Australia’s top-ranked Executive MBA provider QUT is the latest business school to take their MBA online with the launch of a new QUT Digital MBA, designed specifically for students to develop the skills to lead organisations in the digital age.
The course comprises 12 separate 10-week units which can be completed in as little as two years. It is delivered entirely online and facilitated by a teaching team of academic experts, business coaches and personal engagement coaches.
The QUT Digital MBA will be offered in addition to QUT’s existing triple-accredited traditional on-campus MBA and the Executive MBA (EMBA), which was named last year by Australian Financial Review’s BOSS magazine as the number one EMBA in the country.
QUT Graduate School of Business Executive Director Bob O’Connor said the new Digital MBA was specifically designed to develop leadership capability in the new digital context and provide students with the capacity to take advantage of digital disruption and transformation.
“We wanted to develop a program that encourages students to challenge conventions and go beyond established approaches to industry practice, and equip them to lead and manage decisively in the digital age,” he said.
“It made sense that a course focussing on digital leadership was offered entirely in the digital space so we have spent a considerable amount of time developing and refining a delivery method that is as cutting edge as the content.”
Each 10-week long unit will begin with an optional two-day weekend intensive workshop hosted at QUT’s Brisbane based Executive Education Centre in the Brisbane CBD.
Students unable to attend the workshop will be able to participate virtually in the various events designed to introduce the teaching team to your cohort, to introduce the phenomenon under investigation and to begin exploring the basic discipline concepts relevant to the unit.
QUT MBA Director Associate Professor Glen Murphy said the delivery of the new course had been explicitly designed to overcome the isolation and reduced engagement often experienced by students completing online degrees.
“The course adopts a hybridised engagement strategy utilising both synchronous and asynchronous on-line instructional methods with optional face-to-face ‘calibration’ sessions,” Associate Professor Murphy said.
“These calibration sessions are run at the start of every ten-week teaching period to expose students to the core material of the theme, begin to explore the phenomenon under examination and establish and reinforce cohort and QUT staff connections.”
He said the online learning in each unit would comprise both live instruction with QUT academic experts via webinar and scaffolded, self-directed components utilising resources such as high quality pre-recorded and collated video and other multimedia content, as well as academic readings with reflective questions and online discussions, quizzes, and interactive exercises.
“The learning is supported through the use of synchronous virtual classrooms using the Zoom video conference technology, where participants engage in scheduled active discussions regularly,” he said.
The first intake for the new course will be in February 2019 and will the full course will cost $59,850 with a limited number of sponsorships available for candidates meeting requirements.
Prospective students are encouraged to contact Tim Burton on + 61 7 3138 7731 or tim.burton@qut.edu.au
