All, I am new member to this website/forum, a Brit who is (very) seriously considering studying an MBA. I have been considering both Modular and Distance Learning as the study method, however in all honesty I do not think my employer will be prepared to support the financial and time commitment of the modular method. I have been conducting fairly exhaustive research into the most appropriate (British) BS. I have most recently only included schools who offer both options, with the facility to move flexibly between study modes if required. I have culled my list extensively, and have currently narrowed it down to Henley and Warwick. (Nothing in stone though). I see Henley as something of specialists in the DL route, with a huge alumni network, and the attractive option of face-to-face modules. (I am working in Scotland, so could conceivably attend these). Warwick would seem to be a university of sound reputation, with strong research and quality of professors. I would be grateful for any comments anyone has regarding these two universities, and in addition any other advice on criteria for selecting a BS with the intent of studying an MBA. Professor Kennedy, I would be deeply grateful if you could offer your valuable and objective insight into this topic. Best regards, Dave Cox (Marketing and Special Projects Manager for a division of Weatherford UK, an oilfield services company).
Professor Kennedy is--as you point out--the man with the answers in this arena. I would say that there are so many good affordable options in the UK that you could hardly go wrong. UoL Imperial, Manchester, and as you mention, Henley and Warwick are all superb programs that can be pursued via distance.
Hi Dave Warwick v Henley? That is a tough one as they are both excellent Schools with excellent MBA programmes. Warwick is a full university; Henley is the former Administrative Staff College now Management School. Warwick is weighted to manufacturing industry and general business, has a neat campus and an excellent set of purpose built facilities, located near Birmingham and Coventry; Henley is a lovely campus, a magnificent country hosue, plus modern facilities, near Henley on Thames. Both have Royal Charters, Warwick's as a full University in its own right; Henley for its MBA degree (it still uses Brunel University for its DBA, but should have that extended soon to be issued in its own right). Warwick's DL degree is a mite slower in duration - 3 years - and sticks to a rigid schedule; Henley is more flexible. Most MBA programmes in multi-mode delivery allow for swapping modes, though how easy that is in practice at either School I am not sure. This is a valuable benefit though. If you are not good quantitatively, say, attending on an campus presentation may help; or if you are attending on campus, taking a DL course alongside may speed your progress. Of course, both examples depend (as always) on the School's fexibilities). The advantages of a flexible DL programme include its costs in cash and, crucially, time, especially where a rigid campus schedule may be interrupted by job or family pressures. Dropping behind a campus course may mean waiting until the subject comes round again. I am not sure how valuable a research resource is for an MBA, which, after all is largely an intermediate level course in each subject and therefore not likely to require the infusion of MSc level work into it. Its challenge comes from reaching intermediate level in nine or more subjects, not in its indepth coverage of a single subject like the MSc. How much time busy professors have to spare to MBA students is another practical question. To summarise: attending either Warwick or Henley will provide an excellent MBA education. Both are well known Schools. For industry, Warwick sneaks in ahead; for general management and administration to Board level, Henley has the lead. The choice is yours.
Professor Kennedy is too gracious to mention it, but could not the distance learning MBA at the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University meet your needs? I count myself as a satisfied graduate of the EBS program (MBA 2000) and was quite pleased with the quality of the program. As a British citizen working in Scotland, and in the oil-field services area to boot, you are surely aware of the reputation of Heriot-Watt University. http://www.ebsmba.com/ is the website for the EBS program. I would encourage you to look around, and if you have any follow-up questions, please ask.
Heriot-Watt vs Henley vs Warwick Gents, Thank you for your rapid and useful feedback. I am very impressed with the level of traffic on this forum. Michael, thank you for your comment regarding Heriot-Watt. I am a little ashamed to say it seems to of slipped through the cracks of my research. Professor Kennedy, I have been researching the Heriot-Watt EBS offering today. It seems a truly international MBA. Interesting that many of our American friends enrol despite the huge MBA offering in the US. No offence please, but is this partially for financial reasons? I like the way the EBS MBA leaves it very open how intensely one studies. I know I would need to increase my self discipline to make this work, but that would in essence apply to any MBA. This modular approach is also favourable financially. I see that EBS ‘eschews’ accreditation. I will need some help here. Why is this? Surely accreditation is an international benchmark, regardless of whether it is independent or state governed? I did see that the EBS MBA is in the FT top 20 distance learning MBA’s, although it does not feature in any of the other rankings. Do you give any credence to such ratings? I am Aberdeen based, so the proximity of Edinburgh is appealing. Are there workshops that can be attended? I also see you have a Spanish offering, which appeals to my Mexican wife. I could talk all day, so we could arrange to communicate off of this forum if more appropriate, although this info may no doubt be useful to someone else. Many thanks and look forward to more of your valued feedback. Dave Cox
Hi Dave I am always hesitant to introduce my own School on this board, as I am not here to recruit students for it. I aim to contribute on controversies about distance learning. Hence, I answered your question about Warwick and Henley without mentioning EBS. I am reasonably familiar with the DL/Campus MBA providers in the UK. When I was researching DL for the University of Strathclyde's MBA in 1982, my first port of call was Henley, and I am familiar with Warwick from occasional teaching there. You raise a topic of general interest. "Surely accreditation is an international benchmark, regardless of whether it is independent or state governed?" Unofficial self-'accreditation' began in Britain in the1960s when some universities set up MBA programmes. It aimed at differentiating a group of providers from others in the management short-course market. The MBA providers laudably wanted to protect their investment and to block competition from short course providers imitating with inadequately resourced MBA programmes. This raised funds (Shell financed London Business School), protected high course fees and led to an image of excellence by self-promotion. They then went off at a tangent. From two and three year full time (FT) MBA programmes the market was going to remain small (several hundred MBAs per year out of several million UK managers). As other universities entered the market they declined to accredit Part-Time (PT) MBAs, asserting they were not ‘proper MBAs’, a position that became increasingly untenable as credible Schools with PT MBAs threatened by sheer numbers to outnumber FT only programmes. Inevitably, the ‘accreditation’ body accepted PT programmes, with restrictions, otherwise a rival body might step in. It happened again with Distance Learning (DL) MBAs. At first DL ‘accreditation’ was refused, then accepted with campus restrictions. DL became Distance Teaching (DT), e.g., insisting on campus attendance; the minimum duration gradually reducing until given up all together in 2002. They required that the proportion of DL students had to be smaller than the proportion of campus FT + PT students; also now abandoned. This is symbolic of the unresearched basis of UK ‘accreditation’. It is not based on pedagogic research; only the prejudices of those pretending to ‘exclusivity’, and sadly, to assuage the campus prejudices against them. It is no secret that other departments are suspicious of the academic quality of ‘management’ degrees, and of off-campus DL study. The quality range among members of the ‘accredited’ Schools in the UK is wide. Opportunistically, some Schools have ‘done whatever it takes’ to join up, including being economical with the truth, fudging the true number of teachers on the MBA by adding faculty from the undergraduate departments, ditto with alleged research activity, using non-examined assessments and ‘soft’ exam regimes to maintain the completion ratio (some report zero or near zero failure rates!), and a host of other input criteria that have nothing to do with the quality of their MBA outputs. I believe that members ‘accrediting’ each other and turning a blind eye to malpractice, is a phoney 'international' standard. EBS has refused at some cost (about 5 per cent of our potential recruitment) to apply for ‘accreditation’ by a body with a history of being wrong on every development in MBA provision since the 1960s. The fact that they have continually altered the criteria of excellence towards the higher standards set by EBS from the start, so that now their reluctant adoption of our criteria makes them almost indistinguishable from our researched pedagogy (which we have not changed), speaks volumes as to which party to this ‘accreditation’ debate has been right and which misguided and, therefore, discredited. The debate continues. EBS has innovated in all areas since 1991. First in 1991 with a specially written MBA programme and an exam regime that is tough but fair (tougher, we are regularly informed by our External Examiners from rival ‘accredited’ Business Schools, that their own MBA students could not pass them). Next in 2000 with an international on-line support service to provide individual feedback for thousands of students, and now in 2003-5 with translations into Chinese, Latino Spanish and Arabic, and with Farsi and Portuguese on the horizon too. Already, leading members of the ‘accreditation’ body have denounced our strategy. I predict that by 2008, these same people will be ‘accrediting’ foreign language MBAs!
Professor, Thanks for the valuable feedback. Accreditation has never been a make or break issue for me. I will continue to weigh up my (now three) preferred options. Going through the EBS sample 'Organisational Behaviour' course as we speak. I am toying with the idea of attending the TopMBA 'World MBA Tour' in London on the 15th March, but was disappointed to see that the EBS will not be there. Do you know why? Do Pearson handle all marketing? This is a difficult decision. I don't have any bad options, but really want to choose the course that is best for me. I may take a break for a day or so and re-visit the information when fresh. Any more poignant comments are welcome. Best regards, Dave C.
Hi Dave We took a decision some years ago (and at lunch today I checked that the position is still the same) not to attend these events because of the expense and the experience that we had more effective routes to market, at least in the UK. We occasionally support a place in MBA Fairs in other countries (India and China). Marketing at Fairs abroad is our decision not Pearson's. The University has many post-graduate programmes besides the MBA, thoughy the MBA is the largest, and regularly participates in fairs around the world. As our exchanges are becoming detailed I will send a Personal Message on the Board in the interests of not straying into offending our Moderator's indulgence.
Hi Professor, IIRC, there was talk of some Master of Science DL business programs coming to EBS that should be by now in place. Any word on that?
Hi Decimon Yes, our DL MSc programmes are coming on stream. The MSc in Strategic Focus has produced its first four graduands for this July's Graduations. There are another 140 working through the DL degree at present. The MSc in Marketing will be next, followed by the MSc in Finance this Summer. The MSc in HRM is close behind for 2006, followed by MSc in Logistics. The MSc in Project Management is stuck in the system awaiting clearance by the University because it has the same title as a different Project Management MSc proposed by the School of the Built Environment (mainly aimed at the construction industry and, we contend, with little if any overlap with the Business School's). These represent a substantial addition to the School's post-graduate DL programmes.
Thanks. I expect you'll soon be answering the same questions about these programs that you did a year or so ago.
Hi Decimon Working in a largely DL School in and Bricks & Mortar University we are subject to all kinds of administrative procedures and processes. We also face the usual difficulties with DL authors who have other academic duties and different senses of timing about delivery dates, completion dates and revisions. When DL was confined to our own degree programme it was bad enough. The delay between delivery of the first completed DL course in Marketing and the last in Economics was about two years. Meanwhile the Marketing author, fed up waiting, had his manuscript accepted by another publisher and we had to 'buy' it back! We launched with six of nine courses and met our targets, just. I was hospitalised with my course in proof and was marking it up connected by all kinds of wires to the cardiac monitors - fortunately the French doctors did not realise what I was doing! We are behind with the MSc programmes but slowly, too slowly, we are getting them on stream. I retire at the end of March but seriously expect to have them close to delivery as stated. An everyday story of DL. Kind regards
If the French don't know what you're doing in bed then it must be unusual. I don't recall your hospitalization and am sorry to hear of it. Ditto for your retirement. Hope you manage to keep yourself in the game and us in the loop. OTOH, you could say the hell with it all and raise hell through the Highlands.
Re: Heriot-Watt vs Henley vs Warwick I think you will find the number one reason for Americans choosing EBS over US MBA programs is the flexibility. I have never found an MBA program in the US (or elsewhere) that enables you to study at your own pace, and to test anywhere on the planet. I personally have taken EBS exams in 4 different countries. Cost might have been the factor in the early days of the program, but now there are many lower cost options in the US. (e.g. in-state tuition at public universities, Amberton, CSUDH, and a few others.) However none come even close to the flexibility of the EBS program.
