The Villanova Business School’s Online MBA

Villanova is located in the suburbs of Philadelphia. While its online MBA student body is scattered around the nation, the school makes an effort to connect its students to networking and job opportunities.

“Many of our enrolled students live relatively close to campus and have many opportunities to interact face-to-face with our other part-time MBA program students,” Whinney says. “Further, students in the Online MBA program interact with our surrounding community through the Social Enterprise Practicum.”

The online MBA curriculum at Villanova’s School of Business is a two-year program grounded in fundamental business principles that aim to develop ethical global business leaders.

There are three main curricular experiences that are characteristic of the online MBA education at Villanova: The Leadership Challenge, the Social Enterprise Consulting Practicum, and the Global Practicum.

“The Villanova School of Business specializes in delivering a high-touch student experience that supports the academic and administrative needs of working professionals,” Jennifer Whinney, Director of Accreditation & Strategic Initiatives at Villanova’s School of Business, says. “OMBA students are taught by full-time professors throughout the majority of their coursework, and they benefit from [these] three unique and highly immersive curricular experiences.”

The Leadership Challenge is an intensive three-day course that focuses on the behavioral dimensions of decision making. The course teaches business students how to create a positive presence, influence others, provide responsible leadership, and develop high-performance teams.

“The Leadership Challenge brings the cohort together physically to kick off the program,”…

Villanova is located in the suburbs of Philadelphia. While its online MBA student body is scattered around the nation, the school makes an effort to connect its students to networking and job opportunities.

“Many of our enrolled students live relatively close to campus and have many opportunities to interact face-to-face with our other part-time MBA program students,” Whinney says. “Further, students in the Online MBA program interact with our surrounding community through the Social Enterprise Practicum.”

The online MBA curriculum at Villanova’s School of Business is a two-year program grounded in fundamental business principles that aim to develop ethical global business leaders.

There are three main curricular experiences that are characteristic of the online MBA education at Villanova: The Leadership Challenge, the Social Enterprise Consulting Practicum, and the Global Practicum.

“The Villanova School of Business specializes in delivering a high-touch student experience that supports the academic and administrative needs of working professionals,” Jennifer Whinney, Director of Accreditation & Strategic Initiatives at Villanova’s School of Business, says. “OMBA students are taught by full-time professors throughout the majority of their coursework, and they benefit from [these] three unique and highly immersive curricular experiences.”

The Leadership Challenge is an intensive three-day course that focuses on the behavioral dimensions of decision making. The course teaches business students how to create a positive presence, influence others, provide responsible leadership, and develop high-performance teams.

“The Leadership Challenge brings the cohort together physically to kick off the program,” Whinney says. “It offers simulation, connection with other students, faculty, the support team and professional staff and a strong and inclusive networking opportunity.” 

The Social Enterprise Consulting Practicum is one example of how Villanova’s online MBA education focuses on developing ethical business leaders. MBAs take part in consulting projects with a nonprofit organization and a multinational organization.

“The Social Enterprise Consulting Practicum is designed to allow MBA students the opportunity to develop their professional skillset with a client firm that is serving the common good,” Whinney says. “The focus is on strategic management and team problem solving underpinned by our Catholic and Augustinian tradition of supporting the advancement of human dignity.”

Through the course, MBAs partner with a multinational corporation and assist in coming up with solutions to a real-world problem the company is facing.

“The course is designed, in part, to provide an academic context for the international immersion which provides an on-site real-world application of the models, frameworks, and theories explored in the classroom,” Whinney says. “This supports our mission of creating global business leaders that understand and appreciate the challenges of doing business in emerging economies while also understanding the benefits to firms, governments and society of ethical, productive, value-creating actions.”

Associate Dean of Graduate Business Programs, Manny Nuñez