Info on Columbia Southern's Pilot DBA program

I thought I would share with you the email I received from Dr. Gray in regards to the pilot DBA that will eventually be offered through CSU.

Thank you for your interest in our DBA program. At this time we are
busy
developing and documenting courses for the program. The DBA will be a
60-semester unit program ending with a dissertation similar to that
expected
of a Ph.D. student. We are developing a rigorous program with an
emphasis
on practicality.

A student can enter the program with a master's degree. If the
master's is
not in business, some prerequisites will be required in addition to the
60-semester units. There will be no transfer credit given in this
program.

We expect an onsite visit by the accrediting body (DETC) early next
spring
with a decision by the accrediting commission in June of 2006. If all
goes
well, we will accept students in July of 2006. Information regarding
tuition and fees for the program will be available by early November.


This could be also worth the wait. Does anyone know who the other 4 schools are that are also developing a pilot program? I also spoke with CCU and they are seeking to have a Phd program to be reviewed by end of 2006. maybe for the January DETC meeting.

 

Do you guys think that CSU will eventually just become RA?

 

I wonder about the utility of a non-RA DBA. I wonder how well it would be accepted by accedemia (probably not well at all) as well as the business world? Can anyone else more knowledgable comment if they might possibly go RA?

 

It seems to be a logical progression for them. It would be interesting to see.

 

Columbia Southern University will not be going RA anytime soon.

They do not meet the criteria for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. CSU is in SACS territory. Their best shot would be to move to the NCACS territory and I believe they have no intention of moving.

 

I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that DETC wouldn't (or couldn't?) accredit any institution offering a degree higher than Master's level. I could be off base, but I thought I had read that here before.

 

DETC does accredit the University of South Africa and some Australian Universities which do offer doctorates.

Of course, they didn't actually need DETC accreditation in the first place.

 

Up until recently, DETC only accredited up through the master's degree. They are now doing a pilot doctoral accreditation project, in which they will be reviewing for accreditation of various non-PhD doctoral programs. Thus far, they accredit JD programs at Concord University and Taft University. Columbia Southern University's proposed DBA is one of the DETC's pilot doctoral accreditation project programs. UNISA's PhD programs were specifically excluded from DETC's accreditation, as that preceded the pilot doctoral accreditation project.

 

Who are the other DETC schools in the pilot program? All that I've heard so far is CSU.

 

Thank you very much for the clarification!

 

I think there are four more schools that plan to go for a professional doctorate pilot, but it has not been disclosed who exactly.