Macquarie University launches an entirely online MBA program

Macquarie University has launched a Global MBA offered exclusively on Coursera, the world’s largest online higher education platform.

The Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) Global MBA is a first-of-its-kind online MBA on future-focused capabilities, designed to serve the rapidly growing workforce in an age when AI is expected to automate half of the activities that people are paid to do in the global economy.

Applications open today for the first cohort of admitted Global MBA students who will commence in May 2019.

An MBA that prepares people for the future of work

The Global MBA is an MBA built for professionals who want to future-proof and accelerate their careers from wherever they are located. It also features a ‘stackable’ model that allows students to earn certificates as they go through the program and start learning before even submitting a formal entry application.

The Global MBA is particularly relevant for rising generations that are looking for ways to be empowered in their careers outside of the traditional corporate ladder — a2018 Deloitte study found that 43 per cent of millennials plan to quit their current job within two years and 62 per cent consider gig work as a viable career path. These emerging career trends require more professionals to equip themselves with a broad set of adaptable skills.

The Global MBA curriculum is designed to build six cross-disciplinary capabilities: leading, strategising, analysing, influencing, adapting, and problem-solving.

Stackable certificates and unprecedented flexibility 

Coursera has pioneered the stackable model for online degrees that gives students the choice of taking as much or as little of a degree as they want. All courses in the Global MBA are available on Coursera to enrol in as open courses, not for credit and result in individual certificates. This means that students can choose to take as many open courses as they want and gain certificates along the way. The degree also has an innovative admissions model enabling people with non-traditional backgrounds who do well in the open courses to be admitted into the degree.

"An increasing number of Indian students are deciding to go to Australia to enrol in higher education according to a recent study. We are bringing a degree from Macquarie University online so that Indians without the ability to relocate to Australia will have the chance to earn a high-value credential from this respected institution. We expect that the Global MBA will be attractive to students in India and around the world because of the flexibility of our learning platform combined with Macquarie’s innovative curriculum," said Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera’s CEO.

Once admitted, students can fit the Global MBA around their work and personal lives while still receiving the rigorous learning experience they expect from a top-quality program.

Asynchronous lectures and assignments are combined with high engagement components like regular live video sessions with instructors and collaborative group projects - all done digitally and aided by the most advanced technologies that enable seamless communication with instructors and peers. Students can access all of their course material wherever they are on Coursera’s mobile app, a popular feature used by over 80 per cent of degree students on the platform.

Two open courses in the Global MBA will launch on 24 September: “Know your people” and “Adapt your leadership style.”