Recognised as one of the leading business schools for its focus on sustainability and ethical leadership, Rhodes Business School (https://apo-opa.info/3s8wI9i) has entered into a partnership with eLearnAfrica to develop a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), to fulfil the School’s goal of enabling its AMBA accredited MBA to reach into Africa and beyond, like never before.

Professor Owen Skae, Director of Rhodes Business School, says that the eLearnAfrica supported VLE will be operational from 2024. “We are very excited about this as it means our MBA is now more accessible than ever”.

Founded in 2000, Rhodes Business School’s Vision is to “transform business for a sustainable world” and its Mission is to “educate and influence responsible business practice, responsibly”.

Says  Skae, “We learnt two things from teaching through the pandemic. Returning to the old ‘business as usual model’ of ‘chalk and talk’ is not going to happen like it used to. At the same time, running Zoom or Teams sessions and just displaying your power-point slides does 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 whilst creating a virtual classroom environment for academic staff to deliver effectively and efficiently, regardless of the mode of delivery.

”Getting the state-of-the-art VLE platform that was needed required partnering with someone who knows what they are doing. Students need the right balance of synchronous and asynchronous interaction that only a top-class VLE can bring. That partner is eLearnAfrica” Prof Skae said.

Students need the right balance of synchronous and asynchronous interaction that only a top-class VLE can bring.

The VLE 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. The partnership with eLearnAfrica brings, immersion, flexibility and convenience.

The VLE-enabled MBA will allow the current four two-week block attendances (i.e. two blocks in Year 1 and two blocks in Year 2) to be reduced to one block in each year (i.e. one block in each of Year 1 and Year 2), for the invaluable face-face delivery mode.

The Rhodes Business School’s essence is “Leadership for Sustainability.” Leadership and sustainability principles underline all subjects in the curriculum. Emphasis is placed on business continuity and achieving a balance between economic, social and environmental sustainability. The School applies its unique 4E (Economy, Ethics, Ecology and Equity) model in its teaching and learning practice.

“Management Education is crucial to unlocking Africa’s vast potential. Our MBA strives to educate Africa’s future business leaders and managers that it ‘isn’t about how much money organisations make, but how they make their money’. Getting that right is critical to achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063, whilst simultaneously meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and gearing up to take advantage of 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”, says Skae.   

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

The admission requirements are, an Honours degree or Postgraduate Diploma, a minimum of three years’ work experience and an admission test such as NMAT, GMAT or GRE. Applications close on 31^st October 2023.

Rhodes Business School, Rhodes University is located in the rural city of Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Its nearest large city is Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).