University of South Africa Doctor's Degree

Hi All,

Is there anyone currently attending University of South Africa in this forum? I would like to know more about its doctor's degree in business.

1. Do I need to submit my thesis topic along with the application?
2. Are there any coursework?
3. Approximately how much does it cost for the degree?
4. Is it 100% online? I don't want to travel.
5. Is there an oral defense of the dissertation?

Your help is highly appreciated, thanks.

 

Hopefully someone with some real UNISA experience will chime in to your post, but, in the meantime, contact Dr. Michael Esselen, President of ADLC-Canada-USA. His organization specializes in helping those of us in North America to navigate UNISA’s murky waters.

http://www.iaci-canada.com/

I seriously considered UNISA for a PhD but decided to go for a degree from the states instead. When I contacted Dr. Esselen, he was able to get me in contact with the proper people at UNISA to answer my questions. You’ll find that Dr. Esselen is very responsive and helpful.

I hope this helps you get started. Good luck!

 

Thanks for your info...

What are you studying now?
Why did you choose NCU over UNISA?

 

I am working on a PhD in Business Administration with an undecided specialization at the time.

I chose NCU over UNISA because NCU is RA and, for those of us in the U.S., RA is very important. UNISA may be considered RA equivalent, but they are not truly RA.

I seriously considered UNISA because my master’s degree is in operations research and UNISA is the only university that offers a PhD in Operations Research via DL. Personally I feel UNISA would have been an excellent choice, but given the emphasis in the U.S. on RA, I felt an RA degree would be a better.

 

Steve,

I don't disagree with you. If my plan was to use a doctorate to gain entrance into academia, then UNISA would be the better option. On the other hand, outside of academia, many HR personnel would not know if UNISA was legitimate (let alone be able to verify it). NCU can be verified through legitimate government and accreditation web sites.

I went so far as to email my HR department and ask them about the University of South Africa. They had never heard of it and had no idea how to verify its legitimacy (I asked them this as well ). With NCU, despite the fact that they hadn’t heard of it, they asked me if it was RA (hey, they are familiar with accreditation ). It was at that point I realized that the average person working in HR – the same people that decide whether your resume goes to the hiring manager or get filed in the round file - knows very little when it comes to verifying a university (let alone a foreign one).

Believe me, I thought about, debated, analyzed, and agonized over this decision for quite a while. If you want to use the degree to gain entrance into academia, UNISA is a better option. If you plan to use the degree for anything other than academia, an RA university will serve you better in the U.S. Besides, my experience with NCU has been terrific so I have no room to complain.

To top that off, a person at the VA informed me I could not use my GI Bill for a doctorate at UNISA . I wonder if that person knew what they were talking about.

DISCLAIMER: These statements are JMHO

 

It's a good thing we agree, otherwise, since you are only an hour up the road, I was going to have to visit you and convince you that I was right. (Kidding of course)

I was looking at the doctorate as perhaps that one thing that separates two otherwise equally qualified candidates for a promotion or for consulting or to someday teach as an adjunct. Other than that, the darn degree is really more for a sense of accomplishment.

 

It depends where you want to teach. In a competitive market like in Canada where PhDs are becoming a dime a doze, you will find that a PhD from UNISA doesn't stand a good chance where you have people from PhDs from UoT or McGill still looking for work.

I have found many full time faculty members from UNISA working in Australia or the UK but not so many in the US.

If UNISA is all you can afford then it is better PhD than no PHD, but if you can afford more, I would go for schools in the UK and Australia, specially the ones with AACSB accreditation.

 

I apologize for hijacking your thread, but it doesn't appear as though anyone has answered your original questions yet.

To give you an idea of how UNISA works, the following excerpt is from an email I received from one of the professors in the Department of Decision Sciences. Keep in mind that this email is in response to questions about UNISA's PhD in Operations Research. The doctorate in business may not work the same.

 

Re: Re: University of South Africa Doctor's Degree

Hi PhD2B,

Thanks for your info...

To tell you the truth, I actually completed six out of eleven Ph.D. courses with TUI. Due to work and family obligation, I withdraw from the program years ago.

Now I would like to get back to it; however, my current employer doesn't offer tuition reimbursement. If I continue my study with TUI, it will probably cost me another USD 20K. That is the reason why I am looking for a low-cost alternative.

What would you do if you were me?

 

Re: Re: Re: University of South Africa Doctor's Degree

If you are six courses into a PhD with Touro and you were satisfied with your experience with them, then I would look into a way to finish with them without putting yourself into debt. BTW – If you go back to Touro, will they allow you to apply the six courses you have already taken to the program?

Would it be possible to take your time (do one class at a time) and pay as you go? Or, take out a small student loan and pay as you go? Also, if you are in the military in any way (active, reserves, retired), Touro offers tuition breaks.

http://www.tourou.edu/cba/mtap.htm

Another thing you can do is identify a problem or issue that your employer needs resolved but doesn’t have the time or resources to find a solution. Then, work out an arrangement with your employer to solve the problem, using your dissertation as the tool, provided they pick up the tab. One of the SMEs at my work mentioned this idea to me and wants to serve as one of my outside dissertation committee members. This idea may not help with the five classes you have remaining, but it may be a good way to get your employer to pay for your dissertation.

One thing you need to be aware of with SA universities like UNISA is that you may be required to go to SA a couple of times while working on your doctorate. As the email I listed above states, the program is DL and they don’t require residencies, but “we [UNISA] may require you to come to Pretoria for a week or so, and possibly more than once.” A trip or two to Pretoria for a week or so at a time could get very costly.

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for looking up the price of airfare. That's not as bad as I thought it would be.

What airline was that with?

 

Unisa doctorate

Hi all,

I am working on a Humanities doctorate with Unisa (just transferred there from another SAfr University).

Cannot comment fully on Bus / Mgmt department, but let me add the following:

You should be aware that there are two substantively different kinds of Bus / Mgmt doctorates available with Unisa.

The one is through the school of economic and management sciences.

You have a number of options depending upon the field of specialisation you prefer. Doctorates vary as such -- D Admin; D Commerce, D Public Admin, etc.

====

The other is the DBL through the Graduate School of Business Leadership, and is more rigorous. It follows the MBL, or MBA

"The Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) is an autonomous academic department within the College of Economic and Management Sciences of the University South Africa (Unisa)."

=====

Cost right now, per year, is slightly less than $2,000, but of course that varies all the time per the exchange rate.

As far as residency is concerned....

I seriously doubt you would have to visit campus working with the Dept. of Economic and Mgmt Sciences.

Working with SBL, may be quite another matter, as they are far more 'hands on' oriented.

You just really need to take the time to explore the Unisa website.

======

Nothing non-Western will likely ever be highly thought of in the US. Globally, however, a Unisa doctorate is very highly respected and folks from all over the world -- many of whom you will do business with -- highly regard the school and may more highly respect you for earning your doctorate from a non-Western school.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: University of South Africa Doctor's Degree

Hi PhD2B,

Thanks for your recommendation...
I will talk to my employer to see if we can work something out.
There are just too many uncertainties with the oversea programs.

In general, I think TUI is a fair school. I really can't complain too much about it except it's not AACSB accredited Now I still need to work out the details with them: getting readmission, retaking classes, and etc.

Even if I can get readmission and the money I need to complete the coursework, there is still the ultimate dissertation. I heard many students from TUI having difficulty forming dissertation committee and getting proposal approved.

How is it with NCU?

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: University of South Africa Doctor's Degree

I can't speak for NCU's dissertation process but I have been satisfied with the classes so far. I know there are others on this forum that are currently in the dissertation phase and could give you more insight. In addition to being 100% DL, like TUI, NCU allows students to choose between the DBA and the PhD in BA and provides many specializations to choose from. In this way you would be able to tailor your dissertation toward any of the specializations, which range from Applied Computer Science to Sports Management and Leadership.

NCU is also not AACSB accredited but they just became a candidate for ACBSP accreditation.

NCU is candidate for accreditation by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).