What is a Modular MBA?

Modular Master of Business Administration (“MBA”) degree programs offer access to the best of all academic worlds. Active ingredients in the modular education formula are relatively lengthy residential study sessions with a sprinkling of online webinars, discussion groups, research assignments, and distance learning formats. This mix yields full-time education packed with all essential elements within a part-time package.

Sporadic concentration is the key to equal quality and comparable chronological quantity with far less intrusion into other essential life activities. It also enhances accessibility for international students and full-time corporate executives. Indeed, most modular MBA attendees are backed by corporate employers and work while completing studies directly related to their job duties. Thus, these innovative instructional models afford win-win solutions for all involved parties.

Part-Time vs. Modular MBA Programs

Modular MBA programs are much like conventional part-time MBA programs in most respects. A “lock-step” curriculum distinguishes modular from other popular graduate business degree programs. Dictionary.com defines “lock step” in an educational sense as “rigid inflexibility.” In Modular MBA terms, it means closely spaced clusters of one to three-week class sessions. Although just one in person meeting is held for entire course duration, its length equates to nearly the same number of clock hours as more leisurely but less concentrated conventional learning schedules. Individual lock-step curricular components are conducted sequentially and include both basic and advanced coursework.

Other major modular MBA program distinctions are distinguished world-renowned guest speakers and international field learning experiences in exotic locales like Asia, South America, and elsewhere in the world. Besides these huge benefits, local field trips to nearby commercial hubs such as the New York Stock Exchange are valuable assets available only via modular MBA program attendance.

How many brand new MBAs can honestly boast tutelage by the world’s brightest business minds? Can you imagine describing during a job interview having actually been where the firm’s products are made and witnessed production firsthand by helping out on factory assembly lines in a foreign land? Irregular intervals of lengthy instruction create these unprecedented unique opportunities that impart competitive edges in today’s tight job and business markets.

A Specific Modular MBA Scenario

One modular MBA program official website lists the following metrics:

– Six full-time, two-week instructional modules during two years. This allows students to miss an aggregate of 13 weeks of job absenteeism throughout the entire duration of studies.
– Core classes during initial four modules, followed by electives during the last two
– 502 clock hours of contact time
– Fewer contact hours compensated for during inter-modular phase via mandatory assignments and readings. Ongoing support is provided between individual modules to facilitate continuity of off-site education content assimilation.

Modular MBAs Make Great Gateways to Graduate Business Education

For modern business executives with busy lifestyles of hectic daily schedules, a Modular MBA offers an ideal solution for finding a happy medium by striking the best balance between multiple demands of family and work without missing a beat.

See also: Top 10 Best Online Masters in Business Administration Degree Programs