Paging Dr. Bear, Hi Doc, Can you weigh in on this thread? Your comments would be much appreciated. http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?p=294497#post294497 We would like to hear your comments on how Herriot Watt like MBAs are perceived here in America, and more specifically how employers and schools view the fact the the B.S./B.A. degree can be bypassed with 15 years of experience. I think I remember you did some research on this subject. Thanks so much! Abner
As a former student, I can tell you my personal experience as it relates to your questions. As far as how employers perceive the degree, I have never had a negative reaction from it. The fact that I am an American with a British degree has even help me stand out from the crowd. My only problem with the program is the career support and networking opportunities with this degree is almost nil, especially if you are a non UK or EU resident. For this reason, if you are looking at an MBA to change careers, I would not recommend this program. I wouldn't recommend any DL MBA for that matter. You just don't have the opportunities that an on-campus student would. If you are already established in your field and just need an MBA for advancement, then this would be an excellent program. As for how schools preceive it, UF didn't seem to have any problem with the Heriot-Watt MBA. They fully accepted my MBA for admission as a PhD student and allowed me to transfer 30 credits from the MBA towards my PhD. This may have been different if I didn't have a BS already, however, I have heard that UF has allowed students into their Executive MBA program without bachelor degrees before. (This program is different from their traditional, part-time, and online programs.)
I did reply in that thread, Abner . . . but I'll repost it here, correcting a few typos, and adding one more annoyingly relevant thing at the end. My knowledge (and opinions) mostly derive from the eight years that I was the US/Canada marketing agent for Heriot-Watt/Edinburgh Business School (1991-1999). Utility: This was a really crucial issue, so we watched it very closely, and helped wherever possible when students were approaching their employers. We kept careful data on the first 1,000 situations. We found that about 70% of employers routinely and automatically accepted it, either because they accept all Royal Chartered British degrees or, more commonly, because Heriot-Watt is listed in the Higher Education Directory, and because it was assigned (in the 1960s) the 6-digit FICE number by the US Dept of Education ("Federal Interagency Commission on Education"). Another 29% accepted it after the student or our office made further explanations or presentations. Some HR people wanted to see sample exams, for instance. I loved this part of it. After a presentation to Gillette, on behalf of one students, the head of HR approved it, made it known to her relevant folks (11 more enrolled), then enrolled herself. The remaining 1% said no, either because they simply didn't accept non-US degrees (some referenced defense department contracts), or, in the case of Ingersoll-Rand, the HR guy I was meeting locked his door, and said, "Look, I busted my ass for two years earning my MBA at Rice. If you think I'll approved this distance program for my people, you've got another think coming. And if you tell anyone what I said, I'll deny it." Lower degree requirements: Heriot-Watt requires no prior credentials. There were high school dropouts enrolled. Their position is: this is a 100% exam-based program. If you can pass our exams, regardless of where you got the knowledge to do it, then you get our degree." During my time of involvement, we were not aware of any other recognized university that had this policy as the only policy. Then and, I think, especially now, there are quite a few schools where such a thing is possible, in certain circumstances. (That's why I always included a "bending the rules" section in my book.) One small bit of evidence. I once wrote to the 20 top executive MBA programs (from US News list), pretending to be a top level executive at a Fortune 500 company, 20 years of executive experience, but no Bachelor's degree, interested in taking a leave of absence to do the executive MBA in residence, was there any hope. Of the 18 who replied, 16 left the door open, either because they had an official policy of admitting a small percentage of MBA students without a Bachelor's, or because "we can probably work something out." Only Brigham Young and Yale replied that they absolutely would not do that. Final note, which was a concern to some potential or actual Heriot-Watt students. One of the leading credential evaluation services -- ECE in Wisconsin -- evaluated the Heriot-Watt distance MBA as not even equivalent to an American Bachelor's degree in business. Heriot-Watt took this very seriously, and engaged in substantial communication with ECE's founder, James Frey, but he absolutely refused to reconsider his stance. The university offered to send him the textbooks (large and impressive), sample exams (tough), but he had no wish to see them; his mind was made up. I never learned why. Without exception, every other NACES-member credential evaluation service evaluated the MBA as fully equivalent to an American Master's.
Thanks for your reply Dr. Bear and Edowave. I posted this thread after asking the question in another thread. Sorrry for the duplication. Actually, it was Soupbone who first posed the question, then several of us expounded upon it. This issue does not affect me because I have a B.S. degree. As far as the H-W degree, can the tests be purchased one by one? And if so, how much are they? If the prices are reasonable, I may start recommending this to a few friends. Oh, also, are the tests proctored? How long are they, etc.? Thanks, Abner P.S. Oh boy, I just caught this quote from Dr. Bear: "Final note, which was a concern to some potential or actual Heriot-Watt students. One of the leading credential evaluation services -- ECE in Wisconsin -- evaluated the Heriot-Watt distance MBA as not even equivalent to an American Bachelor's degree in business. Heriot-Watt took this very seriously, and engaged in substantial communication with ECE's founder, James Frey, but he absolutely refused to reconsider his stance. The university offered to send him the textbooks (large and impressive), sample exams (tough), but he had no wish to see them; his mind was made up. I never learned why. Without exception, every other NACES-member credential evaluation service evaluated the MBA as fully equivalent to an American Master's." That could be a minor or major speed bump. I suppose one would simply not use ECE for an evaluation?
The courses themselves are now $1296. There's also a testing fee of about $140 per exam. I like the concept of one big exam, since I usually test very well, and I get sick of writing assignments. However, my feeling is that I'd have a more difficult time getting a teaching gig with a foreign degree. I know it's been done before, but I remember reading Tim Dotson's experience trying to get teaching job with his HW MBA. In once case a local university denied him based on the ECE evaluation.
