Current Cost of Heriot Watt MBA?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Online Student, Mar 12, 2005.

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  1. Online Student

    Online Student New Member

  2. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    It recently went up to $1400 per course. Exam fees are additional.

    >> So is the most it could be is $1600 per course X 9 courses for a total of $14,400?

    If you fail an exam, then you need to pay to retake it. There is also a graduation fee when you complete the courses. Also, they could decide to raise prices again.
     
  3. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    On a side note, since they forgot to change the price on their PDF order form, you could just try ordering from that and they might still give you the $1200 price.

    Also, keep on eye on the watercooler http://forums.delphiforums.com/hwmba/ and eBay. Sometimes there are a few of the text based courses still around that someone wants to sell. Make sure they still have the exam request forms with them. (otherwise known as the "green sheets."
     
  4. Dan Cooper

    Dan Cooper New Member

    At one time the EBS MBA used to be a cheap option for people in the U.S. looking for a DL mba. Now it seems there are many other options that are lower in cost than EBS, even a couple AACSB programs.

    It is still quite reasonable though considering the reputation of HW and the flexibility of their program.
     
  5. Professor Kennedy

    Professor Kennedy New Member

    The UK price of Heriot-Watt MBA courses is GBP800. This remains the price. The "'increase" in price in USD reflects the currency adjustment of USD/GBP. There has been no increase in GBP prices.

    The choice was to raise the GBP price worldwide, which would mean non-US students paying higher prices to ameliorate the price rise for US students, a somewhat controversial move given the US being the richest country on the planet.

    All countries below USD3,500 receive their Heriot-Watt DL courses at half the UK GBP price. These pricing policies are only controversial with a few critics in very rich countries who take a narrow view of their self-interests.

    Exam fees of GBP100 are charged per exam and for graduation. This charge is universal for all students who sit their exams at one of the 340 exam centres worldwide used by EBS. Exam fees are set to cover costs of exams worldwide; they are not a profit centre.

    The growing use of distance exams across multiple centres has created a predictable trend that as more universities use these centres their owners have continually revised the prices they charge upwards. Where it was once 'room hire', they now charge for hire of the furniture, preparation and cleaning, security (a necessary component of invigilated exams) and portering services, and anything else they can think of, including for 'no-shows' by individuals absent for any reason, and in some cases increases for no reason at all.

    The EBS/Heriot-Watt course package, which was originally subject text books only, manual administration and posted mail only, is now a printed product plus on-line tutorial support and contact, with full on-line services (including notifications of exam results).

    From our surveys of the world's MBA market we are still at the top of the bottom quartile pricewise. Our main competitive disadvantage with other MBAs of both equal or higher prices is that we run one of the toughest but fair exam regimes in the world; our main competitive advantage is that we researched our DL pedagogy before launching in 1991 and have the most flexible programme (in everything except quality) of all, towards which others gravitate their offerings without our full range of flexibilities.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 12, 2005
  6. Dan Cooper

    Dan Cooper New Member

    I think there should be the option of just ordering the printed text course and giving a discount if one doesn't have the need or want for the online component. Forcing one to purchase both the printed text+website doesn't seem very fair. I know there are a quite a few people out there that still don't have reliable internet access, and primarily still use the printed version. I don't imagine they're too happy about the steep increase from $900 to $1400 per course.

    Another example would be if someone had extensive business knowledge/experience and could pass the exams with little to no studying or online support. It doesn't make much sense for them to fork over $1400 for a course they don't need. Why not just let them sit for the exams?
     
  7. Professor Kennedy

    Professor Kennedy New Member

    Hi
    There are at least 2,500 MBA programmes available in the world. EBS is just one of them. If somebody wants programmes with different features to that offered by EBS they have a wide choice, both as to features and to prices.

    Manual administration of a large MBA programme is not only expensive, it is unnecessary. We have built an on-line adminsitration service and continue to enhance it (because it creaks from time to time!). There may be a niche market for mail applications, exam requests, deferrals, results, appeals and course purchases, but I suspect it is not large. If priced at USD900 a course, I also suspect nobody would offer it for more than a few students outside their time zone.

    We began transferring admin on-line in 2000. Interestingly, the on-line hits for exam results became the barometer for a shift from book and snail mail to on-line. As students going on-line had to use a unique identity number, we had an accurate count of the students with access to on-line facilities. When the proportion passed the 50 per cent mark, worldwide, we gave two years notice of the single product launch.

    Only a minority have the problems you allude to. A single product has a single price - exceptions kill a business - though the dollar exchange rate added a new strain. It was either raise the US dollar price or raise it for poorer countries. We chose the former. For students in the really poor countries (under USD3,500 per capita) we halved all prices. That is the only justifiable exception we make.

    As for an exam only route for people with 'business knowledge/experience' they surely do not have much knowledge or experience if they think any university in the world, especially one that is not subsidised by taxpayers or anybody else, and is a 'not-for-profit' charity, would offer an 'exam only option' and still need to pay its bills for providing the resources in its institution.

    I agree, cost hikes from exchange rate slides, are not popular, nor cost hikes from passed on cost rises elsewhere in the supply chain. In fact nobody is 'happy' with price rises. That is a fact of business life that should come as no surpise to anybody studying at a business school. If they are, they don't need an exam to tell them their knowledge and experience does not correspond to the real world.
     
  8. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    Maybe you are not aware, but EBS does already provide exemptions. For example, if you are a CPA, no need to take the accounting exam or pay for the course. If you have a bachelors degree in any of the core subject exams, you are usually exempt from that exam too (e.g. marketing, economics, OB, etc.) For a maximum of 2 exemptions.

    Other than that, it would be very hard to pass these exams with only general business experience.
     
  9. Professor Kennedy

    Professor Kennedy New Member

    Exemptions are awardd because the student has alreayd undertaken a course of study in a core subject and passed the exam. The institutions where the study occurred and the professional designation achieved are carefully scrutinized for comparability with the MBA exam.

    Many applications for an exemption in a core subject are refused a) we recognise the institution and/or the award as being 'less than wonderful', or b) not comparable for content reasons.

    In the internal discussions on 'exemptions' I was a minority of one in rejecting the entire concept. The compromise was that where we had doubts about the application they would be offered an 'exemption exam'. If they failed they had to take the course; if they passed they were allowed the exemption.

    In large institutions, you do not 'win them all' in debates of this kind. This was decidely not a general facility for an 'exam only' option, which would be commercial suicide. I suppose we have a few exemption exams per year, with most exemptions allowed in accountancy, finance and economics (in decending order), and few for the other core subjects (OB, Project Management and Marketing). I recently supported, and won, a bar on exemptions in Strategic Planning, the capstone course. No exemptions are allowed in the 20+ Elective subjects. You don't lose 'em all!

    I am aware of almost all aspects of the EBS programme, being Director of Contracts, at least for another 20 days...
     
  10. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    Maybe they'll persuade you to defer that well-deserved retirement yet again?
     
  11. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

  12. Michael Lloyd

    Michael Lloyd New Member

    His books about Captain Bligh are a must read. Rum, buggery and the lash! with apologies to Sir Winston Churchill, 1912.
     
  13. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    Actually, it's already available in the U.K.

    Brief comment in The Herald (Glasgow): Professor debunks Adam Smith theory (I think they mean Professor debunks prevailing thinking about Adam Smith, rather than Professor debunks Adam Smith's thinking itself.)
     
  14. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    I was unaware of these books. I wonder whether he learned what he knows about negotiation from the example of William Bligh? Rum, buggery and the lash!
     
  15. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    So when and where is the retirement party and are we invited? :D
     
  16. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    You bringing the rum? :)
     
  17. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    You bringing the rum? :)
     

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