine management-level work with management-level study. And your employer knows this very well. 

So it makes sense for both them, and you, to invest in something extremely flexible but also immediately applicable at the job. Much more than it would for Part-time, let alone Full-time MBA programmes.

5. Networking

It might sound counterintuitive, but the truth of the matter is that networking can and does happen in Online MBA programmes. The only difference is that much like everything else, it happens digitally.

There are some interesting advantages to this, however, such as learning to deal with multidisciplinary teams located in different time zones, collaborative learning, as well as real-time feedback and idea-sharing. There is also this thing called “live class” which brings all students together at the same time, simulating a real class room. 

And going back to our first point, you can also imagine the benefit of bouncing ideas with a genius mathematician from across the Pacific Ocean, who would have otherwise never been present in your classroom because of travel regulations and restrictions. 

We have a feeling that he might have the potential to be the CTO of that app you’ve always wanted to launch, but never had the technical expertise to design. 

So there you have it. Some would argue that Online MBA and online education is the future, but that is of course the subject areas of soothsayers and crystal ball practitioners.

For now, we leave you with the nice thought of completing a highly sought-after education with a couple of thousands clicks on your neatly rested couch laptop. 

Learn more about the Online MBA in the Online MBA Spotlight