31st marzo 2011
Study Group begins partnership with Imperial College Business School on delivery of its Distance Learning MBA programme
Study Group, the UK’s largest educator of international students, today announces a partnership with Imperial College Business School, part of Imperial College London, one of the world’s top ten universities [1], to deliver its Distance Learning MBA programme. The partnership will enable students from all over the world to undertake the Business School’s renowned Distance Learning MBA (DLMBA) programme, with support services ranging from student recruitment to online enrolment and registration, facilitated by Study Group.
Students are supplied with a comprehensive study pack for each module of the DLMBA, and also have access to an online learning environment in which they can interact with other students and course tutors. The ten lead programme authors set all curricula materials, ranging from day-to-day seminar activity to periodical exams. Study Group will support the tutors and have representation on the Academic Board that oversees the quality assurance of the programme.
“Imperial College Business School currently offers a variety of attendance MBA programmes, which are extremely popular with students able to travel to the UK and take advantage of our world-class campus. Our Distance Learning MBA ensures the programmes are available to a much wider audience of enthusiastic business leaders, who may not be able to commit to a stay in the UK”, comments Imperial’s Distance Learning MBA Programme Director, Marcel Cohen. “By partnering with Study Group we benefit from their significant existing international expertise and support networks, while ensuring the continuing quality of student applications.”
Heith Mackay-Cruise, Study Group CEO, notes: “Study Group already oversees the progression of thousands of international students to university campuses all over the UK, Australasia and North America. We ensure quality of tuition and opportunity, and it’s precisely this reputation and ability that will allow us to recruit some of the best mature students, from all over the world, to the Imperial College Business School’s Distance Learning MBA programme.”
James Pitman, Study Group Managing Director, HE, UK and Europe, explains: “The biggest challenge facing any distance learning course is customer satisfaction. Maintaining high participation rates is crucial, and after initial recruitment we will focus the majority of our activities on student retention. We will track and monitor seminar participation; proactively contact students to make sure concerns and questions are answered; create focus groups involving the management team, academic board and students, for constructive feedback opportunities, and carry out evaluation surveys as well as a series of webinars to assure satisfaction. Working on the basis of zero assumption will ensure we prove an effective Imperial College Business School partner.”
Mackay-Cruise concludes: “A strong global capability in distance learning allows Study Group to develop new channels for its university partners, which in turn will allow them to deliver content and gain brand exposure to audiences worldwide. This new relationship with Imperial College Business School will be the foundation for many more collaborations, and will add value and new revenue streams for our exclusive higher education partners in the coming months and years.”
The course consists of eight core modules, one specialisation module and a research project. The minimum course length is two years, although all students will be registered for four. Students will also be required to attend a three week face-to-face module called the Imperial Edge. For additional course details please visit: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/programmes/distance-learning-mba