Why Are Online MBAs Perfect For African Working Professionals?

Don’t want to slow down your career and life to earn an MBA? You don’t have to.

Thanks to the rise of online higher education options, more students than ever before are taking advantage of more flexible, and affordable opportunities to earn high-quality MBAs.

What’s changed in the past decade? Top-ranking schools have entered the online MBA market, lending credibility to the specific degree, and causing a spike in applications worldwide.

According to an article in The Economist, the online option attracts students in remote locations, who may not have the opportunity to attend a full-time local programme.

Why is the online option perfect for African working professionals? It is flexible, affordable, can lead to a prestigious degree, and can offer students the desired international experience.

Let’s take a closer look at why online MBAs offer African working professionals all they want and more:

1. They offer flexibility

Getting your MBA online means that you can keep working and earning throughout your studies. Additionally, you don’t have to spend large sums of money to relocate or commute to university.

You can study at your own free time and pace, utilizing the latest technology: online message boards, videotaped lectures, podcasts, e-libraries, e-mail communication and video-conferencing. Practicing these tech skills will prepare you for the competitive business world in both the local and the global markets.

Take it from someone who knows. Janell Komodromou is the academic mentor and supervisor for all UNICAF tutors, and an online Doctorate graduate herself. Originally from the US and now living in Cyprus, she is well aware of all the benefits offered by a flexible, online study programme.

She says, “The partner universities’ MBA degree programmes, delivered online through UNICAF, are designed to be taken one module at a time. This allows the student to focus and allocate their time to studying a single topic. There is flexibility, of course, allowing a student who has a big project coming up at work to delay registering for the next new module for a few weeks, until they have the necessary time available to continue with their studies. By taking advantage of these features our students should be able to perform well in the modules and the overall programme they are taking and, more importantly, gain in-depth knowledge of the topics covered in each module.”

It's not just the flexilibility of the modules themselves, but also the pacing.

She adds, “UNICAF’s partner universities, the University of South Wales in the UK and multi-campus Unicaf University in Africa, offer MBA students the added flexibility of sequential modules. This allows students to gain credits as they proceed, and also to take breaks as needed, in between modules. Our students can complete their chosen study programme at their own pace, provided they remain within the regulatory time limit.”

2. The scholarship opportunities make both of these MBA programmes affordable

UNICAF is well-known for its generous scholarship programme.

Komodromou says, “The online MBAs offered through UNICAF have the added advantage of generous UNICAF scholarships, which make them even more affordable for students in the developing world, especially in Africa.”

3. You can study for a prestigious MBA degree online and graduate on campus

African professionals can attend a prestigious university in the UK, without having to leave their home and country. The University of South Wales offers an online MBA through UNICAF.

Komodromou says, “The University of South Wales MBA Programme is offered wholly online. By successfully completing this programme, students are awarded a degree from an accredited UK university, one of the largest in the country. The degrees our students receive are exactly the same as those received by on-campus students and UNICAF graduates can even attend the graduation ceremony in the USW campus in Wales.”

4. You gain international experience

Yes, even in an online MBA programme. Especially in an online MBA programme. How?

The University of South Wales MBA programme through UNICAF enables students to work with fellow students from around the world. They gain from each other’s different perspective, culture and workplace etiquette. They can also build friendships and international networks, which may come in very useful at some point in their careers.

Komodromou says, “I have had the opportunity to teach for all of our partner universities. One constant feature is that we have students on the MBA programmes who reside in many different countries around the world. This leads to an interesting sharing of ideas and experiences from different cultures about the way they do business.”

What’s critical to business success in the 21st century? The ability to collaborate globally, and to do business from just about anywhere in the world.

Learn more about the MBA opportunities through UNICAF.