online competency-based mba degree
Master of Business Administration (Competency Based-CB)
Complete your degree in less than 12 months and for under $10K
Businesses today face unprecedented challenges that can only be solved by the professionals who are on the ground, dealing with them. Which is why our new competency-based MBA equips you with advanced business skills in under 12 months. This program is designed for professionals with a business degree and experience working in that field.
What is compentency-based learning (CB)?
You’re scheduled in 4 courses concurrently over a span of 16 weeks. CB programs encourage individual learning and provide an opportunity to engage with fellow students. You’ll also receive support and guidance from faculty in your courses and a dedicated faculty mentor in your program.
- Start your group of courses with the support of a faculty mentor.
- Take 3 to 4 courses at your own pace every 16-week period. Spend less time on material you know and more time on new subject matter.
- Once ready, faculty can unlock competency assessments so you can demonstrate what you know and how to apply it.
Is CB a good fit for you?
| TRADITIONAL | COMPETENCY-BASED |
|---|---|
|
16 months (MBA)
17 months (MHA/MIS) |
Less than a year
|
|
6-week course at a time
|
More intensive timeline to complete 4 courses, which can be taken one at a time
|
|
Traditional classroom led by instructors
|
Self-paced, flexible learnings with limited faculty guidance
|
|
Bachelor’s degree with 2.5 GPA
|
Bachelor’s degree with 2.5 GPA and relevant work experience
|
|
$698 per credit
|
$300 per credit (no additional fees)
|
| COMPETENCY-BASED | TRADITIONAL |
|---|---|
|
Less than a year
|
16 months (MBA)
17 months (MHA/MIS) |
|
More intensive timeline to complete 4 courses, which can be taken one at a time
|
6-week course at a time
|
|
Self-paced, flexible learnings with limited faculty guidance
|
Traditional classroom led by instructors
|
|
Bachelor’s degree with 2.5 GPA and relevant work experience
|
Bachelor’s degree with 2.5 GPA
|
|
$300 per credit (no additional fees)
|
$698 per credit
|
Ignite Your Passion
Start when you're ready
Courses
Browse courses for your online MBA degree
Education should hold practical value. That’s why our courses meet rigorous academic standards and provide you with skills and knowledge immediately applicable to your career.
Look for this icon to see which skills you’ll learn in a course.
Requirements: 33 credits
In a competency-based program, you earn credit by demonstrating your knowledge of a core skill, or competency. Since there are 33 credits in this program, one competency equals one credit.
- An undergraduate degree, or higher, in business or business management
- A cumulative GPA of 2.5
- Three years of experience within the past 10 years in a business environment
4 courses at a time
16 weeks per course
11 courses per year
Schedule
Your academic counselor will help schedule your courses for a Master of Business Administration (Competency-Based).
Earn career-relevant skills in weeks – not years.
Learning shouldn’t take years to put into practice. That’s why we’re empowering you to build career-relevant skills with every course.
We’ve worked with the labor market researcher Lightcast to identify in-demand skills for occupations and mapped those to our related associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
Earn career-relevant skills in weeks – not years.
Learning shouldn’t take years to put into practice. That’s why we’re empowering you to build career-relevant skills with every course.
We’ve worked with the labor market researcher Lightcast to identify in-demand skills for occupations and mapped those to our related associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
Tuition
Paying for school
Tuition is based on a calculation of number of credits multiplied by the per credit cost.
MBA-CB estimated program cost
$9,900 / program
Tuition Guarantee
With our Tuition Guarantee, you pay one flat, affordable tuition rate from the moment you enroll to the day you graduate from your program.
Financial aid
You may have options when it comes to paying for college tuition and expenses, such as federal grants and loans. Our finance advisors can answer your questions about financial aid and can help guide you through the process.
Federal Student Loan Basics
Careers & Outcomes
What can you do with a Master of Business Administration degree (Competency-Based)?
Discover where your degree might take you and make informed choices about your future.
A competency-based MBA can help prepare you to be a:
- Business Manager
- General Manager (GM)
- Operations Director
- Administrative Director
Top skills learned in this program:
Communication
Leadership
Management
Strategic planning
Decision making
Ready to get started?
Start your application for free or request additional information.
What you’ll learn
When you earn your Master of Business Administration (Competency-Based), you’ll be equipped with a concrete set of skills you can apply on the job. You’ll learn how to:
- Integrate decision-making skills to deliver organizational value in dynamic environments.
- Create strategies for sustainable organizational success that integrates the organization’s mission and vision with societal values.
- Synthesize leadership skills to foster innovation and facilitate change in a dynamic business environment.
- Evaluate the global environment to sustain an organization’s competitive advantage.
- Integrate managerial skills to support strategic execution in a rapidly changing business environment.
5% Growth
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for general managers is projected to be as fast as average between 2023 and 2033.
The BLS Projected Growth for 2023-2033 is published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This data reflects the BLS’ projections of national (not local) conditions. These data points are not specific to University of Phoenix students or graduates.
Admissions
Apply for free – no application fee, no obligation.
Starting your degree is a big decision — and we want you to feel great about it. That’s why we remove obstacles from your application.
- No cost to request prior transcripts
- No GMAT
- No essay required
How to enroll at University of Phoenix
Receive 1-on-1 support
You have a support team of real people you can lean on. And our academic counselors, who are with you every step of the way, have earned a 5-star rating from 90% of our surveyed students.[1] Start a conversation with an enrollment representative today.
[1] Transactional Survey, August 2021-22 (18,645 respondents)
Call or chat with us 7 days a week.
Gabriel G., Enrollment Rep
Receive 1-on-1 support
You have a support team of real people you can lean on. And our academic counselors, who are with you every step of the way, have earned a 5-star rating from 85% of our surveyed students.[1]
[1] Transactional Survey, September 2022-August 2023 (23,739 respondents)
Start a conversation with an enrollment representative today.
Call us at 844-937-8679 or chat with us 7 days a week.
Student Experience
An education that fits your busy life
Balancing family, work and school
Work toward your degree without giving up what matters most. Start your degree year-round and take one class at a time.
Online learning
Enroll in online classes and attend class whenever it fits your life, day or night.
Around-the-clock support and resources
You have a support team available up to 14 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Computer requirements for courses
Many course assignments will require you to use a computer to complete and submit your assignment.
Faculty Spotlight
Business professionals dedicated to you
Your educational success is a top priority for our business deans and faculty members. Their experience and hands-on perspective in the classroom will help you bridge the gap between academics and business industry knowledge. Our instructors bring an average of 28+ years of real-world business experience to the classroom.
Donald Braunstein, MBA
Lead Faculty Area Chair, College of Business and Information Technology
Tina Potter, DBA
Faculty, College of Business and Information Technology
Danica Djordjevich, MAFM, CPA
Faculty, College of Business and Information Technology
Accreditation
Count on the quality of your education
programmatic accreditation
Our MBA has been reaffirmed for accreditation until 2027 by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), ensuring the quality of your education.
What does that mean in real life? ACBSP-accredited business programs are committed to quality standards. The quality of the program is regularly benchmarked against specific criteria that prepare students for the business industry. Accreditation occurs on a 10-year cycle with regular quality reviews.
View the student achievement report (PDF) for the University of Phoenix ACBSP-accredited business and accounting programs.
Frequently asked questions about this MBA
With a competency-based MBA, you can set your own pace within each 16-week term and control how fast or slow you move through the curriculum. You can leverage prior experience and demonstrate your mastery of subject matter you already know and spend more time on unfamiliar topics. A CB MBA program may be an ideal fit for you if you have previous work experience and prefer more flexible, independent learning than a traditional program.
Our competency-based Master of Business Administration (CB MBA) program equips you with advanced business skills in a shorter time. You can complete a CB MBA program in less than 12 months and for under $10,000.
It’s designed for professionals who already have a business degree and want to leverage their experience in the field to complete a degree faster. You can learn in-demand skills like strategic planning, decision-making, capital budgeting and more, to enhance your marketability as a business professional and increase the quality of your future job opportunities.
Our competency-based Master of Business Administration (CB MBA) program enables you to consume content faster around your own schedule. You can enjoy a flexible learning experience with faculty guidance to prepare for competency assessments. This allows you to complete your degree faster and in a manner that may fit your demanding work and life commitments better.
Traditional MBA programs can take one to two years to complete, but you can finish in less than a year with a CB MBA program. In a CB MBA program, you can enroll in up to four courses concurrently rather than taking one course at a time in our traditional MBA program. CB MBA programs require more self-discipline than the traditional model because you have more autonomy while learning. To enroll in a CB MBA program, you must meet specific work experience and eligibility requirements.
While widely available, not all programs are available to residents of all states. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative.