How long does it take to study an MBA in South Africa?

Usually, an MBA takes two years to complete. There are also some courses that condense this into an accelerated one-year programme while others offer part-time programmes over as long as four years. This is confirmed by Sabsa, which stipulates that MBA courses can run from one to four years.

At UJ, the online MBA course runs for two years, but it is structured in a flexible way so that you can continue with your existing work responsibilities and study in your own free time. The way in which the payments and modules are structured also allow for students to take breaks along the way as you only need to pay for each module upfront. This means you can pause your studies without penalty should you find that you are short of either funds or the time needed.

So long as the course is completed within the four-year limit, students can stop and start as many times as they like. This has been structured with the working professional in mind and it allows for students to also maintain their personal and family commitments.

What are the requirements for an MBA in SA?

An MBA is a postgraduate degree, requiring applicants to already hold a graduate degree. MBA courses differ from most other postgraduate degrees in two important ways. To study an MBA, you do not need to have studied any particular undergraduate degree so long as you have one. This allows for diverse backgrounds among MBA students. The second part of the general MBA requirements is that applicants do need to have some work experience behind them before they can be admitted.

For full details on the MBA requirements, please look at the common MBA entry requirements at South African Business Schools section higher up in this article.

Is an MBA worth it in South Africa?

It is certain that an MBA can increase the job prospects and earning potential of graduates, but merely completing an MBA is not by itself a guarantee of career success. In deciding whether an MBA is worth it for you, you need to consider where you are in your career and where you would like to get to. It’s also important to consider the field in which you work or would like to work.

As a business-orientated degree, an MBA is aimed at those in business. If you are looking to climb the corporate ladder or grow your own entrepreneurial venture, then the skills learnt in an MBA programme will be of direct benefit. There is also a focus on leadership and management skills, so it is aimed at those who are in charge of teams or other groups of people.

If however, you work in an entirely unrelated field and carry out most of your work individually, such as an academic researcher, writer or artist, then it is likely that other academic pursuits would give you a better return on the investment of your time, effort and money. So, is an MBA worth it? That depends entirely on you.

What is an MBA qualification?

An MBA qualification is a Master of Business Administration degree. It is an internationally recognised postgraduate degree that provides graduates with a set of skills aimed at producing effective managers in the business environment. As the name implies, it is a masters-level qualification, meaning that it can be used as a stepping stone towards a PhD.

You can read more about the MBA meaning in our previous article, What is an MBA? or check out the different subjects in MBA curriculums, with breakdowns for your first year and second year of study along with other MBA course details.

What is required for an MBA?

All of South Africa’s MBA programmes require a graduate degree and some work experience. Exact MBA requirements differ among institutions, but the baseline requirements are detailed in the Common MBA entry requirements at South African Business Schools section higher up in this article.

Can anyone do an MBA?

As a masters-level degree, an MBA is certainly not open to just anyone. Completing an MBA means that you have proven yourself to be especially skilled, knowledgeable and proficient. That said, an MBA is open to far more people than most specialised masters-level degrees.

What makes the MBA different from most other courses at this academic level is that applicants do not need to have studied any particular field in their undergraduate degree. This means that MBAs attract applicants from all walks of life and fields of study.

So while the MBA is not open to just everyone, it is a far more accessible course than other masters-level degrees that will require a very specific academic path to enter.

Do employers care if an MBA is online?

There is a notion that if all other things are equal, traditional contact courses are seen as being better than their online counterparts, but there’s more to consider.

We spoke to Lindy Taylor, the innovation and business development manager at Altgen, Africa’s leading recruitment company for the renewable energy sector with offices in South Africa, the UK, Kenya and Mauritius.

“Unfortunately, they do somewhat, but this will likely change as more respected institutes emerge or begin to offer online courses. Many companies have had to do a paradigm shift in the way they think about remote work and have become more accepting of the concept, and the idea of online education will be the same as we progress into the 4th industrial revolution,” Taylor said.

She did, however, add that the work experience that an online MBA student could gain over the same time would be beneficial. “Any work experience will always make a candidate more attractable to a company. Having commercial awareness and the ability to hit the ground running is a key factor employers look for,” she noted.

You will need to assess your own situation and look at the costs and benefits. For many people though, the very real dual benefits of maintaining an income and continuing to build up work experience while studying online are likely to far outweigh the possibility that an employer might view a face-to-face MBA as more valuable than the diligence and discipline displayed by working and studying at the same time.

Is an online MBA different from a regular MBA?

The contents of an online MBA are the same as a traditional contact MBA. The only difference between the two is the manner in which classes and assignments are handled. Through the use of chat rooms and other forms of online communication, students are still able to get direct feedback from their lecturers as well as interact and network with their peers.

You can read more about the differences between online and contact MBA degrees in our previous article weighing up an online MBA vs part-time and traditional contact MBAs.

Is an EMBA as good as an MBA?

Essentially, they are the same thing. Traditionally the two differed in terms of how they were studied, but both aimed to produce graduates with the same set of skills. The distinction between the two is less relevant today with many MBAs offered in flexible and part-time ways that would previously have caused them to be called EMBAs.

Asked about the value that employers place on an EMBA, Altgen’s Taylor said that they have never had an employer ask for an EMBA graduate.

What is an EMBA?

An EMBA is an Executive Master of Business Administration. The only difference between the two is that traditional MBAs were seen as full-time courses that do not allow for students to continue working at the same time. Executive MBAs in comparison have traditionally been structured to allow for part-time study while carrying on with work commitments.

Due to this difference, executive MBA students were often supported by their employers, meaning executive MBAs were often more expensive. Although course requirements vary, executive MBAs tended to require more senior level experience than non-executive MBAs and this meant that the average age of EMBA students tended to be older than that of MBAs.

These days this distinction is becoming redundant, especially with the rise of online learning. For example, UJ's online MBA programme takes two years, but it is structured to be flexible enough to study part-time so students can continue with their work commitments. Applicants for the programme do also require four years of relevant work experience, which goes beyond the base requirements as set out by Sabsa above. In this way the UJ online MBA acts very much like an executive MBA in all but its name.

What’s the difference between an MBA and an EMBA?

In terms of the final qualification, there is no real difference between an MBA degree or an executive masters of business administration (EMBA) degree. Traditionally, EMBA programmes were designed specifically to allow students to continue with their work commitments, attending classes in the evenings or on weekends. Another factor that sometimes separates the two types of programme is the fact that EMBA students were usually older and had more work experience.

With the recent increase in availability of online and flexible part-time MBA courses, the distinction between an EMBA and a “regular” MBA is largely redundant. Most South African MBAs already require that applicants have professional work experience and many courses, such as the UJ online Master of Business Administration, are presented as “regular” MBAs but with all of the flexibility that was traditionally offered by an EMBA.

Is an EMBA considered as a masters degree?

Yes, an EMBA is considered to be a masters degree, as is an MBA. Both courses hold the same level of qualification and are at level 9 on the National Qualification Framework (NQF).

Is there a mini MBA?

The term “mini MBA” covers a broad range of courses offered by different institutions. Typically, the types of courses that use this label aim to teach students business skills in an accelerated time.

In South Africa there are also some business-related postgraduate diplomas, which require half the time to complete as a full MBA. These give a similar set of skills, but with less depth of knowledge than is covered by the longer MBA.

What level is a mini MBA?

There is no officially recognised “mini MBA” and the name is used differently by different institutions. Some courses can be completed in just a few weeks, but these will only grant students a certificate and not a properly recognised degree.

South Africa does officially recognise several business-related postgraduate diplomas that are quicker to complete but lack the depth and respectability of a true MBA. These do provide SAQA-recognised qualifications, but they are at NQF level 8, one level lower than for an MBA.

What are the benefits of a mini MBA?

With “mini MBA” being such a wide term, it is tricky to provide a blanket answer. That said, there are certain features and benefits that they have in common that may appeal to people in certain situations.

The main selling points of a mini MBA is that it is quicker to complete and, usually, more affordable than a full MBA. For example, a mini MBA course might appeal to someone looking at starting up their own business who wants to learn some basic business skills in a matter of weeks and who does not have the time or funds to commit to a longer term degree.

Where they do not match up to a proper MBA however, is in terms of the qualifications gained. A mini MBA can be seen as a quick, short-term stepping stone to acquiring a useful set of business skills. A better recognised academic qualification like an MBA will be far more useful if you want to advance your career over a longer term.