Strome College of Business MBA Ranked Nationally by Bloomberg Businessweek and ACO

Old Dominion University's MBA program in the Strome College of Business has received two national recognitions this month.

Affordable Colleges Online

Old Dominion's MBA program is ranked 16th in The 50 Best Online MBA Programs For 2015-2016 by Affordable Colleges Online (ACO). ACO analyzed every online MBA program in the nation by cost, supportive services, student teacher ratio and accreditation to determine which schools stand on top.

ACO notes that ODU's online MBA program has accelerated courses that last 7.5-8 weeks, and that students can customize their degrees by earning certificates in specialized areas such as maritime and port management, global health, or public procurement and contract management. Both the MBA core program and the certificates are available online and on-campus.

Old Dominion is the only Virginia school in ACO's list. Arizona State is ranked at No. 1, Penn State World Campus is No. 2, and George Washington University is No. 3.

Bloomberg Businessweek

Old Dominion's part-time MBA program is ranked 69th nationally in Bloomberg Businessweek's 2015 rankings of the best business schools.

Released Tuesday, the rankings include 74 U.S. full-time business programs, 74 part-time programs and 29 international full-time MBA programs.

In its report, Bloomberg Businessweek said the part-time rankings are calculated using student and alumni survey scores.

Student survey and alumni survey scores were standardized using mean and standard deviation and combined to create final rankings. Each accounted for 50 percent of the program's overall score.

This is the highest ranking Old Dominion has achieved in the annual Bloomberg Businessweek analysis.

"This type of recognition really reflects the long-term commitment by the Strome College of Business faculty to high quality graduate education, and the dedication to serving the needs of professionals - whether members of the military or the private sector," said Jeff Tanner, dean of the Strome College of Business.

Bloomberg Businessweek noted, "part-time MBA programs differ from traditional two-year MBA programs mainly because of their students, who often require flexibility and want to use the degree to advance within their company.

"They tend to be a little older than full-timers, and more than half return to their pre-MBA job, compared with one in 10 full-time graduates," the magazine stated.

Harvard is ranked No. 1 among full-time MBA programs, the University of Western Ontario is No. 1 among full-time international MBA programs, and Northwestern is top-ranked among part-time MBA programs.

Portions of this article appeared first in InsideODU.