About 15 in the last 2 years
Plus, I have met / known a lot of those who did MBA from full time and from part time courses. Most of the students doing part time are not doing it to learn. Most are also not doing it to go ahead in the same organisation as they know they will continue to be in the same post after their degree. They are doing it to be able to jump into another company for a high salary that MBA generally get. And mostly they are badly disappointed as companies do to offer an equal chance to those passing from distance MBA course. Most hr teams will look at this in the same light as a note in the cv saying that he played cricket for his college team. Good to hear, but it does not change my decision.
The reason why this is so, I have already explained earlier. The absence of serious and equivalent efforts on project work, presentations, research, analysis, personality development etc is largely missing in part time courses. There is just no time. And recruiters know this. They already factor this in. Do they care (as the original post put it) that the candidate had to take this course as he did not have an option, could not leae job etc ? No they don't care. For them, it's your hard luck. Don't try to push that on me. I will hire from the pool that looks like will pass the muster.
Again, like I said, such candidates do get jobs, but because they have the experience. The MBA degree is just icing in the cake. In a few cases, I know, it has helped to break a glass ceiling (eg a rule if not promoting a manager who is not MBA to department head). That is what drives some of the candidates to do it