In recent years, we have seen a real silent revolution in higher education: growth that cannot be stopped for online training programs, especially at the Master and Master of Business Administration. This transformation was not just a side effect of Covid-19 PandeMIC-IT instead of accelerating the direction that responds to the increasing demand for flexibility, access to academic excellence.
One of the sectors that benefited from this digital transition was exactly the master of business administration and the specialized master’s degree. Online programs are no longer the “ugly duck” of higher education and has become a strategic choice for professionals who want to reconcile difficult professions with continuous training for excellence. The market has responded in effect: According to the Admission Council in Graduate Studies (GMAC), 58 % of the MBA programs have increased in 2024. Institutions such as the College of Business Administration, the Empire College, or Warwik Business College have led for years the international “classifications” in the Financial Times and QS in this category. There is more interesting data: Unlike the American programs centered on family students-Master of Business Administration in Europe significantly attracting an international audience.
Portugal has not been left from this change. The Porto Business School (PBS) was one of the institutions that knew how to read the signs of the times and launch a master’s business online that emerges quickly for its educational distinction and the ability to promote “networks” that revolve – without the need for flights, hotels or “coffee breaks”. The international recognition long ago was not a long time ago: In the latest version of the “Financial Times” arrangement, which is devoted to the best master’s business administration in the world, I entered the Porto Business College in the eighth position directly, and Portugal placed the global radar of executive training online.
This achievement is not an opportunity. This is the result of a clear bet in academic rigor, faculty qualification, and above all, in educational innovation. PBS has known how to overcome traditional seasons online, creating an interactive and personal experience that uses status techniques, cooperative platforms and virtual networks initiatives capable of repeating the quality of a person’s dynamics. In addition, it was able to attract international and professional students interested in practical training in line with the real demands of the labor market. The cultural and professional diversity of these students has become one of the educational origins, which led to the enrichment of the discussion and the creation of a global educational community.
This recognition is not just a victory for Porto Business College. It is an unambiguous demonstration that Portugal is able to put itself as a world -class and hybrid education champion – to actually decide to understand this opportunity.
Here exactly that the challenge lies. For Portuguese schools and other universities, I leave a friendly invitation (a little irrigated): Invest in providing online programs and hybrids. This bet will allow us to overcome the regional and national borders, attract global talents and enhance the financial sustainability of institutions. For this, it is also necessary for teachers and educational advice to abandon the automated pilot and invest in educational innovation – because online teaching not only connecting the camera and continuing as if nothing has changed. It requires new curricula, digital tools and multimedia resources capable of ensuring a more interesting educational experience.
It is equally necessary to face mixed models – which combine students and the Internet in the same semester – is not a threat, but as a strategic opportunity. This coordination, which was widely adopted and organized in other countries, offers the best in the worlds: the flexibility for those who cannot be physically in the room and the richness of the face reaction for those who choose this experience.
In Portugal, however, this practice is still involved in a kind of legal parties. The legal system of higher education institutions (RJIES), which has been in force since 2007, reflects the view of higher education for nearly two decades – while online education was marginal, not structural. This old legal framework clearly needs a deep review, not only for recognition and organizing mixed models, but also to reflect the new facts of higher education, including the diversity of programs, coordination and methodologies.
This absence was used to update as an excuse by some institutions to reduce or inhibit the adoption of mixed models, which sustains an educational model that no longer responds to the requirements of today’s world. More curiosity (and anxiety) is that some universities, through the internal decision, choose to restrict this method, although there are no legal obstacles to implement it. This resistance represents a lost opportunity and delay in facing international best practices. It is necessary for the legal framework for Portuguese higher education to develop and create a clear, modern and ambitious list that officially recognizes these new forms of teaching and gives institutions the necessary safety for innovation.
The repeated legend must also be retracted: the hybrid models do not raise any moral problem or shares, as long as the teachers adapt to their teaching methodologies. All students – faces to the interface or online – can access the same content, interactions and learning opportunities. With some homework by teachers and institutions, the hybrid model works – in good health. In fact, it is an excellent exercise of what students will find in the labor market: digital, cooperative and cultural environments.
In short, the growth of online and hybrid education is not a technological fancy or transient fashion – it is an inevitable development. Portugal has talents, institutions and the ability to lead this transformation. The rise of the Porto Business College in the “arrangement” of the Financial Times times is possible. Now, only the legal system and Portuguese academic leaders do what students themselves learn in Business Administration Master: Determining opportunities, innovation and behavior.
