As Rhodes Business School aims to extend its Association of Masters of Business Administration-accredited MBA to reach into Africa and beyond, it has entered into a partnership with eLearnAfrica to develop a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

The eLearnAfrica-supported VLE, to be operational from 2024, will provide the full suite of synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning applications to ensure that the Rhodes Business School MBA continues to be the transformative experience it is renowned for, says the school’s director, Professor Owen Skae.

“We are very excited about this, as it means our MBA is now more accessible than ever,” he says, highlighting the immersion, flexibility and convenience that the partnership with eLearnAfrica brings.

The VLE-enabled MBA will allow the current four two-week block attendances – two blocks in year one and two blocks in year two – to be reduced to one block in each year for the invaluable face-face delivery mode.

“Students need the right balance of synchronous and asynchronous interaction that only a top-class VLE can bring,” Skae says, noting that two things from teaching through the pandemic were learnt, namely that returning to the old business-as-usual model of ‘chalk and talk’ is not going to happen like it used to and, at the same time, running Zoom or Teams sessions and just displaying power-point slides do not suffice.

“Students and lecturers want the best of both the digital and the physical teaching world. ‘Phygital’ is key! The digital or virtual mode provides convenience and flexibility. The physical mode provides the immersion and human engagement that we still need. We know that our students still value the opportunity to come to Rhodes University, given that it is such a unique and special institution.”

The common denominator is having the necessary technology enablement to provide the best teaching and learning experience for students while creating a virtual classroom environment for academic staff to deliver effectively and efficiently, regardless of the mode of delivery.

“Management education is crucial to unlocking Africa’s vast potential. Our MBA strives to educate Africa’s future business leaders and managers that it is not about how much money organisations make, but how they make their money,” he continues.

Getting that right, he says, is critical to achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063, meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.

“The favourable rand:dollar exchange is also a compelling reason to get full value for money in studying for a world-class MBA.”

The Rhodes MBA degree programme comprises coursework and a research assignment on a part-time, modular basis over two years.

The admission requirements include an honours degree or a postgraduate diploma, a minimum of three years’ work experience and an admission test such as NMAT, GMAT or GRE.

Applications close on October 31.