DL Rankings

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by KDON, Dec 29, 2001.

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  1. KDON

    KDON New Member

    Would anyone have available the most reccent listing of DL rankings. Any comments/concerns on Heriot-Watt?
     
  2. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    There aren't any DL rankings that I know of. I'm not sure how there could be. Distance education is way too fluid for rankings to work. Schools are adding programs and changing their delivery formats constantly. A ranking would be obsolete in a matter of months.

    What's more, DL adds another whole layer of delivery medium to your basic course experience. What makes the course good is not just the professor, course content and fellow students but how all that is presented to you a thousand miles away. The number of variables goes way up. How they are weighted probably depends on one's preferred learning style, previous experience and stuff.

    I think that it makes more sense to investigate candidate programs in detail, and choose the one that is the best match for your own personal selection criteria.

    My impression of Heriot Watt? Keeping in mind that I've had no personal experience with it, I'd say that it has some peculiarities that make it unusual.

    Heriot-Watt is a fully respectable mid-range British university. Its DL MBA is relatively weak instructionally, since it basically gives you things to read, then tells you to come back for the exam. The exams are very difficult by all accounts.

    I personally think that H-W is very good for experienced individuals who have already been exposed to much of the material. It may be less appropriate for somebody approaching the material cold.

    It probably is best suited for those who like to read and study independently. If you want lots of faculty feedback and student interaction, you probably should look for a more interactive web-based program.
     
  3. WalterRogers

    WalterRogers member

    Arguably the finest non-resident MBA program available (most of the better ones require residency)... recently started a web-based program which should make it more popular with students who desire more interaction... they are also negotiating with brick & morter universities to offer classroom instruction.

     
  4. Dennis

    Dennis New Member

    A couple of questions more:

    -How is Heriot Watt viewed in Europe in general and in the UK in particular? Doesn't the fact that it's a private university make it automatically somewhat suspicious in countries where most of the higher education is run by the state?
    -Does Heriot Watt have, beside the state accreditation in the UK, any professional accreditation as well?

    Thank you,

    Dennis Siemens
     
  5. Yan

    Yan New Member

    All UK universities, except three, are government-funded. Hariott-Watt is also government-funded.

    The information of UK higher education system can be accessed at http://www.britishcouncil.org.uk/education/hed/hed/sysfactsfig.htm
     
  6. Ike

    Ike New Member

    It is a good school but its MBA (a good program too) does not have AMBA membership/accreditation. Most top business schools in the U.K belong to AMBA. But I don't that lack of AMBA accreditation diminishes the quality of HW-MBA.
     
  7. WalterRogers

    WalterRogers member

    Heriot-Watt had AMBA accreditation a few years ago. Then they decided to fully integrate there distance and on-campus programs. Apparently you cannot have an integrated DL/campus program and still qualify for AMBA, so they did not seek renewal.


     
  8. Ray Murray

    Ray Murray New Member

  9. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Walter: Heriot-Watt had AMBA accreditation a few years ago. Then they decided to fully integrate there distance and on-campus programs. Apparently you cannot have an integrated DL/campus program and still qualify for AMBA, so they did not seek renewal.

    This happened during the seven years that I was involved with marketing the Heriot-Watt MBA in North America. As I understand it, AMBA said, in effect, "Your AMBA membership does not include your distance MBA program; you will have to apply separately for that one."

    Heriot-Watt, Warwick, Durham, and other major programs replied jointly saying, "Our distance and on-campus MBAs have precisely the same standards; indeed, one can freely move between distance and on-campus programs, therefore we don't think we should have to reapply, pay the significant fees, etc."

    And AMBA said no. So some schools (like H-W) quite AMBA, while others (like Warwick) decided to follow AMBA's dictates. Lack of AMBA did not seem to have any noticeable effect on H-W growing to become the largest MBA of any kind in North America, in Europe, in Australia, in the world.

    (H-W's position brings to mind the wonderful tea towel we once bought in Edinburgh: "Auld Scottish Prayer: Lord, please let me be right, because You know I'm never going to change my mind.")
     
  10. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Heriot-Watt "quit AMBA", not "quite AMBA."

    Do we really get a 5-minute editing 'window' next month?
     

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