Lorsque Adrian Andrisca a entendu parler pour la premi\u00e8re fois du Smartly MBA, il a pens\u00e9 que ce serait \u00ab une petite chose amusante \u00e0 faire \u00bb. Il a suivi le programme en ligne de 10 mois tout en travaillant \u00e0 temps plein dans une banque. Cela ne lui a pas co\u00fbt\u00e9 un centime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
En effet, Smartly \u2013 une division de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de technologie \u00e9ducative Pedago LLC, bas\u00e9e \u00e0 Washington \u2013 ne facture pas de frais de scolarit\u00e9 pour son programme de MBA de base. Au lieu de cela, il est subventionn\u00e9 par des entreprises qui embauchent des dipl\u00f4m\u00e9s via le r\u00e9seau de carri\u00e8re de Smartly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Je pense que [le MBA a \u00e9t\u00e9] enrichissant d’un point de vue personnel”, dit-il. “Maintenant, disons, du point de vue de la carri\u00e8re ? C’est un peu plus nuanc\u00e9.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M. Andrisca, un analyste d’affaires qui vit \u00e0 Longueuil, au Qu\u00e9bec, affirme que cela est d\u00fb au fait que les MBA de Smartly ne sont pas accr\u00e9dit\u00e9s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means the program is of more limited use than a regular MBA, disqualifying it, for example, from academia or some major companies. While Smartly is under consideration by the U.S.-based Distance Education Accrediting Commission, that doesn\u2019t mean it will be recognized like a bricks-and-mortar degree in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s good reason for wanting an MBA. A 2018 Statistics Canada study, based on results from the 2016 census, found that those with a master\u2019s degree in business and related studies earned about 28 per cent more than those with just a bachelor\u2019s degree in the same field did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also the most popular degree among Canadian master’s degree holders. But MBAs don’t come cheap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A separate Statscan report says that on average, tuition for an executive MBA was $56,328, while a regular MBA was $27,397 in the 2019-20 academic year \u2013 that\u2019s before other considerations such as the cost of leaving the work force to study. The result is that some potential students have turned online to advance their career and bypass debt load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some students create an ersatz \u201cMBA\u201d using massive open online courses \u2013 MOOCs \u2013 from elite universities, which are open access and designed for unlimited amounts of students. Meanwhile, at University of the People, an online-only university that is accredited domestically in the United States, you can take a free, year-long MBA online with a charge for sitting each exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tom Adams, Smartly\u2019s chief executive, says approximately 200 of their alumni and current students are Canadian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He sees the program as being a fit for people moving from specialist workplace functions such as a programmer to managerial roles that require generalist business knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They manage functions they haven’t managed before, and the higher they go, the more the stuff they’re managing looks like the curriculum of the MBA,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Adams adds that an important feature of Smartly\u2019s MBA programs \u2013 Smartly also runs a 12-month executive MBA at a cost of US$9,600 \u2013 is the global alumni network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There’s value in having peers in Singapore that you can sort of reach out to if you’re trying to build your business in Asia,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brian Golden, vice-dean of MBA programs at the University of Toronto\u2019s Rotman School of Management, sees room in the market for programs such as Smartly, but stops short of calling them MBAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is some exposure to business concepts, it\u2019s modest in commitment, modest in investment and, frankly, modest in outcomes,\u201d he says. \u201cBut, if it\u2019s done effectively, it can add something to someone\u2019s tool kit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One issue Mr. Golden has is the amount of time students are expected to spend on their studies \u2013 according to a Smartly representative, students say they generally spend about three to five hours a week on the MBA programs. Its 2019-20 report states the program\u2019s unique nature doesn\u2019t \u201cdirectly correlate with traditional calculations for credit hours per course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Golden says this is just “touching the edge” of what is learned in an MBA from a traditional business school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Olivia Hoskin, a Toronto-based communications and marketing freelancer, agrees. She had a bachelor of commerce degree prior to the program, and describes the Smartly MBA as “probably a bit on the light side.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wasn\u2019t considering a traditional MBA, but found the Smartly course interesting because it was free and, if it became accredited, she had it in her back pocket. Mr. Adams hopes that accreditation will happen next year, along with a rebranding that will further broaden the program\u2019s appeal and reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms. Hoskin says the program gave her deeper exposure to accounting and finance, which makes a difference in how she runs her business, but not in the types of contracts she gets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re just kind of looking for the letters MBA, you can put those on your LinkedIn, which is essentially what I did,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I\u2019m not expecting it to get me high-class consulting gigs or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lorsque Adrian Andrisca a entendu parler pour la premi\u00e8re fois du Smartly MBA, il a pens\u00e9 que ce serait \u00ab une petite chose amusante \u00e0 faire \u00bb. Il a suivi le programme en ligne de 10 mois tout en travaillant \u00e0 temps plein dans une banque. Cela ne lui a pas co\u00fbt\u00e9 un centime. En<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n