Columbia Southern University DBA

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Rich Douglas, May 12, 2005.

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  1. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    In talking with Mike Lambert of DETC, he said they are down to three schools for the pilot doctoral programs. Whether or not those three go forward will, of course, depend on DETC's evaluation of their proposed programs. It will be a rigorous process.

    In my conversation with Richard Gray, Dean of Doctoral Doctoral Studies at CSU, they are going forward with their application for approval. They expect a site visit and review by DETC later in the year. If approved, they expect to begin enrolling students in early 2006.

    The degree offered will be a DBA. It will have a coursework component, followed by a dissertation. While the approach for the dissertation will be applied, it will still be a dissertation and not some other form of doctoral project. Dr. Gray said they're concerned about the traditional educational establishment's reaction to this (DETC's) effort, and want to ensure as much traditionality and rigor as possible.

    (Side note: Dr. Gray was told by DETC a few weeks ago that 5 schools were in the process of applying to participate in the pilot. Mike Lambert told me this week it was three. Whatever the actual number, the number of schools to get through the process will be small.)

    (Side note 2: California Coast University will not be among the pilot schools. As we know, CCU has doctoral students "in the pipeline" that DETC expects them to "teach out," even though DETC required CCU halt doctoral-level enrollments as a condition of applying for accreditation. It will be interesting to see if/when CCU applies for approval to offer the doctorate, what it will do with any remaining doctoral students. They might have to apply the DETC's standards to those students--like the dissertation requirement and whatever changes to the curriculum and course design--drop them--unlikely--or finish teaching them out before getting approved under their DETC accreditation. I would imagine it will be 2008 or later before this issue comes to head, after the pilot's completion and DETC's subsequent approval to expand the scope of their accreditation to include these doctoral programs. Most or all of the pipeline students should be long gone by then, IMHO.)
     
  2. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    I will be eager to see what (if any) reaction the members of the six regional accrediting commissions will have toward the DETC, or if the entire operation is going to occur under the radar of academia.

    I am confident that those who frequent Degreeinfo will be up to speed, thanks to those (like Dr. Douglas) who keep their fingers on the pulse of accreditation issues. The rest of the world will have to wait to read it in the Chronicle of Higher Education

    Tony Piña
    Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University
     

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