5 Reasons Why BU’s $24K MBA Is A Big Deal, from Inside Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed recently published a thoughtful analysis of Questrom’s new Online MBA. Questrom is proud to be a driving force of positive change in higher education and the MBA marketplace.

Excerpt from 5 Reasons Why BU’s $24K MBA Is A Big Deal, from Inside Higher Ed, by Joshua Kim:

The newly announced $24K BU MBA, created in partnership with edX, is a big deal.

Here are 5 reasons why:

#1: The Evolving Connection Between Status and Price:

The Boston University Questrom School of Business is ranked in the top 50 global business schools by US News, in the top 70 by the Economist. Questrom is a brand name business school in a market where the value of the MBA is directly proportional to the status of the institution.

Today, status and price are tightly correlated in the postsecondary market. This is especially true in professional education. Student prices are not set at costs, but at perceived value. BU should be given credit for challenging this status quo. I suspect that the Questrom $24K MBA will end up improving BU’s place in the global MBA rankings.

By offering a high-priced and small-scale residential MBA alongside an unbundled online MBA, BU is experimenting with brand segmentation. The bundled residential MBA retains the high-priced services, such as intensive advising and career placement – along with experiential learning opportunities, that differentiate for quality. The unbundled online MBA focuses on skills, competencies, and credentialing. They are related but different offerings.

#2: A Catalyst for Quality:

The best thing that could happen for the quality of the bundled residential Questrom MBA is the development of the unbundled online edX MBA. Why? This $24K online degree will push the $56K degree ($76,000 with room and board) to improve.

Questrom’s dean Susan Fournier (who I think is visionary), is quoted in the IHE piece as saying that “It’s our responsibility to make that value proposition obvious.”

Expensive education, whether it be residential or online, can no longer be only about content, skills, competencies, and credentialing. If a school is going to charge a high price for a degree, then that degree needs to be worth the price. The push from programs such as this new $24K online MBA will do wonders to drive improvements in program quality.

I suspect that the passive model of lecture-based teaching and learning will be quickly and universally replaced by a set of more active and experiential learning strategies.

Schools that offer traditional (high-priced) residential and online programs will need to significantly invest in instructional designers and other learning professionals. These non-faculty educators will form deep partnership with faculty around course and program design.

What is different now is that it will not only be enthusiasm for learning science that will drive schools (and MBA programs) to improve their programs. It will be the market.

#3: The Value of a Clean Sheet Curriculum:

Check out the curriculum for the online MBA:
MODULE 1: CREATING SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES IN THE DIGITAL AGE (9 credits)
MODULE 2: DATA DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING (9 credits)
MODULE 3: LEADING WITH INTEGRITY (9 credits)
MODULE 4: LEVERAGING GLOBAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES (9 credits)
MODULE 5: DEVELOPING THE INNOVATIVE MINDSET (9 credits)

I don’t know about you, but to my eyes, this seems like a terrific curriculum.

What Questrom was able to do was approach this curriculum with a clean sheet. They seem to have thought deeply about what would be the MBA curriculum that global learners will need in the 21st century. They also seem to be designing a curriculum that can work well through the medium of online learning.

To read the full article, visit Inside Higher Ed.

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The newly announced $24K BU MBA, created in partnership with edX, is a big deal.

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