Athabasca University

Just completed my Masters at Athabasca. In summary, a great institution and enjoyable experience. The technology and process is well defined and they are a leader in how they use the technology for their program. The support mechanisms are fantastic and there are real people who you interact with if any issues. The profs / coaches are very open and available and totally understand where you are coming from and are flexible within reason -- For example if you have to travel as part of your work, as long as you are clear, they will be very helpful to provide needed flexibility. Further, this program is very credible - and it is not a money grab like you would find elsewhere --- put simply you are not "buying" a degree. Be prepared to contribute and work hard where needed --- you will come out of the experience as a much greater person. AU is a great choice --- you won't be disappointed.

Poor management and lack of leadership at graduate level. The Admissions committtee is very arrogant and dishonest. Even when program is complete they will take your application. Would prefer international students as better cash-flow.; yet Alberta government subsidizes. Lack accreditation is a big problem. Not recognized in Ontario and Quebec. Try the university of Michigan. They have a new online program AASCB approved and cost much less.

The MBA has been exceedingly challenging but definitely worth the time. Professors come from various professions, institution and geographical locations providing an excellent resource for the information and education I need. The only criticism is that the program requires much more than the suggested 20 to 30 hours per week. The in-residence electives were excellent!! Thanks Athabasca for providing fantastic distance education.

After reading some of the negative reviews here I felt compelled to respond with my personal experience regarding Athabasca University. Usually with most things in life, you only get out what you put in, and distance learning requires you to exhibit dedication, perseverance and commitment to the task at hand. I was in the cohort of 1998 for the MBA and found that the courses, instructors and administrators were top notch, equal to the “bricks and mortar” of my previous experience. Textbooks and software for each course module were sent via post ahead of the course start date including a list of required reading, and I personally never had an assignment/exam lost, misplaced, or ungraded. Each course/module had as I recall no more than ten people per group, and they could be anywhere in the world. We used Lotus Notes to communicate with others in our group and to submit assignments/exams, which were prepared using MS Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Since you were required to participate/interact with members of your small group, the start and stop dates of each module were fixed, so meeting those deadlines was very important. We also had to participate in a certain number (required) of weekend/week long schools to qualify for the residential component of the degree granting process, and I recall Ottawa (ON), Vancouver (BC) and Guadalajara (Jalisco) as some of mine. My fellow students were from extremely diverse backgrounds (breweries, banks, telecoms, physicians, farms and on…) all contributing their own experiences and personalities to the learning process and of course to our group assignments (one per module). Due to a family tragedy I was unable to attend convocation until June of 2002 so unfortunately didn’t get to meet some of my group members in person. That is my only disappointment with this programme (not AU’s fault), the study workload in my case involved about forty five hours per week, a tad more than the twenty to thirty suggested in the AU information materials. All in all, a very rewarding experience for me, but you sure have to have a study plan and follow it religiously, the work load is pretty intense.

In my last year of eMBA and “I’m lovin’ it”. Only 2 courses away from my MBA degree. I am almost 50 now. It has been truly great experience because AthabascaU’ fully online teaching method provides great flexibility to be able to participate and make progress from anywhere in the world as long as I have the access to the internet. The value added by this program to my professional career is absolutely critical to my professional success. Good thing is that program awards PBDM Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Management) half way through the program so if someone decides to drop the program in the middle it still provides great value for the money and time spent. AU’s eMBA program is not cheap but lot cheaper compare to similar programs that are offered by other part time and online universities in Canada. Beware: Most of the American (USA) and British based online universities are not fully recognized in Canada so it is not recommend investing money in a program that is run by non-Canadian institutes. Those are perhaps private business and not a public funded institution unlike Athabasca. Being the current student of AU eMBA program I would suggest AU’s management one thing: AU should consider adding a web-cam based learning/discussion session where students can talk/listen professors in the real time at least once during each course. This will sure add personal touch for those who really love it (Baby boomers and X-Gen) Good luck to future cohorts.

I have just completed my MBA and the the academic quality is second to none. The university expects high commitment from students and you must be very self-disciplined to enjoy and be successful in the program. All the administrative staff have always been supportive and responded to my questions/concerns in a timely manner. I would recommend this program to anyone who is ready to take on a challenge.

I am halfway through Athabasca University's Executive MBA program and extremely pleased with the high quality, interactive experience. Excellent professors, great support and lots of group interaction make this a high quality Executive MBA program, in line with other tier 1 North American Executive MBA programs. I just completed a week long session in Calgary, doing the in-residence part of an elective and the experience exceeded all my expectations. Now some words of caution. AU's MBA is neither easy nor quick, so set your expectations and prepare for slogging before applying for this program. There is no hiding behind a desk, like in a traditional classroom in a brick and mortar university. Readings and group activities are required almost daily and time commitments vary between 20 hrs/week and 40 hrs/week depending on the course and previous academic experience with the subject. Grading is pretty tough and AU will make you work hard for your GPA, however you will get a lot of satisfaction from the experience. The group activities are quite intense and in some ways superior to the traditional classroom experience. If you are good at time management skills and enjoy learning, you will certainly enjoy this MBA program. Overall, I am very pleased with Athabasca University's Executive MBA program and highly recommend it to busy managers and executives who cannot afford to travel or leave a job to do an MBA.

I have been in the MBA program for almost one year and I am very satisfied with the quality of education. I have experienced no issues with the staff either. Professors, books, technology and students are all great. What comes with quality is hard work to earn grades; so nobody should have any illusions about that. This is a world class MBA program as good as any other reputed US state college or Canadian public university.

I completed my MBA at Athabasca University and graduated in 2005. I enjoyed the entire experiance. There is ample opportunity to interact with other students online. Indeed I met and worked with students from all over the world. I found most students to be independant minded, interested people who are willing to work hard. There was some variability among Coaches, but on the whole I found them to be very knowledgable and helpful. They will not hold your hand and you have to put the efort in to learn; but this is a Masters levels degree, so being able to work under your own intitative should be expected should be expected. I now have a n entire armory of knowledge I can draw on for my professional career. Thanks AU!