University of Illinois Announces All-MOOC M.B.A. - Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

The program, known as iMBA, will deliver most of its course content through Specializations, Coursera’s term for course sequences. Students will be able to take those sequences in four different ways -- two that award credit and two that don’t. As with any MOOC, the content is available for free. Learners who wish to earn a credential but have no need for academic credit can pay a small fee, $79 a course, for an identity-verified certificate. Students can also apply to the College of Business and, if accepted, pursue the full M.B.A. degree. “That’s why we call it fractional learning,” said Rajagopal Echambadi, associate dean of outreach and engagement. The university plans to price the 18 courses at about $1,000 each. With the added cost of the identity verification fee, the total cost of the degree will be about $20,000. The university does not have an existing online M.B.A. program, but it charges in-state students in the part-time M.B.A. program about $9,000 a semester and full-time students about $22,000 a year for tuition. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/05/u-illinois-urbana-champaign-offer-online-mba-through-coursera