Emory Goizueta To Launch 100% Online Option For Its Part-Time MBA

In February, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School announced it was launching a fully online executive MBA program, becoming what was then the highest-ranked program to move into the online space. The school welcomed its first cohort of 22 students this August.

Now Emory is going all-in for its part-time MBA as well. This month, the school announced the launch of a 100% online version of its Evening MBA program — making it, again, the highest ranked part-time program in the country to launch an online program that requires no in-person residencies. U.S. News & World Report most recently ranked Goizueta’s part-time program No. 11 in the U.S. and No. 1 in Georgia.

“As with other sectors, higher education is undergoing significant change from new technologies and changing expectations of professionals,” says Corey Dortch, associate dean of the Emory Evening MBA program.

“After finding success with an Online Executive MBA and hearing from current and prospective students the interest in more online course offerings, we are thrilled to be able to offer working professionals even more access, flexibility, and convenience with our new part-time online MBA.”

GOIZUETA’S PURSUIT OF FLEXIBILITY

The move is the latest in the business school’s pursuit of flexibility.

Goizueta launched its hybrid executive MBA in 2020 after an 18-month research effort that found that prospective students increasingly are seeking greater flexibility, and the time students could commit to on-campus learning was getting shorter and shorter. It followed that with its fully online executive MBA in 2022. An online part-time MBA was the next logical step.

Evening MBA students already have the option to take their core courses either online or on campus, and they don’t have to commit to one or the other for their entire Goizueta experience. They’ll be given the choice of format delivery on a course-by-course basis.

ROBERTO C. GOIZUETA GLOBAL CLASSROOMS

Like the other formats, the fully online version will take as little as 24 months to as long as six years. Students typically finish in about 32 months.

Online students will take classes through Goizueta’s Global Classrooms, mixing real-time experiences, collaboration in breakout rooms, and at-home coursework. The classroom is designed so that, in some classes, professors will engage with in-person and online students during the same lecture, while having access to virtual tools such as instant polling, whiteboards, chats, and other features to increase engagement.

The three global classrooms opened in May 2021. With multiple camera angles and state-of-the-art audio, faculty and students can see and hear each other through a wall of 20 to 40 high-definition monitors.

IMMEDIATE RETURN ON INVESTMENT

According to the press release, 65% of Class of 2021 Goizueta Evening MBA graduates received a promotion during or after the program, 46% reported a change in job function, and 47% changed companies. Goizueta graduates also report an average 137% increase in salary six to eight years post-MBA.

“The Evening MBA program is a unique opportunity for professionals to very quickly put the concepts and theories learned in the classroom into practice in their professional setting,” says Melissa Rapp, associate dean of graduate admissions.

“Not only does this experience cement what they are learning, but it also adds real-time value to their organizations. As students progress through Goizueta’s Evening MBA program, they can reap the benefits of their expanded knowledge and network and reinforce the tremendous value of their Goizueta MBA.”

ONLINE MBAs GAINING IN POPULARITY

It’s almost old news now that the pandemic hastened the move online for major MBA programs. In the 2020-2021 academic year, more than 45,000 students were enrolled in online options in the U.S., compared to 43,700 in full-time programs, according to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Meanwhile, big brand business schools Berkeley Haas and NYU Stern tiptoed into the online market for the first time this year.

“I think it’s important to recognize even now as we’ve gone through this pandemic, that people are working differently,” Jaclyn Conner, associate dean of Executive MBA programs at Goizueta told Poets&Quants earlier this year.

“And despite our desires to want to go back to normal, I think we all have to accept this is the new reality and people are working differently – which also means there are people who want to learn differently. We need to be able to accommodate that.”

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