Small business owners are some of the most time-poor people on the planet and the thought of taking on yet another responsibility might not be on the top of your list. But we found a wealth of providers with some very flexible options to further your business education.
The Open University is the obvious choice for most people wanting to study part-time, but nearly every bricks and mortar university in Australia also offers some kind of part-time, online and distance learning business course options. In fact, it’s the fact that these business degrees are usually pursued by people who are already successfully working in their own businesses, that they’re offered to study on much more flexible terms.
Canberra University, for example, offers all its business degrees part-time. Most feature online components (such as lecture notes and online discussions) and many have units available after hours. Both its MBA and its Master of International Business are available on Saturdays to make life easier for people who work full-time. And its Master of Marketing Communication is available online and has after-hours, face-to-face classes.
The most common higher education degree pursued by small business owners is probably the Masters of Business Administration (the MBA). From next year, The University of Sydney will offer a world-class Global Executive MBA program, for the first time providing senior executives with the skills to survive and provide leadership to a world coping with the global financial crisis. The innovative program has been developed over the past three years, in close partnership with Australian business leaders.
Program Director and Associate Dean (Executive Education), Professor Chris Styles, says an exciting and distinctive aspect of the Global Executive MBA is the way the course has been developed: “Creating the program in consultation with the business community and fully testing and assessing each module, has resulted in a degree tailor-made for what business wants.”
The Global Executive MBA sets itself apart by focusing on leadership and offers a hands-on approach to real-life experiences spanning four continents. Participants will explore new opportunities in Bangalore, India; issues relating to growth in Silicon Valley; and tackle organisational renewal in France’s tradition-bound wine industry. At each location they are tasked with coordinating a real-life local business project which provides an opportunity to explore a strategic theme. Meanwhile, participants strengthen their expertise by attending related seminars taught by members of the Faculty and highly-regarded local experts.
The course also involves participants being exposed to a number of different perspectives from thought leaders across the university and beyond. Significantly, participants are given the opportunity to discover creativity and teamwork in leadership through improvising jazz at The University’s Conservatorium of Music; create narratives from the Sydney College of the Arts; construct compelling and rigorous arguments through the Department of Philosophy; learn how to apply politics from the Faculty’s own Professor Geoff Gallop (former Premier of WA and Rhode’s Scholar); and investigate how the military approaches management.
Rather than teaching material in traditional functional silos, the course is structured around more holistic, strategic themes similar to those faced by CEOs in the real-life context of business. Taught in five, two-week intensive modules held every three-to-four months over an 18-month period, the program allows busy senior executives to complete their degree in tandem with work commitments. Another significant advantage is that it provides participants the opportunity to immediately apply what they learn to their workplace by undertaking a high-level strategic project that the participant develops in collaboration with their employer and the MBA program director.
Major companies, senior executives and leading management educators globally have given the program an extremely enthusiastic response. “Everyone involved with the program is very passionate about this course. The feedback we’ve had is that it has the potential to make a real difference to the participants and their affiliated organisations,” says Prof Styles. He adds: “The search is now on for the first 15-to-20 executives to take part in the program. We are looking for organisations to nominate future leaders to attend the course and for individuals to identify themselves as wanting to be part of the first group to experience this exciting new era in management education.”
Open Universities Australia (OUA) is owned by seven leading universities and is the country’s fastest growing online higher education service. More than 110,000 people have studied through OUA since it began in 1993. With over 900 units and 60 qualifications from 15 of Australia’s best universities and TAFE colleges, it has something for everyone. You can graduate with a degree from an Australian university, as if you had studied on-campus.
OUA offers a wealth of business courses, with its slogan: “You don’t have to go to uni to go to uni”. In business subjects alone, you can choose from six undergraduate, 10 postgraduate and two vocational courses. Its MBA Executive Program is offered in conjunction with RMIT but most of its units are offered online.
The Australian Institute of Management (AIM) also offers hundreds of business and management course, 33 of which are nationally accredited. And there’s a whole host of online-only training providers, including Accredited Online Training (www.aot.edu.au), Seek Learning (www.seeklearning.com.au) and Distance Learning Australia (www.distancelearning.com.au).
The Open Universities Australia (RMIT) MBA Executive Program
Build your career with an MBA that focuses on solving real-world problems. RMIT MBA alumni are leaders in large corporations, entrepreneurial enterprises, Government and the not-for-profit sector. RMIT’s MBA offers you the opportunity to complement your on-the-job experience with integrated and practical learning. It has been specially designed to provide you with flexibility, convenience and choice.
This program offers you the chance to build your knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of today’s fast-paced and increasingly complex global business environment. It fosters leadership and strategic thinking and has a strong emphasis on corporate responsibility, governance and successful leadership.
RMIT University’s Graduate School of Business is represented on campuses in Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Melbourne, with program relationships in China, India and France. It is possible to study the MBA (Executive) program fully ‘face-to-face’ where offered, or through a combination of face-to-face and online. This is a great advantage for students who may be relocated in their jobs or for those who want greater flexibility in their lifestyle. Most units in the RMIT OUA MBA (Executive) are delivered online.
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