Methodology and Sourcing

We currently list 274 online programs at 67 schools in 6 destinations, and record 155 related offerings we checked and did not list (shown on each school page with the reason). Coverage is partial and growing: a program missing from the directory has not been verified yet. We do not claim complete coverage of online business education anywhere.

Scope

The directory covers English-taught online degrees in eight business subjects — business administration, finance, accounting, marketing, international business, banking, economics and real estate — at bachelor's, master's and doctoral level. Destinations are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, plus Switzerland, where programs are included only when English delivery and degree recognition are verified for the individual program.

Recognition of the awarding institution

Every listed degree must be awarded by an institution with legal degree-awarding recognition in its own country, recorded from an official source. Recognition systems differ and we do not treat them as identical:

• United States — current institutional accreditation from an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, from its DAPIP database.
• United Kingdom — registration with the Office for Students and degree-awarding powers, or university status by statute or charter for Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish universities.
• Australia — registration on the TEQSA National Register.
• Canada, Ireland, New Zealand — the enabling statute or the government or quality agency register (for example a provincial university act in Canada, QQI-validated awards in Ireland) as published by the authority.
• Switzerland — institutional accreditation under the Higher Education Act (HEdA) by the Swiss Accreditation Council; a school's own executive diploma is not a recognized degree.

Business-school accreditation — AACSB, EQUIS, AMBA, ACBSP and others — is recorded separately. It is a voluntary quality review of a business school or program, not legal recognition, and a school-level accreditation does not automatically cover every program. Recognition in one country does not guarantee recognition for employment, licensing or further study elsewhere.

Teaching provider and awarding institution

Some schools teach degrees awarded by another institution — validated, franchised, joint or partner-delivered arrangements. We record both, show both on the program page, and check recognition for the awarding institution. Each program has one canonical page under its awarding institution. Online program management companies that market or deliver a university's online degrees are named as a partnership note; they are not presented as the school.

Which programs are eligible

Every listed program carries an eligibility record: official program name, awarded qualification, degree level and type, the decision, an explanation and the official page showing the degree is offered online. A deterministic gate checks every research decision and can only make it stricter: a certificate, a hybrid campus program, a mislabelled doctorate or unverified language goes to an editor instead of being published. A DBA is never labelled a PhD; an Executive MBA is a master's degree.

Subjects: dedicated degrees and concentrations

Subjects are assigned from the official program, not by keyword. A dedicated degree is in the subject (an MSc Finance is a finance degree). A concentration is a named official specialization within a broader degree (an MBA with a finance pathway). A general degree with a few relevant modules is not assigned to the subject at all. Subject pages label both and let you filter.

English instruction

The language of instruction is verified for each program, not inferred from the website's language. Outside English-speaking countries we require an explicit statement that the program is taught in English. We record whether all required modules are available in English, any other mandatory language requirement and thesis rules when published. A program whose language is unclear stays in review and is not published.

How “online” is classified

• Delivery: fully online; online with a required placement; online with required attendance (campus visits, residential weeks, in-person exams or defense); hybrid.
• Campus visits: none, required, optional or not verified. “No campus visits required” needs explicit wording from the institution.
• Schedule (asynchronous, synchronous, mixed), live-session time zones and study intensity (full-time, part-time, flexible), when published.
• Attendance requirements are listed one by one with their location, frequency and travel expectations as published.

What a destination listing means

A program is grouped under the country (and, where useful, region and city) where the institution — or the unit that runs the program — is based. It does not mean students must live there, and it does not mean every applicant is eligible. Admission rules, fee status and any visa or residency conditions are set by the institution.

Tuition, credits and deadlines

Tuition keeps its published currency, fee category (for example home/overseas, domestic/international, in-state/out-of-state, EU/EEA or one fee for all online students), basis (per credit, per module, per year, whole program) and academic year. We do not convert currencies, and figures in different currencies or on different bases are never ranked against each other. An estimated total is calculated only from a per-credit rate and published credits, with its formula and exclusions shown. Credits keep their system — US credit hours, ECTS, UK credits, Australian credit points — and are not treated as equivalent numbers. Deadlines keep the intake and year the institution printed; a past date is marked passed and never rolled forward. Loans are never presented as scholarships.

Sources and verification

Program facts come from each institution's own pages — program pages, programme specifications, catalogs, fee tables and admissions pages. Recognition comes from the authority's register or the enabling statute where we can read it, otherwise from the institution's own statement of its status, named as such. Search engines and other directories may help us find pages but never establish a fact.

Every published fact stores the URL it came from and a verbatim quote. An automated check re-fetches the page and searches for the quote; a fact whose quote is not found is stored but never shown. We do not bypass bot protection: pages behind it stay unverified and are listed in our coverage report. Editors can confirm a fact manually after reading the source. Unknown stays unknown: missing GMAT information is “not verified”, not “not required”.

Order, Top Programs and sponsorship

Listings are alphabetical by school by default. Visitors can sort by soonest verified deadline, most recently verified, or — within one currency and fee basis — lowest published tuition. Ordinary pages carry neutral titles. Top Programs collections are editorial selections with a published methodology, not numerical rankings. Paid placements are labelled “Sponsored”, appear only when relevant to the page's filters, sit in a separate section and never change facts, selections or the order of the directory.

What we do not claim

• We do not publish or estimate acceptance rates, prestige scores, rankings, graduate outcomes, salaries or job placement.
• Listing is not an endorsement, and an institution's absence is not a judgment.
• We are not a university, an accreditation body or an application service. Apply on each institution's official website.
• Requirements, costs and deadlines change. Always confirm with the institution before applying.

Corrections

Schools and readers can request a correction with an official source. Corrections are reviewed against official pages; nobody can edit a profile directly, and sponsorship does not change facts.