online MBA/Msc in Business for a middle-aged executive

More Online MBA discussions at FIND MBA Online

DVV

3 6

Posted Oct 28, 2020 16:59

Hi everyone,

I'm a dual Canadian-European citizen in mid 40ies who made a career to the level of General Manager in a multinational publicly traded company, and now I'm having a break to unwind and catch up with family and personal matters after working 24/7 for several years. I'm thinking to use this opportunity to get a Master's degree.

The combination of my circumstances and requirements is a bit peculiar:
1) I don't have any Bachelor's, I started working right after school.
2) my work is related to building short to middle-term projects in remote locations, but I don't have engineering background, whenever I needed I took (very specific) certified courses that were required by employer or needed for the project.
3) I plan to be back to the workforce in a year, however I see evidence that to be hired for a senior executive position I need a Master's degree in BA or related. It's either required by a company policy, or HR filters out CVs that don't have Master's mentioned in there, or some countries now need Master's degree to issue a long-term work visa due to localization (many Middle Eastern countries for example). So one of the reasons to get a degree is quite formal: I need a paper to make the first step through the pre-screening in the recruiting process.
4) Although I do have wide-scope in-depth hands-on experience in what I do, I'd rather build some theoretical framework to that. That's another reason for getting a degree.
5) I'm looking for a decently accredited 1 year Master's in BA, Project Management or related, delivered online in English, by a Canadian, UK or European school (to get advantage of non-international fees), for under 15k USD. I kind of see this degree as being a recently introduced unfair requirement obligatory for recruiting, hence the amount I'm willing to spend.

Anybody else out there having similar circumstances and willing to share thoughts?
I will much appreciate if you guys point me in the right direction and name schools/degrees that would cover the requirements I listed.

Thank you.

quote

StuartHE

1.200 720

Posted Oct 28, 2020 19:01

I don't think there is a program that meets all your criteria.

quote

aslamo

720 219

Posted Oct 28, 2020 19:03

You don't say which specific country you might want to work in but have you asked people in your field with masters degrees what degree they did?

You say you specialise in short to medium term engineering projects so I'm not sure why a masters degree in Project Management or Business Analysis would be so useful for this type of role. I can't speak specifically for engineering but in my sector of technology, it's very unusual to find a Project Manager with a masters degree in project management. Much more common (and sought after by employers) are specific recognised project management certifications like PRINCE2 and MSP issued by Axelos or the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the USA.

If you really do need a masters in project management then I suggest you try and find one that has an affiliation with one of those bodies. Alternatively, maybe look for a degree specifically in Engineering Project Management? There are a few from UK universities.

You don't say which specific country you might want to work in but have you asked people in your field with masters degrees what degree they did? You say you specialise in short to medium term engineering projects so I'm not sure why a masters degree in Project Management or Business Analysis would be so useful for this type of role. I can't speak specifically for engineering but in my sector of technology, it's very unusual  to find a Project Manager with a masters degree in project management. Much more common (and sought after by employers) are specific recognised project management certifications like PRINCE2 and MSP issued by Axelos or the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the USA. If you really do need a masters in project management then I suggest you try and find one that has an affiliation with one of those bodies. Alternatively, maybe look for a degree specifically in Engineering Project Management? There are a few from UK universities.

quote

DVV

3 6

Posted Oct 28, 2020 20:26

Hi StuartHE, thank you for the response. I thought so, because I haven't found any. I know very little about higher education system though. Do you think changing 1 year to 2 years in the list of criteria would give a result? I'm basically looking for an online Master's degree in Business or Management that would have experience as entry requirement (not lower degree), decently accredited, delivered in English. Aberdeen Business school has a few programs that tick those boxes, is that so? Thank you!

quote

Duncan

14.013 15.475

Posted Oct 28, 2020 20:29

Aberdeen Business School is also well over your budget.

quote

DVV

3 6

Posted Oct 28, 2020 20:44

Hi aslamo, those are quite interesting points, thank you. There is no specific country that I'd be working in. I've done projects globally. I actually asked a few people in my field, however their answers were not helpful: they did their degrees some 20 years ago, or they don't have a Master's at all. A few years ago that was not a prerequisite for getting hired. Having taken a quick glance at recruiting websites I saw "Master's degree in Business Administration or similar" requirement in 90% of cases. Still wondering why it has become such a thing. Project Management certification is an alternative that I haven't looked into, but can it be considered "similar" for my purposes? Some countries specifically require a Master's degree to issue a work visa for executives. Thank you for your response, much appreciated indeed!

quote

DVV

3 6

Posted Oct 28, 2020 20:54

Hi Duncan, I'm glad you responded, thanks a lot. I've read the articles you have under your profile page and some of your answers in similar threads. The extent of your knowledge is impressive. Speaking about Aberdeen, they have online MSc degrees that have fees comparable to my budget at 12k GBP. Would that be a good option?

quote

Duncan

14.013 15.475

Posted Oct 28, 2020 21:08

It's not a one year online degree.

quote

DVV

3 6

Posted Oct 28, 2020 21:15

Duncan, that’s right, it’s a two year online degree, as I replied to StuartHE, I would be flexible on the time frame. Do you see it to be a good option? Are there decent alternatives? Many thanks!

quote

aslamo

720 219

Posted Oct 28, 2020 22:24

Hi aslamo, those are quite interesting points, thank you. There is no specific country that I'd be working in. I've done projects globally. I actually asked a few people in my field, however their answers were not helpful: they did their degrees some 20 years ago, or they don't have a Master's at all. A few years ago that was not a prerequisite for getting hired. Having taken a quick glance at recruiting websites I saw "Master's degree in Business Administration or similar" requirement in 90% of cases. Still wondering why it has become such a thing. Project Management certification is an alternative that I haven't looked into, but can it be considered "similar" for my purposes? Some countries specifically require a Master's degree to issue a work visa for executives. Thank you for your response, much appreciated indeed!

No, an industry certification is very unlikely to be considered on a par with a masters degree for visa purposes but you would have to investigate that for the country you had in mind to work in.

[quote]Hi aslamo, those are quite interesting points, thank you. There is no specific country that I'd be working in. I've done projects globally. I actually asked a few people in my field, however their answers were not helpful: they did their degrees some 20 years ago, or they don't have a Master's at all. A few years ago that was not a prerequisite for getting hired. Having taken a quick glance at recruiting websites I saw "Master's degree in Business Administration or similar" requirement in 90% of cases. Still wondering why it has become such a thing. Project Management certification is an alternative that I haven't looked into, but can it be considered "similar" for my purposes? Some countries specifically require a Master's degree to issue a work visa for executives. Thank you for your response, much appreciated indeed! [/quote] No, an industry certification is very unlikely to be considered on a par with a masters degree for visa purposes but you would have to investigate that for the country you had in mind to work in.

quote

Inactive User

2.941 1.801

Posted Nov 05, 2020 18:43

Hi aslamo, those are quite interesting points, thank you. There is no specific country that I'd be working in. I've done projects globally. I actually asked a few people in my field, however their answers were not helpful: they did their degrees some 20 years ago, or they don't have a Master's at all. A few years ago that was not a prerequisite for getting hired. Having taken a quick glance at recruiting websites I saw "Master's degree in Business Administration or similar" requirement in 90% of cases. Still wondering why it has become such a thing. Project Management certification is an alternative that I haven't looked into, but can it be considered "similar" for my purposes? Some countries specifically require a Master's degree to issue a work visa for executives. Thank you for your response, much appreciated indeed!

The labor market has evolved a lot in the past years. An increasing number of candidates for these more senior positions have MBAs, so some firms (but not all) now use the MBA as a way to filter out lower quality candidates. Although this certainly is not the case across the board, and it depends on what country you are looking in...

Work visas can be tricky, but I haven't encountered a country whose regulations require a master's degree specifically. What countries are you looking at?

[quote]Hi aslamo, those are quite interesting points, thank you. There is no specific country that I'd be working in. I've done projects globally. I actually asked a few people in my field, however their answers were not helpful: they did their degrees some 20 years ago, or they don't have a Master's at all. A few years ago that was not a prerequisite for getting hired. Having taken a quick glance at recruiting websites I saw "Master's degree in Business Administration or similar" requirement in 90% of cases. Still wondering why it has become such a thing. Project Management certification is an alternative that I haven't looked into, but can it be considered "similar" for my purposes? Some countries specifically require a Master's degree to issue a work visa for executives. Thank you for your response, much appreciated indeed! [/quote] The labor market has evolved a lot in the past years. An increasing number of candidates for these more senior positions have MBAs, so some firms (but not all) now use the MBA as a way to filter out lower quality candidates. Although this certainly is not the case across the board, and it depends on what country you are looking in... Work visas can be tricky, but I haven't encountered a country whose regulations require a master's degree specifically. What countries are you looking at?

quote

DVV

3 6

Posted Nov 05, 2020 21:03

Hi mba hipster. There are countries (take Middle East for example), where new “localisation” legislation has been introduced, in order to encourage employees to hire locals. If a qualified local cannot be found, a westerner may be employed and his work visa will be issued according to his position in the company (technician visa, senior manager visa etc). For a senior manager visa the list of application supporting documents includes a proof of education, which is a Masters degree (from an approved by the local government university) in the field.

quote

Inactive User

2.941 1.801

Posted Nov 17, 2020 17:57

Ah ok, I didn't know that!

quote