Report: Global Employers Embrace Online Business Degrees, but U.S. Lags Behind
Credit: LumiNola / E+ / Getty Images- A new GMAC survey of employers across the world found that most view online and in-person degrees as equally valuable.
- The U.S., however, lags behind other regions in the embrace of online degrees.
- Roughly 90% of employers said they’re aware of whether a degree was delivered online before an employee starts, usually during the review of application materials or during the interview process.
- U.S. employers increasingly see value in microcredentials like graduate certificates.
Employers across the globe treat online and in-person business degrees equally, but that isn’t always the case for U.S. employers.
Online business degrees tailored to working professionals have been on the rise since the pandemic, and a highly competitive market has led to disruptively priced master of business administration (MBA) programs and other specialized business degrees with built-in flexibility.
Stay in the Know!
Subscribe to our weekly emails and get the latest college news and resources sent straight to your inbox!
But whether employers embrace these affordable online degrees is another question.
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) found in its 2025 Corporate Recruiters Survey that employers outside of the United States, particularly in the technology sector, value online and in-person degrees equally.
Online degrees are increasingly rigorous, with real-world learning built into their curriculum. They also home in on high-demand areas like artificial intelligence (AI), like Arizona State University’s online AI in business graduate and undergraduate degrees.
Employers either mainly agreed or strongly agreed that their company values graduates of online and in-person programs equally in every region except the United States. Only 5% of U.S. employers strongly agreed with that statement, and an additional 23% agreed.
A further 27% said they didn’t agree or disagree, and a plurality — 34% — disagreed. Another 11% strongly disagreed.
“The shift to hybrid and remote work has not only transformed how and where business gets done — it may also be affecting employer perceptions of graduate management education,” the report reads.
“As flexibility in work and learning becomes a norm, schools must ensure their offerings, regardless of format, are seen as rigorous, relevant, and aligned with real-world demands.
GMAC also found that employers across the board tend to be privy to whether a program was delivered online well before an employee starts.
Roughly 90% of employers said they’re aware of whether a degree was delivered online before an employee starts, usually during the review of application materials or during the interview process.
Those findings don’t mean that employers in the U.S. don’t value an online degree, but the report notes that “positive perceptions of online program delivery extend primarily to the technical skills that online degrees can help their students develop.”
And any MBA in the United States has a positive effect on earnings: MBA graduates in the U.S. are projected to make $25,000 more than an experienced industry hire, according to the report.
U.S. employers also expressed a growing interest in microcredentials. The report shows a general trend away from employers saying that employees with a graduate degree tend to be more successful at their organization than those with microcredentials alone.