The goal for UF’s Internet Master of Business Administration program was to make it immersive, and now it’s top ranked.
Alex Sevilla, the assistant dean and director of the UF MBA program, said the Financial Times ranked UF’s online MBA No. 1 in the nation and No. 3 in the world among all online MBA programs.
The program started in 1999, when Sevilla started working for the university, he said.
He said the online MBA program includes an extensive four or 10 day orientation program, where students participate in team-building activities and learn to use the online system. It’s a small class size, and the faculty’s lectures are original and created just for them.
Sevilla also said students must do two-day residencies at the end of every semester. During the first day, students take exams or give presentations.
They end with a celebration, sometimes playing golf.
The next day marks the start of the new semester, and students meet their faculty for their new classes.
“Our philosophy is to create a very dynamic MBA program experience,” Sevilla said. “Technology is part of the program, but we don’t want that to be a limiting feature.”
Emily Bethel, a 19-year-old UF finance sophomore who hopes to earn her MBA, doesn’t doubt the integrity of the program.
“Because I go to UF and I’ve taken online classes before,” she said, “I think it would be a natural transition.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 3/11/2015 under the headline “UF ranked No. 1 in country for online MBA program, 3 in world”]
