MBA (Global Blended) - 2012 entry

Course content

With the Global Blended MBA, wherever you are in the world, you can continue to work while studying. You participate in the online seminars facilitated and summarised by experienced tutors who ensure that you are continually relating theory to practice. In addition, the diversity and experience of your fellow students means that you learn from sharing and debating business practices around the world.

Purpose-written, up-to-date textbooks, together with access to the Virtual Library, open 24/7, provides you with extensive resources - journal articles, business reports and e-books - to support your studies. Intensive face-to-face workshops develop leadership, consultancy and research capabilities and are delivered in Oxford and around the world. The capstone of the MBA is the dissertation or consultancy project, which can be tailored to meet the needs of your employer or to further your career aspirations and interests. As part of your fees, around 280 examination centres in 146 countries worldwide are available.

The Oxford Brookes MBA can significantly improve your employability prospects by providing you with:

• the confidence to operate across all areas of the business
• enhanced capabilities to lead, think and act more strategically
• self-insight into your leadership style and awareness of your strengths and limitations
• the ability to apply knowledge to your own organisation and a wide range of other situations
• an understanding of the challenges in other areas of the organisation
• the knowledge and expertise to meet the challenges of a more senior management role
• the skills to continue developing and learning after completing the MBA
• assistance with launching your career after graduation and membership of an alumni network for life.

The Oxford Brookes MBA can benefit your employer by:

• significantly improving your capabilities across a range of areas, e.g. marketing, strategic thinking, innovation and change, and people management
• improving your powers of analysis with greater ability and flexibility to operate at a more strategic level and contribute beyond your own functional specialism
• providing an opportunity for a cost effective management development programme
• allowing the flexibility to study and participate without regular absence from the workplace
• presenting the opportunity to gain value for your organisation through your dissertation or consultancy project, providing significant research into a relevant business issue.

This may help you to make a case to your employer for support with funding for the MBA programme. Your MBA journey will:

• provide you with a framework for the analysis of organisational activity and the integration and application of learning
• prepare you to take a holistic view of the organisation and its environment
• extend your leadership capabilities
• challenge and develop you by participating in short intensive international events where you are exposed to the issues facing business in different markets
• support you by guidance from experienced tutors and a dedicated administrative team and encourage you to seek a mentor
• develop your ability to work effectively with a diverse group of colleagues from different cultural backgrounds and industry sectors, helping you to improve your employability and develop new skills.

The MBA begins with an induction programme that familiarises you with the online learning environment and Virtual Library, where you meet tutors and fellow students. You will become familiar with the expectations of the programme and of study at masters level, understand the assessment requirements, introduced to case study analysis and to the feedback, resources and support available to you during your MBA. Induction prepares you to make the most of the learning opportunities offered by the MBA.

During the programme you are required to participate in two intensive face-to-face workshops which you must complete before graduation. These are offered at weekends or on a back-to-back basis at changing locations around the world and in Oxford. In addition, there are opportunities to participate in short intensive workshops and events with partner institutions in other countries and on campus in Oxford.

Your MBA gives you the opportunity to develop an area of interest by combining your elective choices with a dissertation or consultancy project in an appropriate field of study.

Electives currently offered online are:

• Strategic Market Development
• Strategic Accounting
• Finance.

Planning for New Business Ventures is available by intensive block study on campus (normally late June or early July).

You can, if your schedule permits, join other electives that are available on campus. As electives are reviewed regularly and may run at different times it is therefore advisable to check with the administrative team at the time of application.

As our courses are reviewed regularly, course content and module choices may change from the details given here.

Faculty

Faculty of Business

Department

Business School

Course length

Full-time: 30 months; accelerated route for ACCA members: 21 months

Teaching location

Distance learning

Start date

January or July 2012

Entry requirements

You will normally need:

• a minimum of three years’ relevant managerial or professional experience, together with a good degree (or GPA equivalent); or
• a relevant postgraduate/post-experience qualification from a recognised university or college; or
• a professional qualification that is regarded as equivalent to a degree, from an approved and recognised body.

Two written references (normally one academic) are also required. 

It is possible to enter this course on the basis of managerial experience rather than as a graduate. In this case, we normally seek a minimum of seven years’ relevant managerial or professional experience.

Scholarships and funding

For general sources of financial support, see:

• funding for students from the UK and EU
• funding for students from outside the EU

How Brookes supports postgraduate students

Supporting your learning

From academic advisers and support co-ordinators to specialist subject librarians and other learning support staff, we want to ensure that you get the best out of your studies.

Personal support services

We want your time at Brookes to be as enjoyable and successful as possible. That's why we provide all the facilities you need to be relaxed, happy and healthy throughout your studies.

Research areas and clusters

The Business School has an active programme of research based around six key research areas:

• accounting, governance and information management
• economics and strategy
• hospitality, leisure and tourism management
• human resource management and organisational behaviour
• marketing and operations management
• pedagogy.