An Online MBA Designed for Global Leaders

The KU School of Business online MBA program structure is designed to equip students with a comprehensive knowledge of today's top business subjects that can be applied in a variety of professional settings as well as to focus their development of one of three in-demand skill sets. Students can expect the following in the online MBA program:

• 14 courses
• 42 credit hours (30 credits of core business classes, 12 credits of focus area courses)
• 8 weeks per course
• Graduate in as few as 27 months
• 100% online: no residency requirement
• 3 focus areas to choose from: Finance, Marketing or Management and Leadership
• 3 starts per year: Spring, Summer and Fall

To complete the online MBA, students are required to complete 10 core business courses, worth 30 credits, alongside four focus area courses, worth 12 credits.

The three available focus areas are Finance, Management and Leadership, and Marketing.

Finance

Regardless of your level of experience in the field, the Finance focus helps you advance your career in investment or banking settings or within a company's financial branch, preparing you for a large pool of potential positions, including roles as analysts, accountants, consultants, project managers and more.

The required courses for the Finance focus area are:

• Corporate Finance
• Financial Institutions and Markets
• Investments
• Elective course chosen from one of the other two focus areas

Management and Leadership

If you're ready to take charge of the people side of business, the Management and Leadership focus helps you to develop your personal leadership style, aligning your interpersonal and communication skills with your overall business expertise and confidence, so you graduate ready to take on leadership positions in a wide range of professional fields.

The required courses for the Management and Leadership focus area are:

• Strategic Organizational Design and Change Management
• Developing Effective Management and Team Skills
• Leadership Philosophy and Practice
• Managing Internationally

Marketing

With a thorough, targeted dive into the science behind consumer behavior, the Marketing focus helps you gain a more concrete understanding of emerging marketing trends like data analytics, social media and content marketing, and more.

Get in the minds of consumers, so you graduate ready to thrive in a variety of marketing-related roles.

The required courses for the Marketing focus area are:

• Consumer Behavior
• Integrated Marketing Communications
• Global Marketing
• Digital and Social Media Marketing

To explore the curriculum and courses in greater depth, you can review the course descriptions for both the core and focus area courses here.

Program Details PDF View Courses

For more on MBA concentrations, read our blog post on the three KU online MBA focus areas to see how each specialization can affect your annual earnings and overall career direction.

Explore the Focus Areas

If you're considering an online MBA program, you likely have questions. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we hear.

• Is campus study better or more valued than online? Hiring managers are typically more concerned about the reputation of the school than the way an MBA degree is earned.⁴ Accredited schools like the University of Kansas School of Business uphold a strong reputation among online MBA programs.
• What is an online MBA course like? Online MBA programs provide the same educational content that is taught in a classroom setting, but include additional benefits like always-on access to course work, quick responses from instructors, classmate discussion groups, instant progress tracking and much more. Lessons and test-taking are more flexible than traditional classroom study, allowing students to work on a schedule conducive to their professional and personal lives.
• How will an online MBA benefit my career? Obtaining an MBA online can result in numerous professional opportunities. Many graduates find they can apply for higher positions than they could previously, are able to more confidently ask for a pay raise or more responsibility at their current jobs, or are able to obtain more desirable positions at the companies they want to work for. Often, the connections made in an online MBA classroom setting, including relationships with both professors and other students, result in job referrals, mentorships and more. For students who feel stagnant in their current roles, who are unsure about how to advance more rapidly, or who want to change career paths, online MBA programs can help them achieve their goals.

We cover answers to many other frequently asked questions regularly on our online MBA blog. You can also schedule an appointment with a University of Kansas School of Business Admissions Advisor to have your questions answered directly.