Rushmore University 'assessment processes'

I have been reading some of the work posted by a student of Rushmore University who recently completed their MBA. If this is any guide to the quality of non-RA providers then heaven help them!!!


Check out this link at http://www.hilt-nl.net/financia.htm where the students Financial Management thesis is posted. I started reading ang got bored after the first couple of lines - more like a reflective journal, no reference at all to action learning principles, no conceptual framework - the list goes on.

Then to the examiners comments. Firstly, marking criteria for a thesis:

(A=very good, B=satisfactory, C=unsatisfactory)

!!!!!!!

OK - the following comment just blew me away...

5. The key elements of the topic were outlined and clearly justified, including original and/or creative approaches which may contribute to the field of study.
Grade: [A]

Comment: [Excellent overview and survey of the topic and of the existing "case"/working environment, with all it's subleties, policies and procedures. Although I am not in any way an expert in Management Finance, I can appreciate your presentation.]

So, the examiner is not an expert in Management Finance, but is marking a Financial Management thesis. I rest my case.

Rushore have always been very critical of comments posted on AED and issues I posted on my website. This really does not help their credibility one single bit.

Cheers,

George

 

The guy running Rushmore has always been a voracious writer. Ask him the time, he first explains Einstein, then checks the Atomic Clock, then tells you how to build a watch. The website is filled with drivel, but also one important thing: esteemed faculty. The list reads like a Who's-Who. I always thought it was a lot of bull; this only lends weight to that notion. Jeez, you'd think there was a financial management expert somewhere in the bunch!

Take away the verbosity and you find little else about Rushmore.

Rich Douglas

 

Further evidence that the school is basically a fraud.

As several have said, it's esteemed owner/founder/president/whatever seems to be literally amoral. He appears simply *incapable* of understanding that his program is providing substandard education that no one with an ounce of sense will consider to be credible.

And the idea that someone is evaluating a paper with no background on the subject at hand is simply laughable.

 

Well I know a little about financial management and I cannot appreciate the presentation at all.

The most laughable bit from the examiner's comment is:
"3. Inclusion of relevant supportive qualitative and/or qualitative data, which were presented in a clear and integrated way. Demonstrated understanding of topic, thesis, etc.
Grade: [A] Comment: [Very good job..]"

Have a look at what is written under the heading "research" in the paper - two and a half lines of nonsense!

This is not an academic paper. It's a load of crap. (Where do you unearth all this stuff from, George? But don't stop; it's a laugh a minute.)




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Peter Tucker
Australia

 

Yes it is amazing Peter - and how they can publish this on the net for the world to see, unbeleivable.

The guy actually linked to my old site www.virtualuniversities.net and my webcrawler picked up the external link.

Cheers,

George

 

Interesting that they expect to be a candidate for accreditation within the next few weeks.

 

Hmmmm. I'd vote that they're seeking accreditation from the World Association. DETC doesn't do candidacy (at least, the school isn't supposed to mention it) and the idea that they'd even be able to put together an application at a regional is ridiculous.

So, on that timetable, they probably *will* get accreditation.

 

With a R/A MBA and 25 years in the business environment and teaching business related courses I am surprised that the word "qualitative" would even be used in a research paper on finance. As my business styx prof said, "if it isn't quantative, it really isn't styx."

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Howard Rodgers

 

Man.

I just looked over some of the rest of the fine workmanship (every paper marked with all "A" grades) produced by this Rushmore graduate.

Some of the papers indicate that the student didn't even have the foggiest concept of the material he was presenting. For example, he states that the principle point of the Tom Peters classic "In Search of Excellence" is that people are important.

Well, I think that Tom Peters would beg to differ. Additionally, Peters said in 1996 that much of the information in "In Search of Excellence is now outdated, that he has newer concepts that better relate to today's econony.

Not only did the student fail to catch the main point of the book (which is about employee empowerment and ownership, not simply "People are important"), he failed to do even the basic research to talk about what has happened since 1983.

Yet his "professor" gave him an A on everything.

Also rather pathetic is the complete lack of comments, other than boilerplate "Consistently wrote at graduate level"

If someone wants a fun project, I'd suggest compiling a list of all of the companies unwittingly paying for Rushmore degrees and providing them some info on what Rushmore actually is.

 

Despite Rushmore's extensive faculty listing, I'm convinced the bulk of the work is being done by one guy: the owner. But this cannot be a small task: Rushmore advertises all over the place, presumably at significant cost. Revenues must be decent and, therefore, the student body must be as well. (They claim about 300 on their website.) That's a lot of papers to "grade."

Rich Douglas, consistently writing below the gradute level.

 

Not only is he not an expert in management finance he can't even use fifth grade grammar:

<snipwith all it's subleties<snip>

should, obviously, be its

 

I have been following Rushmore on and off for awhile. Their "accreditation" page just gets longer and longer and more convoluted as time goes on. I have been in touch with DETC and at the times I've contacted them (last time mid-2001), they did not have Rushmore as a candidate. I haven't checked with the NCA to see if they are applying for RA. So, I agree with the assessment that it may be some other accreditation body.

I have read papers from students/grads on previous occasions. I have not been terribly impressed with the quality of their work. In the case of this one particular paper, like George, I started it, but found it less than stimulating (but then I fell asleep 3 times proofing a journal article I wrote). Also, I have difficulty with supposedly academic works (and I would argue a thesis is an academic work- or should be) that take a first person approach, or play with first person then switch to third.

One of the neat things about their website content (which supposedly is designed according to the principles of a famed web designer- but does not conform to what real web designers I know say is important) is there are little laugh provoking nuggets interspered with it. I particularly like their marketing approach that basically says you don't need an MBA for success, but you should still give them your money for one. Oh- Wait, maybe it's because Dr. Cox was an accountant, not a marketer.....

 

I am very surprised with the actual length & depth of this thesis.

Aren’t thesis meant to be substantial & sizeable pieces of work? (ie. More than 5,000 words).

This is barely 5 pages long. . . .

CFr

 

By the way . . . is Rushmore Uni still at South Dakota??

CFr

 

According to their website, they've gone offshore to the Carribean.

Rich Douglas

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it. What are the chances that you'll ever see that thesis cited in anyone else's work?

Very, very, very low. For some huge value of very, and some extremely low value of low.

Research is a self-correcting beast.

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Quinn