Usq

Can anyone give me some advice on the quality of USQ? My wife wants to complete her engineering studies and therefore we are going back to the UK, where because she is Britsh citizen she can study at a very low cost. I am not British, but in the mean time Iwanted to continue my studies as well. I read some of the threads and the DBA at USQ grabbed my attention. You may ask why I am considering Australia? The pound is a lot stronger than the $AUD and I will be working full time.

 

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I've actually also been wondering about USQ, specifically the relevance of the material in the MBA program to a Canadian student.

So I too would be keen to hear about USQ.

 

Hey no problem!!

 

University of Southern Queensland is one of several Australian schools that have strong DL program others include:

Charles Sturt University
Australia's largest distance-learning provider offers hundreds of rigorous, inexpensive programs to students worldwide.

Deakin University
Nonresidential and low-residency degrees at all levels from one of Australia's top universities.

Edith Cowan University
Many nonresidential degrees from a major university named after the first woman to serve in Australia's parliament.

University of Melbourne
Off-campus research M.Phil. and Ph.D. programs in 155 fields from one of Australias most highly regarded universities.

University of New England
Degrees at all levels in an impressive array of fields, from Australia's oldest distance-education provider.


University of South Australia
Nonresidential degrees at all levels through correspondence, online coursework, and guided research.


Also take a look at: University of South Africa
Nonresidential bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and law degrees in many fields from one of the largest distance-education universities in the English-speaking world.

 

The DBA at USQ is a 6-8 year part time program. However, you can be given credit for your MBA for up to 12 units out of 24. You might not be given full credits for example if you are planning to do a DBA in a different topic than your MBA. For example, let's say that you have an MBA in finance and then you want to do a DBA in IT. Or if you have a general MBA and want to do a DBA in accounting. In this case, you will be required to take at least 16 units.

The DBA used to be a 100% off residence program but now you are required to attend to a dissertation seminar on-campus. This was decided mainly because the low completion ratio that the program was experimenting. The university feels that the DBA student requires face-to-face guidance in the preparation of the dissertation proposal.


The program requires some course work that can be done at distance, however, you will be required to sit for a proctored exam contrary to the online PhD programs at Capella or NCU where you are not required to write proctored examinations.

It is also important to locate a dissertation supervisor before you apply to the program since this is key to be accepted. If you sent a preleminary dissertation proposal and no supervisor in the area is available, you will not be accepted. So it is important to contact a potential supervisor and negotiate a possible topic before applying. In practice, you can change topic later on but they are very strict about this.

In general, you work one to one with you supervisor. My supervisor is good but very busy and sometimes takes a lot of time to give me feedback. In my case, my supervisor thinks that a DBA student needs to publish at least one publication before graduation, but there is no publication requirement in the DBA handbook.

In general terms, DBA dissertation is about the same length than a PhD one. The main difference is that as a DBA student, you are not required to develop new theory but to apply it to business practice.

As for reputation goes, it is not the most prestigious and perhaps you want to take a look at the DL DBA at the University of Newcastle that is better regarded in general terms in Australia.

The DBA at Charles Sturt is another option, but this is a general DBA with no specialization contrary to the DBA at USQ that has majors. Charles Sturt has low reputation in Australia.

The university of sunshine coast also offers a DL DBA. This DBA has majors but this university has also low reputation in Australia.


I hope this helps,

 

Re: Re: Usq

I have no reason to question the quality of the school or the specific program. However, there have been more than a few comments on this forum related to the high percentage of doctoral students who are unable to complete Australian PhD programs. Check this out.
Jack

 

USQ is Very Strong University in Australia. It has a very good name, reputation and excellent Recognition.

I studies with USQ in their Toowoomba campus for one semester. All i can say its one of the best times i had both academically and social wise.

USQ also the joint winner for GOOD UNIVERSITY prize in Australia.

Migara

 

Thank you very much for the information. I have not quite made up my mind on a school as yet but USQ is one of my favorites thus far

 

Re: Re: Re: Usq

Jack, RFValue and all - does anyone have stats on graduation rates for Australian programs?

I'm really curious. As compared to U.S. alternatives (such as NSU, Capella, Argosy, etc.) such programs look good from an academic perspective and appear to be cost effective. But if students can't actually complete them, what's the use?

Regards - Andy

 

Universities in Australia, with a few exceptions, are not private entities and are funded by the government and constituted by an Act of parliament. The standards between the universities do not vary in range as they do in the United States because of the involvement of government.

They are very similar to the UK institutions as a result of the strong historical links to the United Kingdom. USQ is highly regarded by students in Australia who I know. The important thing for postgraduate study is to find a local supervisor who you can consult with regularly and get on with.

The other important thing is that the supervisor complies with the university regulations and does not impose additional regulations upon you that are a product of his or her personal opinion or desires. This may be an abuse of power and can impose a burden on the student that is unnecessary and unauthorised.

I have one of those at the moment and I am leaving the programme for another when I can find a suitable one. PHD's are not easily achieved in Australia, or perhaps anywhere. The further you get away from your supervisor in distance or thinking makes it a lot harder.

Best of luck whichever way you go. A local accessible supervisor who you can get along with is the most important thing for success. Where the university actually is situated is not that important. The cost obviously always is.

 

Quality of USQ material is absolutely high standard, and in every case comparable to US or European study material;
quantity is higher, and grades are lower.

It is much easier to receive an "A" in the US than a "High Distinction" at USQ (from my own experience).

USQ is an excellent choice, though not one of the top-notch schools in AUS (a friend of mine goes to Uni of Queensland, and he asked his professors for me about USQ, and all said "respectable, good school, but simply not Uni of Queensland").

All in all, you can´t do anything wrong with USQ, but for sure a vast amount of US schools will make you graduate with a higher GPA.

Just my 2 cents.

Trigger

 

I always wondered about the University of Melbourne instead.
Unfortunately, unlike USQ, they do require a one year residency which was out of the question. But if you don't mind that I hear its a great place to go!

-S

 

This is frequently the case in my field. Here in the US doctoral programs in applied psychology require a one year pre-doctoral internship which students take at the end of their coursework and practicum training. My anecdotal experience after 20 plus years of training interns is those who complete the disser prior to going on internship are far less likely to wind up ABD. Conventional wisdom is, accordingly, complete the disser so that when you leave for internship you're only ABI (all but internship).

Parenthetically, is your moniker Welsh? My father emigrated from South Wales and I have just a smattering of the language.

David

 

I'm too considering the MBA program of the USQ; It seems to be a pretty decent school, however, as far as I was told, it is difficult to get a dissertation/thesis option for the MBA, because of limited availability of supervisors. In my opinion, however, if you want to persue a PhD later, an MBA by coursework only could be a disadvantage.


Dennis

 

Dennis,

One of the problems is that if you have an MBA and want to go for a PhD, you will be required to finish first a M.Phil before you can be admitted into the PhD. This might not be the rule for all the universities in Australia, but at least this is case for some faculties like USQ.

In Canada or the US, the MBA is enough to be admitted into a PhD in Business. However, PhDs normally require 4 years full time. In Australia PhDs are normally 3 years full time, but you will have to add the M.Phil that is normally one year long.

On the other hand, the MBA is the ticket for DBA programs in Australia. Also, many universities will credit you work for your MBA courses. So the easiest path for a MBA graduate is the DBA and not the PhD.

So if you notice, the DBA is closer to the canadian PhD since it has a similar structure and an MBA is the requirement for admission.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Usq

Andy,

I have no stats for this issue. We were sent a letter from the DBA director saying that the program was restructured because low graduation ratios but no stats were included. One of the main issues was the research proposal, I had a very hard time getting it approved. I had to change topic since the first one was not working for me.

The other issue is the lack of face to face contact at the proposal stage, the new DBA program has a two week seminar on campus for this. This could be an issue for those students that don't want to travel to australia. Also, the new DBA program recommends a yearly visit to campus but it is not mandatory.

The only stats that I could find is this article that talks about a DBA graduate. According to the article, Dr Arnorld was the only to graduate from an original intake of 12 students.

http://www-bus.tp.edu.sg/biznews/August%202001/arnold.htm

 

it´s not difficult to get a dissertation option for the USQ MBA, there is none. It´s a total coursework program.

T:

 

triggersoft, thank you for chiming in. In fact, there are four project courses(MGT8050 through MGT8054) available to USQ MBA students; during this courses you have the possibility to work with a supervisior and undertake an in-depth research on a particular subject. But first, you have to present a research proposal to the Head of the Department, which must be approved by her; Now, I was told by the Business Department Head of the USQ that in practise this is rarely done because they reserve their supervisiors to PhD, DBA and other students which have a priority stand.

By the way, triggersoft, do you study at the USQ? If so, which subject?

Regards,

Dennis

 

Master of Leadership

(using mainly the same courses as for the MBA programme)

T.

 

The degree sounds pretty good and interesting;
I'm currently on the search for a postgraduate study in business, so could I, perhaps, contact you by e-mail for some more questions?

Dennis