Dear Readers,

We know that pursuing a career in MBA has become one of the most sought after options these days, yet many students face certain limitations. These could be due to the fact that they are working and supporting themselves and their family and it would be impossible for them to leave their job yet they want to pursue an MBA. It could also be because of a lack of financial assistance to pay the high fees of a good MBA program in a reputed college. Sometimes relocating to a different place itself is difficult. So whatever may be the reason what does an aspiring student do when he cannot pursue a regular MBA program-the best option is to then do a correspondence or distance MBA program.

There is no doubt about the fact that a regular MBA course from a reputed college will carry more feathers with it and also possibly land you with more accolades, but that does not mean that a Correspondence MBA program does not have its own set of advantages. For example you know very well that cracking the CAT, XAT or any other entrance exam for admission in to a regular MBA course is a pretty difficult proposition and the competition is fierce on the other hand if you want to pursue a distance learning program you can get into a top institute such as an IIM or ICFAI or Symbiosis far more easily.

Then there are many students or working professionals who are unable to follow a fixed time schedule for classes due to their work and personal commitments so a regular MBA program may not be suitable for them. In this regard the distance mode has an advantage because many colleges offer online classes and weekend classes with flexible timings to enable you to balance your commitments better.

Someone once said that India is a rich country inhabited by poor people, necessarily not true! But there is no doubt about that fact that regular MBA programs’ fees is sky rocketing. I mean be mentally prepared to spend in excess of 7 to 10 lakhs in 2 years for a regular degree from a reputed college. Unfortunately in our country many students don’t have that kind of money and because of their poor financial background banks don’t give them loans as well. Now this does not mean the end  of the road for such students, if they have  the passion and the determination to succeed they can very well go for a distance MBA program which should not cost them more than a Lakh of rupees tops.

Read this paragraph very carefully if you are an engineering graduate or any other graduate who has been working in a company for the last 3 to 4 years! Now don’t get me wrong you might find yourself in a comfortable position with a package of 5 to 8 lakhs per annum and you might feel that life could not get better, after all you are just a graduate. But hey hold on your whole career is still in front of you and if you don’t get a post graduate degree in the near future you may lose out to fresh blooded competition and that would really not be nice. So what are you waiting for talk to your employer first and make it clear that you would like to do a distance MBA, if you are good and they want to retain you then you just might get sponsored. Even if you don’t get sponsored you can go for it on your own because a correspondence MBA is really affordable. 

Just like there is competition amongst students to get in to the best institute there is also competition amongst institutes to get the maximum number of students. Below I have listed some of the reputed colleges from where one can pursue a distance MBA program.

When it comes to distance learning programs IGNOU is the leader, yes there is no doubt about the fact that lakhs of students are enrolled for different programs at the Indira Gandhi National Open University. Their distance learning program for MBA is also very popular

Symbiosis runs various postgraduate, diploma & certificate distance learning courses under "symbiosis centre for distance learning”. It has been ranked consistently in the top 10 distance learning MBA colleges by DNA and outlook. It is also one of the few universities to offer placement assistance to its students which is generally a rarity for distance mode colleges.

IMT Ghaziabad offers its distance programs under IMT-CDL. IMT has been ranked amongst the top two colleges in the country by outlook magazine and competition review. This college also offers online classes and students can take online exams as well.

Sikkim Manipal University offers distance education programs in various disciplines under SMU-DE. It has a presence in more than 310 towns in the country. SMU has one of the best award winning learning delivery system called EduNxt. One can also avail of scholarships

Welingkar Institute of Management offers a two year diploma PG program in management; the institute does not conduct any entrance exam to join this program.

XLRI Jamshedpur has a tie up with Hughes NET Global and Reliance world together they offer a 12 months distance MBA course specially designed for working professionals having a minimum of 2 years of work experience.

Indian institute of Management (IIM) offers distance learning programs in collaboration with NIIT Imperia and Hughes Global Education.

Other than those listed above some of the other Universities/Colleges offering MBA courses in distance learning mode are ICFAI, Amity University,  Lovely Professional University, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Indian Institute of Finance, Annamalai University, Karnataka State Open and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies