Online universities were not introduced until the past decade. After all, the Net was not in existence before the 20th century. The actual start of distance learning, though, was about three hundred years ago.
It is distance learning itself that is not new. For instance, one can look at the development of a lesson plan by a man back then who was teaching shorthand to people through mailed letters. The snailmail that we rarely use nowadays was the channel for his program.
London's own main university asserts that it was leading the pack when it came to distance learning at the time, for it was the first to boast a correspondence program. Just a little behind was the state university of Chicago, which also took on similar courses at the end of the 19th century. The University of Queensland in Australia, on the other hand, founded its Department of Correspondence Studies in 1911.
Between the years 1964 and 1968, the medium was shifted from correspondence to radio and television. It was not long before other colleges began to create similar programs. And then, just some time ago, accreditations started to be handed out to Internet universities, starting with Jones International.
As for those interested in the history of the MBA relative to this subject, they have to start with the knowledge of the first institution to have a formal school for business graduate programs: Dartmouth. It wasn’t known as Masters in Business Administration but was rather known as a Master of Science in Commerce. By 1908, Harvard University formally created the first MBA program with 80 students and 15 educators.
However, the field of graduate studies experienced some bad publicity in 1959 when programs were criticized for their irrelevance and quality. This was said to be a jest of a program at the time, one that served no purpose. There was thus very little credibility to the degree back then.
It was because of such criticism that most MBA programs would require fundamental courses during their first year. MBAs were suddenly courses amenable to the adoption of a focus of study. The result was a more comprehensive, balanced program.
Still, there was always something to be nitpicked: in this case, it was that the changes had rendered the training too focused on the theory and not enough on the practice. There were allegations of graduates being so theoretically-inclined that they had trouble with the less-than-predictable real world. There were also criticisms about the faculty for the programs.
The MBA became less desirable to HR officers. However, it was evident that changes in the program were necessary. The schools thus began yet another major modification of their MBA courses.
Education needs to reflect what people have learned and are learning in commerce each day, hence the need for such mutations in the academe. That is why
online universities and traditional ones are perpetually thinking of the next movement in the industry and discipline, which at this moment is tilting towards a more ethical approach to commerce. A forward-looking course curriculum should be a fine indication of a good program.
