"There's absolutely no way that students can work," says Dr Sarah Kelly, MBA program director and senior lecturer at the University of Queensland (UQ) Business School. "A few might fit in a bit of part-time work but our program requires students to be at university from 9am to 5pm for six-week blocks and then they get a weeks' break. 

"You get days off: you do face-to-face on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and then have Tuesdays and Thursdays to do your work. But even in their downtime, students are at uni as there are group projects to get done."

Professor Zeger Degraeve, Dean of the Melbourne Business School (MBS), says that "there's an intensity to the one-year format (which costs about $79,000 and is ranked in the top one per cent of MBAs worldwide). 

"When students are here they are here from 9am to 6pm. This intensive format gives them a grounding in business skills as they would experience them in the real world."

Many Australian universities offer MBAs, some as a one-year option, some as an 18-month or two-year course of study.

"A masters' degree at any Australian university must have a minimum volume of learning, which is essentially quoted in hours," says Professor Guy Ford, director of the MBA program at the University of Sydney Business School. 

"Thus, there should be no such thing as a 'shorter' MBA, but depending on the semester structure in some universities, it is possible that a MBA taken full-time can be completed in one year."

In a 2013 report, the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) concluded that "all masters degree (coursework) graduates are required to have knowledge of research principles and methods, and to undertake some independent research, and that project work or practice-related learning are alternatives to each other, not alternatives to research."

So those universities offering a one-year MBA have to tick a lot of boxes. 

"In the one-year program [which at UQ costs domestic students about $52,320] as long as students have a research project at the end and are active in consultancy through the program, then the timeframe is not an issue," Kelly says. 

All universities are held accountable to both governing tertiary bodies and the marketplace.

"The [one-year] programs are fully accredited to global standards," says Degraeve. "Our competition is with the overseas business schools. We are in the list of the top one per cent of global business schools. The standards are set globally by the demand for top-level qualifications." 

Internationally, Notre Dame in the US and the University of Cambridge Judge Business School in Britainas well as several European universities offer one-year MBA degrees. 

Melbourne University, the University of Queensland, the University of Wollongong and, from 2015, the University of Western Australia (UWA) have a one-year MBA program. 

The University of Sydney, Macquarie University, University of NSW, University of Technology Sydney and the Australian Catholic University offer part-time, 18-month to two-year MBA studies, and spokespeople for each say there is no intention of offering a one-year option in the immediate future.

The new 12-month degree at UWA costs $66,000 and is designed with input from consultants McKinsey & Co and Western Australian business leaders.

However, rather than threatening to end the rule of the part-time MBA, Guy Ford says full-time study is simply capturing a niche market.

"During the global financial crisis, the volume of students wanting full-time rose because people had the ability to take a year off," he says. "But since then we've seen a decline in this demand. Some universities have moved to one year to largely grab the international markets who want to come here and get their MBA done."

About one third of Melbourne Uni's MBA students are international and come from 20 countries and nation states  including Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, the USA and Vietnam. 

"The different formats of MBA programs cater to a different global reach," says Degraeve. "Part of the full-time class is looking to accelerate their careers or they may feel their careers have stalled and they want to do something about it. Others may want to change careers. Others in the group may want to start their own business and are looking for idea generation." 

It may also be that having a year without paid work in order to study is a luxury.

In UQ's one-year MBA cohort, there are 25 students. In the university's 24-month MBA program, there are 430 students at different points in the program.

"There are definitely pros and cons to doing an MBA in one year," says Kelly. "You have to have a lot of energy and be very organised. But if the students are strategic, they come out of the 12-month program with a promotion or a salary increase. If you want to immerse yourself in your study and not have to juggle everything else, which can be tricky, then it's a great option."

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A Melbourne marathon

"If I'm going to be missing the chance to work, this is a great way to quickly progress my career," says the 30-year-old American.

"I knew about the prestige and ranking of the Melbourne Business School's MBA, and when my husband was sponsored by an Australian company, I applied to do it." 

Vallimont is one of 42 students who began full-time study in August. 

"It's a small cohort, much smaller than colleges in the US where you can have hundreds or even thousands doing an MBA – and you get a lot more one-on-one attention."

This, she says, is what helps MBA students manage the intensity of the work. 

"It's full-on and fantastic," she says. "There's a lot of information but we get personalised attention so that we can get through it." 

Vallimont arrives at campus each weekday at about 7am. "I am in class from 8.30am to 4.30pm, I don't leave until about 9pm, and I'm here most weekends to get through the 60- to 80 contact hours that you're expected to do," she says. "This is more than a full-time job. It's a very intense program and it's like a marathon. You just keep going because you know it will be worth it." 

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The Australian Financial Review's BOSS Magazine, owned by Fairfax Media, publishes a biennial MBA ranking of Australian universities. The 2013 rankings for part-time MBAs are as follows:

1. University of Qld Business School

2. Melbourne Business School

3. Qld University of Tech Graduate School of Business

4. University of SA International Graduate School of Business

5. Bond University Faculty of Business

6. MGSM (Macquarie University)

7. AGSM (University of NSW)

8. University of Southern Qld School of Business & Law

9. Griffith University Business School

10. University of Adelaide Business School

* Executive MBAs

1. Sydney University School of Business

2. Melbourne Business School

3. Bond University Faculty of Business

4. Qld Uni of Tech Graduate School of Business

5. Uni of Wollongong – Sydney Business School

8. Uni of Sthn Qld School of Bus & Law

9. Griffith University Business School

10. University of Adelaide Bus School

* Executive MBAs

1. Sydney University School of Business

2. Melbourne Business School

3. Bond University Faculty of Business

4. Qld Uni of Tech Grad School of Bus

5. Uni of Wollongong – Syd Bus School

* AFR BOSS magazine and the University of Sydney Business School award an annual $60,000 MBA scholarship. Applicants must have relevant degrees and three years of managerial experience.

SMH