Forget the stigma associated with online and distance learning; research has revealed that online degrees are as equally good as campus courses. A study conducted by the Athabasca University in Canada has established that online learning contributes to better explanatory and cognitive skills, while on-campus study improves and enhances social and procedural learning techniques. The study was based on social, procedural, cognitive and explanatory levels of learning. Dr. Thomas Russell of the University of North Carolina states that the overall quality of an educational experience is not affected by the delivery method alone.

Another study conducted by researchers at Colorado State University’s AACSB-accredited business school comparing MBA students of campus courses, distance courses, and executive courses, in 12 academic competencies, discovered that  though all three  groups scored high in 7 of the 12 competencies, distance students reported higher scores than the campus group in three areas – technology, quantitative skills, and theory skills. All three groups learnt almost the same curriculum, had the same instructors, and were awarded the same AACSB-accredited degree at the conclusion of the course.