The distance education provision of the Master of Business Administration commenced in October 1990.

The MBA at Edinburgh has the same standing as any other higher degree offered by Heriot-Watt University.

International Student Body: Heriot-Watt MBA students hail from over 120 different countries, including about 4,000 in North America, about 2,000 in Hong Kong, and thousands more in Europe and Asia. Since 1990, over 100 students have graduated from Heriot-Watt University with MBA degrees earned via distance learning, and currently there are some 8,000 active students.

The current total enrolment of 16,000 comprises 7,000 active students, that is those who are currently submitting work, and a further 9,000 who are dormant that is to say the university has not had contact from them recently. There are roughly 2,500 students in the United States, a striking figure considering the preponderance of MBA courses there, and 1,000 in Israel.

All main English speaking countries are participants in the programme. Accountants and engineers are the main professions represented.

Thus the model is that of a masters programme at a Scottish university with a student body of 4,500-5,000 students, which has one masters distance programme taught totally globally to twice the enrolment of the rest of the university. At present only the one masters course at a distance is available but in 1997 the university is conducting an experiment with an undergraduate degree in business studies.

The entire fee is paid by the student. Each course in the MBA programme costs £425. Students must obtain 9 course passes to meet the requirement for the degree. Exemptions to a maximum of 2 may be awarded. Examination fees are £55 per examination. Software is available at £225 per course. Maximum cost is therefore £5,895 (£425 x 9) + (£55 x 9) + £225 x 7). Only the core courses have software. Average total fee per student is £4,545. (£1 = 1.5 Euro)

Government funding for the university for the 1994-95 academic year was Euro 30,000,000 but there was no government funding for the distance learning programme.

Self-contained Texts: Heriot-Watt MBA text materials are written with the assumption that the student possesses no prior knowledge of the subject matter. A course will begin by covering basic and essential concepts and will test the student's comprehension before proceeding to more advanced material. Since the only grade for each course is the three-hour proctored final examination, thorough examination preparation requires a complete reading of the course text and utilisation of the various testing and review questions. There are no intermediate assignments or papers to be concerned with. One does not need to access outside sources of information to assist with examination preparation; however, there is a Help-Line available to assist students struggling with particularly difficult concepts.

Every feature of the Heriot-Watt MBA is designed for practical business application. When Professor Keith Lumsden and the university were developing the program, they incorporated the input of several prominent corporations, who were invited to take part in the process to ensure that the needs and concerns of the business world were being properly addressed. These companies offered ideas and information, and helped test the program by putting employees through modules as they were being developed.

Graduate in absentia: In addition to there being no classtime, there are no weekend seminars, as with some MBA programs. In fact, there is never any need to set foot upon campus at all. Although one may travel to Edinburgh to attend Heriot-Watt's graduation ceremony upon completion of the program, even graduation can be completed in absentia. The only travel a participant in this program may encounter is for the twice yearly examination sessions.

Self-paced: The Heriot-Watt MBA by distance learning is entirely self-paced, supplying a study format that can be adapted to almost any situation. You, the student, determine your study schedule, tailoring it to meet your individual needs. If you prefer to study on weeknights, that is your option; if you plan to study only on weekends, the choice is yours. If you plan to study whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself, the flexibility of a self-determined schedule and the convenience of portable text material make that choice possible. While independent study requires a strong dose of self-discipline to be successful, you will never be forced to study, read, or take a final examination if inconvenient to your schedule.

Examinations and Courses: The Heriot-Watt MBA by distance learning consists of nine courses, seven of which are compulsory and two elective. Courses may be taken in any order (study route suggestions are available) and in any quantity per examination session. One student might choose to take Economics and an elective in her first term, another might choose Finance, Organisational Behaviour, and Quantitative Methods, while yet another student might concentrate only on Marketing. The courseload and class combination is your choice. In general, starting with the one or two courses that most appeal to you, or that would be of greatest immediate assistance in your workplace, are good places to start. Another convenient feature of the program is that courses may be purchased long before a student plans to test on them (Often to take advantage of the multi-course discounts available for orders of three or more courses at one time) since examination registration is not automatic, but a process that is initiated by the student.

Long-term Study Plan: With final examinations held every June and December, you may devise a strategy that permits you to take tests on a regular six-month basis in the order you desire. Students have seven years to complete the program once they pass their first examination; most finish much earlier. One additional element of the program's flexibility is that a student may defer from an examination he is registered to test for and postpone it to a later session if he feels unprepared to sit for it.

Open Access: A guiding principle of the Heriot-Watt MBA is the belief that a business education should be accessible to anyone with the intelligence and motivation to pursue it. For this reason, a Bachelor's degree is not required for admission (although the large majority of Heriot-Watt MBA students do possess one). The opportunity to begin the program does not, of course, automatically equate to success, which rests entirely upon a student's ability to master the course material and to pass the examinations. But the program, unlike most others, does provide the opportunity to earn an MBA for those who, for whatever reason, have not achieved a Bachelor's degree (a population that includes a great many business people).

No Bachelor's: Because of the examination-based, performance-driven nature of the Heriot-Watt MBA, students without a Bachelors' degree are not officially matriculated (enrolled) until such time as they have "proven" their ability to do Master's level work by passing two of the seven compulsory examinations. When this is accomplished, the probationary period will end and Heriot-Watt University will matriculate the student. Enrolees with a Bachelor's degree are admitted immediately.

No GMAT: Applicants to the Heriot-Watt MBA do not need to take the GMAT or any other standardised test to qualify for admission. The purpose of the GMAT is more to filter out mass quantities of sub-par applicants than to access student capability. Since distance learning mode students at Heriot-Watt present only a limited strain upon campus resources, there is no maximum student intake. The rigorous testing mechanism inherent to the program is more than sufficient to weed out unqualified students.