Hi everyone,

I’m a pharmacist with 7+ years of experience in pharmaceutical sales and marketing and I’m planning to study an online/ distant learning MBA to achieve these goals:

- Getting a step forward in my career ( which I know won’t depend on the MBA but the skills I gain from it )

- More of business understanding and better business terminologies

- Start my own business in the future.



I’ll be self funding my MBA so I the financial factor is crucial. I’ve shortlisted some programs and hope if you can help me with the decision



1- Manchester Metropolitan global MBA
2- illinois online MBA via coursera
 3-Essex online MBA
4- Cardif Metropolitan MBA



I’m based in Dubai and I know there are some top level schools’ campus like MBA, Strathclyde & Bradford but all of them are currently out of my budget and 1.5x more expensive than anyone on my list!

Thanms

[Edited by Mostafa Abdelrazik on Jun 11, 2021]

Illinois is the best of these. If you need the learning more than the diploma, complete the Coursera elements only and don't pay the tuition to Illinois. 

Also see https://find-mba.com/board/distance-learning/value-alternatives-to-unaccredited-mbas-58288

Cardiff Met has no meaningful international accreditation.

Thanks Duncan for your reply!
yes I excluded cardiff metropolitan from my list, now I’m between mmu and illinois. I need the learning more than the diploma yes. 
I don’t know that I can study MBA without paying via coursera tbh. It mentions on their website that it costs around 22k $
And mmu is almost the same price.

so between mmu and illinois you suggest me to go for Illinois?

The Illinois iMBA has two elements.

1] The curriculum is made of a series of 'Specializations', provided by Coursera. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit each specialization course for free. The individual specialization courses are linked at: https://www.coursera.org/degrees/imba/academics 

2] There is also a programme of guided learning available only to students who also register with Illinois. That is what costs $22,000.

As an intermediate option, you can pay a small additional fee to Coursera to get a Verified Specialization certificate. They look a bit like this: https://www.slideshare.net/aselshikh/digital-marketing-university-of-illinois-at-urbanachampaign-coursera-specialization-2017