The rise of the blended MBA

Blended MBA courses—done partly online and partly on-campus— are the exception today. But they will very likely be the norm tomorrow given that they are cheaper and more time flexible than regular degrees without compromising on the rigour, say experts.

The recent developments have also worked in its favour. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the acceptance and adoption of online learning. But more importantly, India's National Education Policy, launched in July 2020, reinforces the importance of digital learning and application-oriented outcomes. That means blended MBA courses will have the same rigour as those in institutions, including the IIMs. For instance, like IIMA, IIM Raipur too offers a two-year blended MBA programme.

"The formal two-year degree programmes in the blended form are very new to India. In fact, across the globe, the first blended MBA was offered only 17 years ago by IE Business School in Madrid, Europe, followed by UCLA in the US in 2013," says Jaskiran Arora, Dean-School of Management, BML Munjal University.

With no rules defining blended MBAs yet, it boils down to what the institute offers. The reputed ones focus on live sessions—rather than recorded videos for self-learning—allowing students to have discussions, clear doubts and ask the faculty questions. This flipped classroom model is not only flexible and self-paced but also economical.

"Although not a new concept, blended MBAs will only get mainstream," says Arora.

And that's without even considering the cost of these courses. "Blended courses are cost-effective, which makes them a viable option for aspiring students with limited financial resources," says professor Ashutosh Dash, Lead-GP Admissions, Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon. Not only on the course fees, but students also save on relocation costs and other overheads. Depending upon the programme and the university, a blended MBA can cost anywhere between 10-40 per cent less than an on-campus course, according to education experts. The cost-saving factor holds true even for blended courses from foreign universities.

UpGrad, for instance, has tied up with Liverpool Business School in the UK for a blended MBA course that is completely online, except for an (optional) week-long on-campus immersion programme. UpGrad also offers the 'study abroad' model in which students can pursue half of the course from home and the other half on-campus abroad. "This helps learners save up to Rs 50 lakh in tuition fees plus living expenses as compared to the offline model, attain a globally recognised degree at one-tenth of the offline cost, and get global mobility as a bonus," says Ankur Dhawan, President-Study Abroad, upGrad, which became a unicorn this August.

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