You’re not likely to find the ideal business school for you on your doorstep, but lucky for you if you do. For everyone else, an online or blended study MBA allows students to pick a course that suits them best – whether it’s the fees, the course structure of the methods of learning involved. Many potential MBA students are halted in their tracks by the crippling fees associated with a prestigious MBA, despite the payback all but guaranteed in the salary increases reported by MBA students the world over. Yep, even in a tricky jobs market, MBA graduates continue to secure themselves managerial positions – especially with blue-chip employers. In fact, 2012 saw 92% of MBA graduates employed within three months of graduation, a 6% increase on the previous year. So whether money is a concern or not, you could do a lot worse than picking Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden for your online MBA. Let us explain…

Free education

The great news for Swedish nationals and those from the EU/EEA is that studying in Sweden is free – even at postgraduate level – so there’s no good reason to not study for your online MBA here. That’s an unbeatable return on investment, given that the average MBA graduate earns around 40% more than their pre-MBA salary in their first post-MBA job role. Blekinge Institute of Technology is the only MBA provider in Sweden that offers a fully online as well as a blended study option, so you can study from anywhere in the world, potentially for free. This is a course which can cost tens of thousands of Euros in other countries, and the Blekinge Institute of Technology charges non-EU students around £10,000 or EUR 11,500 in fees for the MBA. So even if you’re from outside these territories, it’s more affordable than many other options around the world.

Value for money

A distance-learning MBA graduate earns, on average, EUR 95,000 – just EUR 6,000 less than the salary earned by a full-time MBA grad. So given that embarking on full-time study is frankly impossible for so many potential MBA students, this is real food for thought – especially if you can get your MBA for free and without necessarily moving away or cutting your work hours down. MBAs are respected and valued for being highly demanding courses, but online study allows students – particularly those who need to hold down their job whilst studying – to fit their reading and study timetables around work and family life.

Blekinge Institute of Technology

This is a relatively small institution with full university status and educated around 8,000 students. The institute runs around 350 courses taught by around 100 lecturers, and its student base is deeply international. It’s a split campus university with sites in both Karlskrona and Karlshamn, and focusses much of its teaching on sustainable development and applied information technology. The university has strong links with telecommunications firms like Ericsson and Telenor.

Course basics

This MBA course takes two years to complete part-time and one year full-time is aimed at professionals from the engineering industry and is delivered in English. The course’s ultimate learning outcomes are detailed below, and you’ll complete six compulsory courses in topics such as corporate finance and marketing, before completing a capstone thesis in the final semester.

– Knowledge of the main areas of industrial management

– To conduct advanced analyses of complex managerial issues

– To independently frame managerial problems and possible solutions

– Develop an ability to work together in intercultural groups

– Understand the role, responsibilities and limitations of management in the development of industrial organizations

– Understand your own role in management, and identify your own needs for further improvement

Required reading

– Hindle, Tim, Guide to management Ideas and Gurus, Economist Books

– Du Brin, Andrew, Principles of Leadership, South-Western Cengage

– Tonnquist, Bo, Project Management, Sanoma Utbildning