Online MBA or Executive MBA: How to choose the right management programme?

While deciding to upskill, working professionals often find themselves standing at the crossroads of two popular options, i.e. online MBA and executive MBA programmes. Read further to know how to choose between the two...

After kick-starting a progressive career, working professionals often look for opportunities to upskill their professional growth and rise on the hierarchy.  However, putting a pause on work to pursue a graduate degree hardly sound satiable to people. Under these circumstances, working professionals often find themselves standing at the crossroads of two popular options, i.e. online MBA and executive MBA programmes. Both options offer a certain amount of flexibility to people who wish to advance their careers without putting a halt to their current job. However, while making a choice, people must consider certain factors such as cost input, admission requirements, programme schedule and more.

The Cost Difference

According to the annual 2021 Application Trend Survey, 2021 witnessed an increase in the number of applications for online management programmes by 0.4 per cent from the year before. It also revealed that out of the total increase witnessed globally, a large amount of increase in the MBA programme application was seen from India. However, in terms of cost-effectiveness, Online MBA programmers are much cheaper than Executive MBA programmes. "Online PGDM offers flexibility of learning as most of the content will be available in pre-recorded video and live classes will be held only on weekends. Since the physical infrastructure cost is minimum in the online PGDM/MBA fee is also much lower and suits the pocket of underserved strata of society very well," says BIMTECH Director Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi. 

For instance, a post-graduate programme for executives at IIM Ahmedabad costs 22 Lakh INR, however, an ePGP costs around 17 Lakh INR. Let’s take a look at programme fees for Executive MBA at India’s top management institutions such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, Indian School of Business, XLRI Jamshedpur in the table below:

Executive MBA Course Fees at Top B-Schools in India

Management Institutes	Programme Offered	Programme Fees (in INR)
IIM Ahmedabad	PG programme for executives	INR 22 Lakh
IIM Bangalore	Executive PG Programme in Management	INR 29.52 Lakh
IIM Calcutta	PG Programme for Executives	INR 22 Lakh
XLRI Jamshedpur	PG Diploma in Management (GM)	INR 17.5 Lakh
IIM Lucknow	Working Manager’s Programme	INR 12 Lakh
MDI Gurgaon	Executive PG Programme	INR 9.3 Lakh to 13.7 Lakh
IIM Indore	Executive PG Programme in management	INR 18 Lakh

After getting an idea about the cost input that EMBA would require at India’s top management institutes, let’s take a look at the course fees of some of the online MBA programmes:

Online MBA Course Fees at B-Schools in India

Management Institutes	Course Name	Total Fees (approx.)
IIM Ahmedabad	ePost Graduate Programme (ePGP)	INR 17.44 Lakh
SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies	Online MBA for professionals	INR 1.44 Lakh
IIM Indore	General Management Programme for Executives (GMPE)	INR 3.50 Lakh
IIM Ranchi	Certificate Programme in General Management  (CPGM)	INR 3.00 Lakh
XLRI	Executive Diploma in Advanced Management for Senior Managers	INR 4.00 Lakh
Great Lakes Institute of Management	Executive PG programme in management	INR 2.00 Lakh

Different Admission Requirements

Both online, as well as executive MBA programmes, cater to different types of students. While EMBA programmes in India at premier institutes require at least five to eight years of working experience, there are online MBA courses that are open to fresh graduates as well.

“Fully Online PGDM is designed and delivered in a flexible manner using recorded content and live classes over weekends. There is a technology platform to facilitate delivery such as LMS, Forums, MCQ evacuation etc. In contrast Executive MBA/PDGM duration is shorter (15 months) and program content assumes experienced managers who do not need foundational courses in communication, Statistics etc. The students will have to leave their job and be available full time for the course. Contact hours per course is also shorter,” says BIMTECH Director Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi. 

The Director further adds, “Online PGDM of BIMTECH follows AICTE /UGC guidelines and is aimed towards students who cannot leave their job/occupation and yet want to pursue higher education. They cannot take career breaks due to financial or responsibility reasons. A typical profile may include a mother having young children, 5+ years experienced senior manager or someone running a family business in a tier-2/3 city.)”

On the contrary, Goa Institute of Management (GIM), Director Ajit Parulekar says, “I do think online programs are a great addition but I don't think they will phase out EMBA at tier 2 and tier 3 b-schools. Online programs can reach out to audiences that unfortunately cannot pursue a full-time program, either because of time flexibility considerations or geographic conditions. However, an MBA program is not only about classroom learning. It's about the overall social experience."

Other admission requirements include entrance exam scores. While valid CAT/GMAT/GRE/CMAT scores are often mandatory during executive MBA admissions, there are Online MBA courses that give admissions based on merit.

Swapnil Bhaskar, a sales executive has recently cleared CAT and aspires to pursue an executive MBA from tier 1 B-school in India. “I wanted to do MBA after my graduation but the scenario didn’t allow me at that time. However, now I am confident that I will make it to a top b-school for executive MBA. I have seen my colleagues taking a jump in their career after completing their executive MBA and I expect the same from myself, Bhaskar adds. 

Flexible Course Structure 

It is a fact that online MBA courses are more flexible than Executive MBA programmes. While both the courses are designed for working professionals, an online MBA gives candidates an opportunity to complete the whole course sitting at home. However, Executive MBA programmes require some amount of in-person attendance.

Talking about the flexibility that both the programmes offer, GIM Director says “EMBA programmes include experiential learning with real-time contact with the industry, interacting with students who come from a diverse group of different economic backgrounds, different types of families, communities, and more. Also, the MBA program includes a sizable amount of contact with the industry, including field trips, interactive sessions with industry leaders, and more which is very difficult to learn and experience in the online mode.”

“Maybe in the distant future, the use of AR and VR may be able to bridge this gap. But until then, online courses are the second-best option,” the professor further adds.

Abhishek Tiwari, an IT professional, who has recently completed an online MBA course from IIM Bangalore says, “It was easier for me to manage my studies as well as work. I have friends who have done executive MBA and I do not want to do any comparison here but one thing that I noticed is that they struggled for taking leaves from the office to complete their course projects. However, my experience with the online MBA programme was different. I did gain skills and understood management without putting a halt at my work.”

Personal Choice and Commitment

“The decision to choose an online or an on-campus management programme depends on an individual’s preferences, career aspirations and the resources they are willing to invest in the study programme. These resources are in terms of time, effort and money,” says Professor Pradyumana Khokle, Dean Programmes, IIM Ahmedabad.

The professor further adds, “Online management programmes that are delivered live offer the advantages of being easily accessible to a person and give them freedom to learn at a place of their convenience. They provide opportunities to interact with the Professor, to clear doubts or get a better understanding. For working professionals, it is important to interact with other professionals as part of the learning process. Sharing of experiences and their conceptual interpretation is an important part of their learning. Online programmes that are not live (like MOOCs) generally do not offer opportunities for live interaction either with the instructor or with others in the class.”

“Blended learning courses, which are online courses with a limited offline component (in traditional, physical classrooms) offer such opportunities in a better way than purely online synchronous (live) courses. The ePGP course of IIMA and similar courses run by a few other institutes are examples of this format.

Another advantage of online courses for professionals is that they tend to be delivered in distributed mode, typically a few sessions every week. This can allow working professionals to connect the concepts they learn to activities at the workplace, on a continuous basis,” the professor says.

Dean Khokle adds, “On the other hand, physically delivered (in-person) courses, delivered in a traditional classroom, maximize interaction opportunities but maybe inconvenient because of the need for physical presence at another location or city. Such courses are also good at creating a learning environment, free of disturbances arising from everyday demands, at the workplace.”

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