在线MBA项目日趋成熟

    资深教授道格拉斯•沙克尔福德是一名研究著作颇丰的权威学者。在他的简历上，发表的论文、国会证词和学术荣誉密密麻麻的超过了六页之多。作为税收研究方面的权威专家，他已在北卡罗莱纳州大学（t the University of North Carolina）凯南-弗拉格勒商学院（Kenan-Flagler Business School）执教将近25年，同时被斯坦福大学（Stanford）和牛津大学（Oxford）这两所全球顶级大学聘为客座教授。

    因此，三年前当凯南-弗拉格勒商学院院长小詹姆士•W•迪安开始认真考虑推出在线MBA课程时，沙克尔福德的震惊之情可想而知。“哦，我的老天。我当时想，学校的预算状况一定糟透了。我告诉院长，这是一个非常大的赌注，不成功便成仁。如果成功了那他就是英雄，一旦失败，他在学校的形象就会毁于一旦。”

    迪安一马当先，毫不畏惧。他任命最初对在线教学项目持怀疑态度的沙克尔福德担任“MBA@UNC”在线MBA项目的副主任。随着时间的推移，沙克尔福德的想法有了真正的改变。他放弃了原来的想法，变成了在线教育的真正信奉者。现在，凯南-弗拉格勒商学院正在为今年7月首批MBA在线班学员毕业做准备。这位现年55岁的教授承认，凯南-弗拉格勒商学院开设网络教学真的是高瞻远瞩。他感慨：“这个决策太英明了。”

    毕竟，全球顶级的一些商学院现在都提供在线MBA学位教育。例如，卡耐基梅隆大学泰珀商学院（Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business）将于今年八月招收第一期网络班MBA学员。印第安纳大学凯莱商学院（Indiana University's Kelley School of Business）、西班牙IE商学院（IE Business School）、巴布森学院奥林商学院（Babson College's Olin School）以及亚利桑那州大学凯瑞商学院（Arizona State University's Carey School of Business）的在线MBA项目也在蓬勃发展。每隔一周似乎就会有一所商学院宣布新推出在线MBA课程。在印第安纳州和亚利桑那州等地区的学校，在线MBA班的学员数量甚至多于新录取的全日制在校学生。

    就像卡耐基梅隆大学泰珀商学院院长罗伯特•戴蒙说的：“未来教育的趋势就是利用科技手段多方位地为人们提供更广博的教育。很多人都希望获得名校MBA学历，但不想脱产学习。”

    从沙克尔福德的角度来看，凯南-弗拉格勒商学院两年前开始网络教学不仅作为教学模式的创新先驱为学校赢得了喝彩，更启迪教学者从不同的角度去看待教学。该校的在线MBA课程已经吸引了一批出类拔萃经验丰富的专业人士，其中一部分学员的年收入已经超过25万美元，他们对教学质量的满意度非常高。几乎每个季度，当凯南-弗拉格勒商学院网络课堂开始招生时，录取的新学员人数都会有所增加。

    Douglas A. Shackelford is a professor's professor. He's a widely published scholar whose CV overflows with six densely packed pages of published papers, Congressional testimonies, and academic honors. A highly regarded authority on taxation, he's been a visiting professor at two of the world's best universities, Stanford and Oxford, and he's been teaching at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School for nearly a quarter of a century.

    So when Kenan-Flagler Dean James W. Dean Jr. began to seriously consider going into the online MBA market three years ago, Shackelford was understandably aghast. "Oh my God," I thought, "the budget situation must be desperate. I told the dean that this is such a big bet that either he will be a hero for doing it or burned in effigy on campus if it fails."

    Undaunted, Dean plowed ahead, appointing his initially skeptical colleague as the associate dean of the online program, MBA@UNC. In due time, Shackelford shed his reservations and has since become a true convert. Now, as the school prepares to graduate its first class of online MBAs this July, the professor believes that Kenan-Flagler's move into the online space was not only prescient. "It was brilliant," concedes the 55-year-old professor.

    After all, some of the best business schools in the world now offer MBA degrees online. Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business will enroll its first online class this August. Online MBA programs are flourishing at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, IE Business School in Spain, Babson College's Olin School, and Arizona State University's Carey School. Every other week, a new business school seems to be announcing the launch of yet another cyber-MBA program. At several schools, including Indiana and Arizona State, incoming online MBA classes outnumber the new full-time students enrolled on-campus.

    As Robert Dammon, dean of Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, puts it, "The wave of the future is the use of technology to deliver education more broadly to people. There [is] a large group of people who don't want to leave their jobs and still want an MBA from a top-tier school."

    From Shackelford's perspective, Kenan-Flagler's move into the market two years ago has gained the school plaudits as an educational innovator and has challenged the faculty to think differently about teaching. The program has drawn an exceptional group of working professionals -- some of them already earning more than $250,000 -- and their satisfaction with the experience has been high. Nearly every quarter, when Kenan-Flagler opens its Internet doors to a new cohort, the size of its incoming classes grows larger.