Online universities were not introduced until the past decade. After all, the Net was not in existence before the 20th century. The beginnings of this education are rooted in a far older learning format, nevertheless, one more than mere decades back in history.
People even centuries in the past were already interested in being educated out of university. This is referred to collectively as distance learning and was first done by Caleb Phillips when he offered to teach shorthand through the mail. Each lesson was received and carred to pupils through the regular post.
The University of London claims to be the first to incorporate the precursors of online programs into their portfolio in 1858, when they referred to it as the External Programme, which is now known as the University of London International Program. In the United States, the University of Chicago pioneered the concept of correspondence studies in 1892 to promote the education to the public that was implemented by Columbia University. It was not long before Australians started to do the same.
The old lesson-in-the-mail system was overtaken by video education soon after that. Various schools all over the globe started to develop their own program for distance learning from 1970 onwards and are often referred to as open universities. Merely a few years past, educators were treated to the creation of an accredited online establishment for learning too.
And as for the MBA, some claim it really began when Dartmouth put up what would be the first graduate business school in the world. The graduate program was not an MBA then but an MSC, SC standing for Science in Commerce. Then Harvard came to the scene, providing actual masters programs for business administration.
At first, there were some concerns that the programs did not provide truly advanced studies that were useful outside of the academe. The argument included assertions of uselessness in the course. It was continuously assumed at the time that educators and students of graduate programs were always lacking in quality.
Hence, schools began to try to change the image of the program by making it more comprehensive. Moreover, students were allowed to take elective courses specializing in certain aspects like marketing, finance, accounting or economics. The skill sets of the degree-holders suddenly became formidable.
Then, a new negative perception arose: that of the MBA being a largely "test-tube environment" program. Students were said to be focused solely on textbook approaches and lack the appropriate training for the practical approaches of leadership. Moreover, educators were said to lack the qualifications to be effective leaders when most of them didn’t have any professional experience to speak of.
The MBA became less desirable to HR officers. The program needed to be changed yet again. The result is the MBA you see now, which is still being perfected and developed by experts both in and out of the academe.
Online MBA programs are continuously adapting to the changing needs of the corporate world. Ethics seems to be the next topic of interest to contemporary MBA programs, according to regular as well as
online universities. It is crucial to enter a university that actually cares about what the real business world demands of graduates.
