New types of MBAs, such as the online MBA, correspondence MBA, remote MBA, or even blended MBA, are emerging every day. In business schools of Europe and North America, however, these are collectively referred to as the “Online MBA,” and it exists as an independent category in the well-known MBA rankings issued by the Financial Times. The advancement of Internet speed has made it possible to engage in interactive real-time communication both at home and with mobile devices, which resulted in an initiative to apply this technology to the MBA education. Now, the term “online/correspondence MBA” has finally begun to be heard in Japan as well.

Every business school understands that this correspondence MBA is a valid alternative in cases where it is difficult to attend a business school due to distance or time restrictions. An MBA, however, is not a place to acquire knowledge in the proper sense; instead of studying and understanding specific content, MBA programs are designed to teach students to learn how to manage a problem faced by the protagonist of a case and think about how they would act in the protagonist’s place. For this reason, while remote education may be acceptable as a “means” of education, business schools that prioritize the quality of their education programs are still wary of the online MBA movement.

Nevertheless, there are over a hundred online MBAs around the world today, and 3.8% of MBA holders acquired their degree online (Source: AMBA Conference 2014), a trend that is expected to continue to increase in the coming years. This trend is so prevalent that the international accreditation bodies such as AACSB, AMBA, and EFMD have noticed it and established dedicated accreditation criteria for business schools that offer online MBA programs, with conditions such as “a minimum of 120 hours of face-to-face classes.” This suggests that there is worldwide skepticism toward a completely online format in terms of quality of education.

In addition, in job interviews, companies naturally check how the applicant acquired their MBA, which demands caution when opting for an exclusively online program. In fact, when interviewing a candidate who obtained a degree overseas, we run a background check to see if it was obtained through an online program.