Recommend MA degree in Education or MBA through distance learning&What would you do?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by BartonBank, Dec 20, 2009.

Loading...
  1. BartonBank

    BartonBank New Member

    Hi all,

    Here's my situation..................

    (1) I live and work overseas, teaching English as a Foreign Language at a University in South East Asia.

    (2) In 3 or 4 years from now I plan to return to the UK in order to undertake a Pgce in Secondary Level Business Studies. (Pgce = the qualification needed for a teacher's license/teacher certification in the UK)

    (3) My current workplace (the university in Asia) is asking all instructor's to enroll in a master's programme by next year. (which I am happy to do)

    (4) However, I don't want to do a master's in TEFL/TESOL/Linguistics because I don't plan to teach ESL/EFL after I return to the UK.

    (5) Therefore, I decided that doing a master's in education or a MBA would benefit me most in the long term (my undergraduate degree is in business studies) as I plan to work and teach business studies at a UK high school within the next few years, and after that maybe return overseas to work at an international school.

    Therefore....

    (a) What do you think would be most beneficial for me considering my planned future path? Doing the MBA or MA in Education?

    (b) Can any of you guys recommend a good distance learning programme?
    The areas I am most interested are, improving teaching instruction, curriculum development, teaching with technology.

    (c) Do you think I should consider enrolling in a US university considering the fact that I intend to work at/with UK schools/UK curriculum in the future? Would my US graduate degree carry the same weight as a UK master's degree (for teaching in the UK)?

    Thanks all.
     
  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Based upon everything you've posted it would be hard for me to understand why you'd even be looking at an MBA program. Assuming then that you're looking for a Masters in Education, there are a skagillion options both in the UK and the USA.

    Here's one from the U of L

    http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/prospective_students/postgraduate/inst_education/mres/index.shtml

    Here's another from the OU (UK)

    http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/education/index.htm

    Then there's this type of program from UMass (you pick)

    http://www.umassonline.net/DegreeList.cfm?degree_Category_ID=4

    You have so many options in front of you you're going to have to start to use some collection of criteria to narrow them down. Cost, delivery methods, specialization, etc. We'll be right here.
     
  3. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

  4. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Go for both.
     
  5. BartonBank

    BartonBank New Member


    Thanks Ted but how about an answer to this question?

    Do you think I should consider enrolling in a US university considering the fact that I intend to work at/with UK schools/UK curriculum in the future? Would my US graduate degree carry the same weight as a UK master's degree (for teaching in the UK)?
     
  6. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Generally speaking, when one gets a degree in country A but plans on working in country B, one usually contacts what is known as a foreign credential evaluator service to see if your home country will acknowledge the degree. Generally speaking, if a degree is regarded as accredited in its home country, other countries tend to accept it as legit. You might also pose this question to universities and other prospective employers in the UK.
     
  7. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    You might also check the above threads to see if there are any UK options. For that matter, I could check my _Bear's Guide to the Best MBA Degrees by Distance Learning_ and _Bear's Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning_ and add posts on From Our Mother, England to the MBA Sticky and the MEd Sticky.
     
  8. Go_Fishy

    Go_Fishy New Member

    Good advice. However, in the case of USA -(Western) Europe, you can be sure that a degree from a comprehensive university (as opposed to e.g. a vocational school) will be accepted both ways. The only question that might arise is why you chose a US institution over a UK one. But that may be easily explained by whatever your reason is (more suitable program, tuition (ha!), focus areas etc.).

    My home university is in Germany. I live in the US. I heard the phrase "foreign credential evaluation" only once, even though I talked to many universities and employers. That one instance occurred when I was inquiring about a master's program with the University of Illinois, U-C. And the advisor actually called me later and told me to skip that step saying, "I talked to my supervisor, and he said your school was there when Columbus discovered America." UIUC also has a major exchange program with my home university, but the advisor's reason makes a better story... ;)
     
  9. Malajac

    Malajac Member



    Maybe you could use this thread, I was searching mainly for graduate certificates but many programs there tie in nicely into Master's degrees.

    http://www.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?t=31811&highlight=elearning
     
  10. Malajac

    Malajac Member



    You know, Heiks sounds kinda German to me. :D
     
  11. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    You may want to consider an MPA degree - I think it would be applicable to careers in education or in business. Lots of DL MPAs available in the USA but have not looked for DL MPA availability in the UK (I know the London School of Economics has a full time MPA).
     
  12. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Heiks is definitely a German name, but my Gyde, Lindsley, Humphrey, and Ogden ancestors were definitely English.
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    A Cursory Review of Bears' Guide ...

    reveals that Aston University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Bradford, Brunel University, Buckinghampshire College, the University of Dundee, the University of Durham, Edinburgh Business School of Heriot Watt University, the University of Glasgow, Henley Management College of the University of Reading, Keele University, the University of Leicester, the University of London, London South Bank University, the University of Luton, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, Napier University, Open University, Oxford Brookes University, the University of Portsmouth, Queen Margaret University College, the University of Reading, Robert Gordon University, Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Stirling, the University of Strathclyde, the University of Surrey, the University of Teesside, the University of Wales Bangor, the University of Warwick, and the University of Westminster all offer the master's degree in business and/or education by distance.
     
  14. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Aston University www.aston.ac.uk
    University of Birmingham www.bham.ac.uk
    University of Bradford www.brad.ac.uk
    Brunel University www.brunel.ac.uk
    Buckinghampshire College www.bucks.ac.uk
    University of Dundee www.dundee.ac.uk
    University of Durham www.dur.ac.uk
    Edinburgh Business School of Heriot Watt University www.ebsglobal.net www.hw.ac.uk
    University of Glasgow www.gla.ac.uk
    Henley Management College of the University of Reading www.henley.reading.ac.uk
    Keele University www.keele.ac.uk
    University of Leicester www.le.ac.uk
    University of London www.lon.ac.uk
    London South Bank University www.lsbu.ac.uk
    the University of Luton www.luton.ac.uk
    University of Manchester www.man.ac.uk
    Manchester Metropolitan University www.mmu.ac.uk
    Napier University www.napier.ac.uk
    Open University www.open.ac.uk
    Oxford Brookes University www.brookes.ac.uk
    University of Portsmouth www.port.ac.uk
    Queen Margaret University College www.qmu.ac.uk
    University of Reading www.reading.ac.uk
    Robert Gordon University www.rgu.ac.uk
    Sheffield Hallam University www.shu.ac.uk
    University of Stirling www.stir.ac.uk
    University of Strathclyde www.strath.ac.uk
    University of Surrey www.surrey.ac.uk
    University of Teesside www.tees.ac.uk
    University of Wales Bangor www.bangor.ac.uk
    University of Warwick www.warwick.ac.uk
    University of Westminster www.wmin.ac.uk
     
  15. major56

    major56 Active Member

    To teach secondary Business studies, the M.B.A. or M.A., M.S. /M.Ed. should meet your requirements. However I certainly can’t speak for the UK educational aristocracy, but my experience with Texas education top management … they favor the M.Ed. or M.A. over the M.B.A. I’m not sure why … perhaps just because it (M.Ed. /M.A., M.S.) was their academic route (e.g., herd mentality /social proofing). If the UK is equally accepting of the M.B.A. or M.A. /M.Ed. for teaching secondary business studies, I’d opt for the M.B.A. in that it would perhaps allow additional degree versatility over the M.Ed. or M.A. /M.S. that specialized in an education discipline if you ever decided to leave teaching. But if instructing secondary business studies is your terminal focus … any of the 3-degrees should suffice (including a M.B.A.). And other thread contributors have already listed many DL options whether U.S. or UK based.
     
  16. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    That might not be a bad idea. When I lived in Japan I meet someone in the same boat as the OP who was doing the Heriot-Watt MBA, and well as a MA in TESOL with University of Leicester at the same time.
     

Share This Page