Unisa graduates holding faculty positions

A good number of postings are concerned about the utility of the UNISA doctorate for full time faculty positions. Here is a good list of UNISA doctorate holders working as full time faculty at different universities in the US, Australia and NZ. It seems that there is enough evidence to support the utility of the UNISA degree for academic work.

http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwiims/people/d.h.meyer/
http://business.kent.edu/fsd/view_faculty.asp?faculty_id=135&type=basic
http://www.bond.edu.au/it/staff/GFinnieCV.pdf
http://godot.unisa.edu.au/register/examiners.php?examiner=finnie.txt
http://www.devry.edu/uscatalog/general_admin_longisland.html
http://www.umuc.edu/prog/ugp/faculty/faculty_k.html

 

In Asia

http://www.hku.hk:8400/law/staffPage.php?pageId=342&userId=72

 

Good work RFValve. This should put to rest those issues concerning utility and acceptance. I believe there are a few members on this forum who are interested (or have applied) in the UNISA DBL program. UNISA's doctoral programs are well accepted in many countries.

 

Since I am one of the ones who has questioned the actual acceptability in the US of ZA degrees and not the theory (In a different discipline, not these listed) let me say first of all that this is a good starting place. This eliminates the emotional rhetoric and gets to the heart of the matter. The question I have raised is where is the evidence of those who have earned ZA degrees and subsequently have been hired using those same degrees as valid credentals for the job? If we are going to say one should not waste their hard earned money by throwing it away on a substandard UA school when the ZA option is so affordable that a mere pauper could afford $2000.00 for a legitimate GAAP degree, should we not check the utility out prior to enrolling? Should we not assess how the market will look at those degrees first?

Now if one already had the job prior to earning the degree then that does not necessarily prove utility of the degree, but acceptance after the fact. Nothing to be ashamed of, but the degree did not help that person get the job. This is often the case with many UA degrees in one of my disciplines. People who already have the job who are pursuing further education do not prove utility.

Now if the coin was flipped to see the utility and acceptance of UA degrees and this scanty type of reference list was brought up I can "hear" already...
"Only 7 links? What does that prove? Of course a few fell through the cracks but only because the employers do not understand about accreditation" If it goes on too long, or is in too prestigious a place a phone call may be made (secretly of course) or e-mail might be sent to expose this chicanery to the institution so they can maintain their integrity by firing said individual and then a new thread might be gleefully posted about the exploding of that "time bomb."

So does it put it to rest? No. But it does show some acceptance in a few circles.
Good. Let me stop before I make somebody upset. To the concerns I raised not about UNISA but other ZA options there are 3 links to US schools. 3 schools out of how many in the US? Statistically speaking that is a very low number. Of that only one CV is availible to review. It is apparent that he appears to have gotten the job with the ZA degrees which is good. Yet it must be noted that all his degrees are from ZA, therefore the next questions must be raised... is he a national of ZA? Did he do the UNISA degrees through DL? Was/is he a mere anomoly on the acceptance of ZA degrees in the US?

Now I do not think this is the case. But these are similar questions thrown at anyone with a UA degree and who has enjoyed (whether rightly or wrongly we will debate ad infinitum, ad nauseaum) some utility and or acceptance in the real world...

Thank you for the links.

 

I agree that 7 links is not enough, but I must say that I did a similar search for degrees from other DL american schools like Capella, Touro and NCU. I could not find a single professor teaching with a Touro Business PhD nor one with a NCU
PhD. Some were found with Capella PhDs, but only few teaching as full time tenured faculty.

 

Interesting results...This research to me says more about the utility of these degrees than merely the accreditation issue or the lack thereof. But again for those who desire to work in academia with ZA degrees, these links are a good start.

 

That's not really a fair comparison.

Capella, TUI, and NCU have been around for a relatively short amount of time (especially as RA schools), while UNISA has been around for over 100 years and has decades in the DL game.

 

You're right even in developing country still not accept ZA degree not only goverment accredited but employer recognize too. I thought US degreeis better choice.

 

I thought I'd contribute my perspective to this conversation. For some time, I was maintaining a list of master's and doctoral grads of the UNISA theology faculty who hold positions at accredited Bible colleges, seminaries and universities around the world. At the time when I abandoned this project, I had gathered a list of 85 individuals who meet this description. These individuals teach in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, the UK, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and numerous others. Approximately 25 of these were in the US. This certainly speaks well for UNISA's credibility on a global scale.

 

UNISA or GTF

Cory

For doing a distance learning PhD in RS would you recommend UNISA or GTF?

Callum Beck