Northcentral

I very early on eliminated NC from my list due to the lack of Regional Accredidation - should I put it back on now? What are their chances of attaining full accredidation? How serious does the university appear to be? Has anyone attended the university?

 

It would be all but impossible to attain candidacy unless a school was "serious".

However, no one can really tell how long it will take to reach full accreditation, if it happens at all. I think the shortest on record is something like 2 years after candidacy, while the longest on record is something like 8 years.

 

NCA would not grant candidate status unless they believed the institution could achieve initial accreditation.

According to the NCA Handbook, the maximum period of candidacy is four years.

While accreditation cannot be guaranteed, I would except initial accreditation in two years. It is possible something could go wrong, but Northcentral has a very experienced management team.

 

Manda:

I think that accreditation is very important for choosing a Ph.D. program but the quality should be considered as well. Most of the courses at the Ph.D. level at NCU are at the bachelor’s level at a Canadian University. I considered them at one point but the quality of their courses weren’t anything at a Ph.D. level. Also they don’t have any serious research and no publications. In conclusion, there is not much to sell with a Ph.D. from NCU.

 

This is the first I've heard of this. How might we share in your analysis?

Rich Douglas, who suspects the NCA got it right about NCU, but is more open than James Randi to change his mind!

 

Wow, that's quite a definitive statement to make without backing it up somehow.

I doubt NCA would grant ANY school candidacy unless that school's offerings were at least close to the quality of its already accredited members. Therefore, RFValve's statement implies that ALL NCA-accredited schools have Ph.D. programs equal to Canadian bachelor's programs.

Scott

 

Rich:

If someone sees these courses in the curriculum of a Ph.D. in Finance, he would question the seriousness of the degree. See the examples below, both courses are part of the Ph.D. in Finance at NCU and its equivalents at Athabasca University at the undergraduate level (Certificate and bachelor’s).

NCU:
FIN515 - Financial Statement Analysis
http://www.ncu.edu/course_catalog/course_information.asp?course_code=FIN515

Athabasca:

Accounting (ACCT) 253
Introductory Financial Accounting
http://www.athabascau.ca/html/syllabi/acct/acct253.htm

NCU:

MGT512 - Managerial Accounting for Decision Making http://www.ncu.edu/course_catalog/course_information.asp?course_code=MGT512


Athabasca:

Accounting (ACCT) 355
Cost Analysis http://www.athabascau.ca/html/syllabi/acct/acct355.htm

The best one was an introductory course in C programming (CS501 - C How to Program
) As a part of their PH.D in Applied Computer Science. When I was doing my master in computer engineering I couldn’t get a similar course credited for the simple reason that it was at the undergraduate level.

 

Not at all, I don't think this is the situation of all the NCA members, I’m talking about the NCU PhD program in Business. Also remember that NCU is still not accredited. If I had to go for a job interview for a finance professor position at a respectable institution with that curriculum, I would be in serious trouble. May be the other programs are good, I’m not qualified to say so.

 

I have to agree, this is awfully week. It is a fraction of the information covered in the HW MBA accounting course... never mind the level of assessment.
Bottom line is that RA means virtually nothing in terms of quality assurance.

 

You have to bear in mind that NCU is not yet accredited. It has so far achieved only candidacy status. I agree that it is absurd that introduction to C programming is counted as a grasduate credit at NCU. At Nova, all the 500 level bridge courses don't count as graduate credits. Some of the bridge courses at Nova's School of Computer and Information Sciences are Introduction to C++, Introduction to Java, Data Structure, Math for Computing, Assembly Language, etc. Although these courses are required to be taken at master's level by those whose undergraduate degrees are not Science or Engineering, they are not counted as part of credit requirement for master's or doctoral degree.

Ike

 

Before whacking RA and its QA or lack thereof, you should bear in mind that NCU is not yet accredited. It is still an unaccredited university. By the way, what organization is responsible for monitoring educational quality of universities in Canada, UK, and Australia?

Ike

 

In Canada, the professional associations approve most of the professional university programs including the DL ones. Recently the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has been playing the role of an accreditation agency.

 

The Nova's PhD in Computer Science is a good program with a good course selection. Also its DBA is highly competitive. But it is a shame that is not affordable for most of the Canadian folks given the exchange rate. For the other hand a student shouldn’t rush for a school like NCU just because is cheap and accredited, I think you get what you pay in this case.

 

Very interesting posts - I guesse the question to ask would be "Has anyone taken ay courses from NCU or know someone that has?" I realize looking at a page outline does not often say a whole lot about the content of the program - So comeone all you NCU grads post an opinion......... or in the worst case scenerio some post someone else's opinion.

 

From my understanding, through speaking with one of NCU's administrators in late 2000, their course delivery method is similar to their sister university SCUPS in California (and several Cal State approved universities): Open book, unsupervised exams that the student must complete and send to the university for grading.

It has been said in this forum that there is no way that Cal approved schools like SCUPS would even get close to achieving RA candidacy through WASC without severely overhauling their program structures.

Are there differences in the review process/ quality between the 5 RA agencies? (Given their present program delivery process/methods would Northcentral University stand any chance for accreditation through WASC if they were based in California)???

 

Six RAs (Western, North Central, Northwest, Middle States, Southern, and New England).

North Central certainly has been the most open about accrediting (and/or making candidates of) DL schools (Union, Walden, Jones International, IGS, Capella, Northcentral, Keller, CFP, Maharishi U., U. of Phoenix) SACS has been hit-and-miss (Nova Southeastern, Sarasota, but Walden cut out of there). Northwest and New England (COSC, Goddard) haven't had much activity. Middle States has been generally positive (Excelsior, TESC, Beacon, American, Empire State, Touro International). WASC has always been a toughie, despite Fielding's success (and CIIS and Saybrook).

The New England Association accredits Harvard, which is damn open-minded, IMHO.

Rich Douglas

 

Government. Generally, government operates a system of cross-validation (i.e. academics from a University review the programs, etc., of other universities).
Salaries, etc., are also quite regulated which mitigates the profit motive... schools focus on academics.

 

It is not affordable for US students either.

 

This doesn't help much either. The problem with weak schools is that students attend them and invest a certain level of work / effort... and have nothing to compare them with. Therefore they have an honest, vested interest in testifying to the "quality" of the program.

 

Lewchuk wrote "The problem with weak schools is that students attend them and invest a certain level of work / effort... and have nothing to compare them with. Therefore they have an honest, vested interest in testifying to the "quality" of the program."

Looks to me like we could say the same thing about strong (whatever that means) schools. I attended an RA bricks and mortar school for my bachelor's - and have nothing to compare it with. I attended an RA online school for my master's - and still have nothing to compare it with. Yes, I will support and defend both schools - I am pleased with my education.

I guess that brings me to ask: What is your point?