Business Programs Continue to Dominate Online Master’s Market

With all the recent expansion of the online master’s education market, where do business programs find themselves? While our recent Online Student Recruitment Report indicates that many other subject areas have become competitive with business at the undergraduate degree and non-degree levels, business programs continue to have a significant lead over all other online master’s degree subjects.

Over the last several years, organizations like the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) and AACSB have been reporting on the expansion of demand for MS degrees in business subjects. While this is not in doubt, our survey included more than 200 prospective master’s level online business students and 89 percent said they planned to enroll in a business administration program. Interestingly, 82 percent of undergraduates and 74 percent of non-degree respondents also indicated that they plan to enroll in an online business administration program.

96 percent of graduate business students prefer an MBA with concentrations

I work with dozens of schools each year that are considering launching an online business administration program and the most common question schools have is whether to offer a general BBA/MBA or one with concentrations?

With this in mind, we asked every business student in the survey reported in the Online Student Recruitment Report if they were looking for a program that offered concentrations. An unbelievable 96 percent of our graduate student respondents said they were (compared with 89 percent of our undergraduate respondents). We also asked respondents what that concentration will be, and asked non-degree students a similar question about the specific subject of the credential they plan to pursue.

To discuss these findings and other aspects of launching a successful online business administration program in a crowded market, schedule a consultation with an RNL enrollment expert today.

I also will be presenting with my colleague Charles Ramos at the Executive MBA Council (EMBAC) conference on October 17. Charles and I will be discussing “A Data-Driven Approach to Marketing Business Programs.” I hope to see you at the session if you are attending.