MBA from USQ or Touro?

I'm thinking about entering an MBA program distance learning and I'm atracted to the MBA program from USQ, particularly because of its lower tuition and decent reputation. I'm living in the US so I'm now concerned with prejudice because of an Aussie degree. Touro's tuition is a lot higher but it is an American school. Would an MBA from Touro be a better choice than USQ if you are planning to work in the US? Anyone want to share experiences from USQ's business programs? Thanks

 

Amigo,

I'm a USQ graduate and can tell you that the experience with this school was good. However, as an American resident, you might find better acceptance with Touro just because it would raise less eye brows as the school can be easily verified in the US.

Also, the USQ program is not enterily online as you will be required to write proctored exams at a USQ examination centre. Courses run only 3 times a year so the minimum time to complete an MBA would be 3 years contrary to the Touro's program that can be completed in less time. In addition, the number of courses available in the summer term are limited so you would find that even 3 years might be difficult to achieve. Two courses per term would require 20 hours of work per week so more than this is really hard to do unless you are doing the program full time.

The pro of the program is that it has optional residential weeks for selected courses in case you would like to go to Australia to make your program more credible with some residencies.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience, Rfvalve. It sounds like USQ has a stronger program! I don't mind doing some residency; in fact I think that it works to your advantage if you can tell your employer that you had some face to face interactions with instructors and students. However I thought this was only a requirement for their doctoral programs. By the way, one question, I thought that proctored examinations at regular MBA programs were the norm anyway. Are you saying that Touro's MBA does not have any?

 

Residencies are optional and only available for selected courses. I don't know if the Touro's MBA has exams or not but it is 100% online so you are not required to write proctored exams. May be someone here can tell you if the Touro's MBA program requires exams as many of the online programs do not require them. The lack of proctored exams is a sign of weakness in my opinion but many think that the online discussions can make up for this. At USQ you are not required to discuss online but only to submit two assignments and write one final exam.

 

Yes Touro is 100% online. This is a paper based program and no exams are required or given. (At least during the time I attended) The courses are broken up into modules. Each module you will have a session long project and a case paper to complete. The session long project papers are unuslly no less than 5 pages and the case papers can be as many as 10 pages. Do be fooled, just because there are no exams does not make this an easy program, the instructors I had were tough. I guess it is a matter of preference. I perferred writing the papers.

 

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Although not a large institution, USQ is a respectible (and fully legitimate) Australian university. The only issue here is - what is an Australian MBA worth in USA, how recognised is it - I suppose you better check with your employers !

Regards

Frangop

 

The University of Southern Queensland is a respected B&M university with a 40 year history, beautiful campus and strong research tradition in many fields. USQ is known throughout the English-speaking world and you should have no trouble from an accreditation and recognition perspective. They will probably get AACSB accreditation in the near future.

Touro is an RA-accredited purely online school with little history and no research tradition. It may be recognised in the United States, but you might have trouble internationally. Little possibility of obtaining AACSB accreditation.

 

A 40 year history is slightly misleading as it is a new university, being given university status in 1992.

 

It is general practice for universities to trace their origins and quote their history in terms of the oldest element of the university.

USQ started off as the Queensland Institute of Technology in 1967, it then became the University College of Southern Queensland and then became the University of Southern Queensland in 1992.

This shows growth, progression and maturity. It shows the development of a school until it could be rightfully called a university. Its programs and faculty developed and grew over time.

Touro magically became a university with the stroke of a pen much as one would sign an article of incorporation. Sometimes the title of "university" has to be earned, as was the case with USQ.

 

Don't think that because of the lack of the exams a program is "easy". However, I must say that exams push you to understand in deep the material.

On the other hand, Charles Sturt another Australian University is also offering a "non exam" based MBA so it seems that this is the trend for online MBA programs.

The logistics of the proctored exams can be a pain as sometimes you might live far from the closest examination centre. In Canada, examination centres for USQ are located in the main cities but I would think that this could cause a problem for someone living in a remote region so the "pure" online program would be a better option for those with little access to larger cities.

In general, for MBA programs, I would think that employer acceptability plays an important factor so I would check with my local employers and see which program might be a better fit.

Australian programs are a good option in Canada for fields where a license is required as engineering and education as Australian programs are recognized for these purposes. However, I would think that getting an MBA degree from a low tier Canadian school would be a better than an average Australian University degree as local employers would feel more comfortable with it. The same could apply for the american market.

 

I'm currently enrolled into the USQ MBA program. One thing that bothers me a little is that they have no Finance requirement among their core courses. In case you won't do a concentration, you can choose Finance as electives, though.
Also, some courses tend to place great assessment weight on the final exam. For example, the Economics assignment accounts for 20 percent of the final grade while the remaining 80 percent are left to the exam.

Dennis

 

business plan

This analysis has general applicability for anyone thinking of starting a new program or school in the USA, now that the 50/50 rules is going away.

Although I would not have chosen an name with QuIT as an acronym, starting small and earning each name upgrade suggests longevity.

In the USA, the equivalent would be to start out with national -- DETC or ACICS -- accreditation under the name X Institute; run with that for the couple of years necessary to qulify for regional -- NCA, most likely -- accreditation under the name X College; and then upgrade to X University, once you start offering graduate degrees.

Then again, Touro claims 22,000 students. At between USD 6,000 and 15,000 per year in tuition -- according to a quick glance at the fees charged at some of Touro's locations in Los Angeles, Moscow, and New York, as well as Touro University International -- they are taking in something around $200 - 250 million in tuition per year.

I'm guessing that Dr. Lander isn't very concerned with our opinions.

 

Re: business plan

It's definately a great, for profit, business model. Doesn't make it a good "university" though.

Americans, I find, use the "university" title somewhat loosely.

 

Scott, I would be interested in knowing how you arrived at this conclusion, or where that information originated.

Thanks,

Dave

 

I was a graduate assistant in the Touro MBA program for a year. A student who has earned a high GPA in that program has earned a credential of which they can be proud and not have to explain about foreign equivalency. I would strongly recommend Touro but you might also look at the cost of other North American MBA programs as a cost comparison. Comparing the Touro MBA with a foreign degree that has less utility may not be valid. My opinion.

Best wishes,

Dave

 

Dennis, thanks for sharing your experience. Are you happy with USQ overall or would you recommend another school from Australia?

 

Dave,

Comparing both programs, Touro seems like the much easier program and the more convenient one in regards to time and travel.
Touro is also very expensive and I wonder if it is worth to pay them so much money if they only require you to write a final five page paper for every course you take. I don't know if I am going to learn anything significant this way.

However, USQ is cheaper and from what I'm reading here it appears to have a stronger reputation internationally.

 

A five page paper for every course? You've got to be kidding, right?