Online master’s of business administration programs are
enabling graduate students to earn an advanced degree while sitting
in an office cubicle or in front of their home computers.
Cardean University, which exists only in cyberspace, is offering
a masters degree derived from the teaching of some of the
nation’s most prestigious schools.
The school transcends the confines of physical space and offers
an MBA program to a diverse group, including full-time business
people, members of the rural United States and overseas
students.
Using the Internet to facilitate its classes allows Cardean to
reach students who could not otherwise attend a prestigious
university, said Edwin Eisendrath, vice president for
administration and operations of Cardean’s parent company
Unext Inc.
“We have found a way to teach all interested people
learning that was previously only available at the most prestigious
universities,” Eisendrath said.
Cardean is not concerned whether students work full time or live
outside the United States; it only cares that its students are
motivated, Eisendrath said.
If graduate students wish to obtain an MBA from UCLA, they will
still have to do it the old-fashioned way ““ by physically
attending The Anderson School at UCLA.
“Our commitment is for having an on-campus facilitated
environment,” said Victor Tabbush, director of admissions and
student affairs for the Fully Employed MBA Program at The Anderson
School.
Tabbush said Cardean was a good option for some students,
specifically those students who do not have the capacity to attend
classes on campus. “You may have a great job in North Dakota,
but it is not realistic for you to attend a distinguished
university,” Tabbush said.
Cardean University, which was founded in 2000, is the product of
the Columbia Business School, Stanford University, the University
of Chicago School of Business, Carnegie Mellon and the London
School of Economics.
According to the university’s Web site, the relationship
between these schools has created a “world-online MBA, second
to none.”
The same year the school was conceived, it received degree
granting authorization in its home state of Illinois. The school is
now widely accredited by the corporate world, Eisendrath said.
“One of our biggest companies is General Motors ““ we
are the MBA of choice for their employees,” Eisendrath
said.
Online programs, many of which were founded during the
technology boom of the late 1990s, have not always been profitable
for students or the groups that set them up.
Pensare and Quisic, online masters programs using Duke and
Dartmouth business courses respectively, were both terminated
because of insufficient profits.
Eisendrath said that unlike the programs facilitated by schools
that also have to worry about in-class teaching, Cardean remains
successful because it only has to focus on the needs of its online
students.
“We aren’t encumbered with anything else; we focus
on making the greatest courses online,” Eisendrath said.
The Cardean University masters program is estimated to cost
$24,575, according to the school Web site.