Today, we are proud to announce an entirely new way to earn a graduate degree in business. The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign College of Business is developing the first open online MBA offered in part through Coursera. This “iMBA” program opens a number of pathways towards gaining a high quality education from a top business school.
Launching for admissions later this year, the iMBA consists of a set of Specializations (series of courses) in different areas of business expertise. Learners can take one course, one Specialization, or go on to take a set of Specializations in order to earn an MBA degree from the University of Illinois. This new model for a graduate degree is extraordinary for the following reasons:
The iMBA curriculum will be freely available for everyone.
additional, high-engagement interactions
incredibly affordable, fully online MBA
The iMBA will be the first graduate program constructed as a set of stand-alone building blocks that can be combined to comprise a full MBA degree.
The iMBA will open doors to learners with non-traditional backgrounds.
People of all backgrounds and life histories deserve a chance to earn the education they need to succeed in their lives. This model is unique in offering enormous flexibility and unprecedented affordability, while maintaining the academic standards and rigor of a top degree program. It’s not unlikely that, over the next five years, we will see many graduate degree programs offered in a similar way, putting learners first. We are excited to pioneer this model with the University of Illinois, and look forward to working with many of the world’s top universities to create new education pathways that serve every kind of learner. Daphne Koller
|