Pace of online doctoral degree offerings...

Anyone have any idea about how often a new online doctorate comes on the market? Is that pace accelerating? Two years from now will we be flooded with new doctorates or will the market narrow?

 

There are few discussions about this so you can do a search for related discussions and make your own opinion. In my opinion there is a huge trend to offer online DBAs (Not PhDs) from DETC and online for profit schools. In my opinion, online doctorates from this type of schools are only good to land low paying adjunct positions at another online schools but there are people that disagree and feel that this type of doctorates still open opportunities. The other problem is that I started noticing that some of the same online schools are starting to discriminate against DBAs mainly because this is the type of doctorate that is being offered by most of the dotcom schools. Northcentral (a dotcom school) for example has put a note for some of their online adjunct positions that DBA holders will only be taken into consideration on a case by case basis so this should tell you something about the saturation of online DBAs.

From NCUs web site:
"Part-time and full time equivalent work is available as an ongoing opportunity. Applicants must have an appropriate terminal degree (PhD preferred, but some DBAs may also be recruited) and current research experience (demonstrated by recent publications and presentations)."

 

I wouldn't be surprised if one or two new DBA programs popped up. There are so many MBA degree holders trying to separate themselves from the pack that I can see more demand in that area. I'm also a liitle surprised that there aren't more EdD/PhD (Education) programs around. Beyond that I'd say that if anyone found a way to create a (respectable) Psychology PhD/PsyD that was truly affordable then they'd probably become very popular.

 

The NCU website also has:

"PhD preferred, but some EdDs may also be recruited."
Source​

That is very strange indeed. What's up with that?

Here's more:
http://www.rul.ac/career.php

 

My interpretation is "as DBA and EdDs are dime a dozen we prefer PhDs as our students might feel that we are more selective when it comes to faculty hiring". Lets face it, most of the new online doctorates are not PhDs but EdD, Dsc, DBA, DM, etc so schools just feel that the PhD is still a brand that shows more credibility. If online schools believe this what can be expected from traditional schools.

 

If that is the case, then why would students pursue DBAs or EdDs from NCU when PhDs are also offered?

 

One person is saying he is surprised there aren't a lot more EdDs and you are saying they are all over the place.

 

Why is NCU listed in the Ridgeshire University website:

Ridgeshire University Of London seeking contractual mentors to direct and oversee PhD, DBA and EdD dissertations in the Schools of Business and Technology Management (which includes law enforcement specializations), Education, and Behaviora. Northcentral University is regionally accredited and 100% online with approximately 9,000 learners, 70% of whom are in Doctoral programs in a wide variety of specializations. Applicants should have an appropriate terminal degree (PhD preferred) and evidence of current research experience (publication preferred).
Source​

Plus the verbage from the Ridgeshire University website is basically a cut-and-paste from the NCU website (or visa versa). Here it is from NCU's website:

Northcentral University (a regionally accredited, 100% online) seeks Faculty Mentors as Independent Contractors to teach and supervise doctoral-level research in business and related fields (computer information systems, homeland security, public administration, healthcare administration, etc.). Part-time and full time equivalent work is available as an ongoing opportunity. Applicants must have an appropriate terminal degree (PhD preferred, but some DBAs may also be recruited) and current research experience (demonstrated by recent publications and presentations).
Source ​

Is there a correlation between Ridgeshire University and NCU or do they both just use the same webmaster or marketer or what?

Does anyone know anything about Ridgeshire University?

 

This is interesting. From RUL:

From the well-known London South Bank University:

The RUL.ac domain is registered to Elpers Tech, operating out of Malaysia. RUL's contact info page gives this address: Riverside House, Riverside Drive, Aberdeen AB11 7L, United Kingdom. This address isn't in London, it's in Scotland. Riverside House in Aberdeen also happens to be the home of Regus, a virtual office company. The RUL contact info page also lists an international address in Malta.

Ridgeshire also operates at ruol.co.uk. That domain name is registered to someone in Yemen.

 

There are actually quite a few schools offering online EdDs including Walden, Aspen, Nova, USQ, CSU, Argosy and NCU just to mention a few. It seems that online schools offer DBA, EdD and other professional doctorates as watered down versions of the PhDs and for this reason the descrimination.

 

Ridgeshire University of London is not in the list of universities in the United Kingdom. I am not sure that it is legit.

List of universities in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

These are the degree offerings from Walden's website:

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision
Ph.D. in Education
Ph.D. in Health Services
Ph.D. in Human Services
Ph.D. in Management
Ph.D. in Psychology
Ph.D. in Public Health
Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration
Source​

Are you saying that Walden's DBA and EdD are watered down, but their PhD isn't watered down?

 

Do you know of a distance DSc program?

 

One of the things overlooked is that many online doctorate students are simply using their education to move up the food chain within their respective professions. My humble perspective is that most students understand that an online doctorate will not open a lot of doors within the educational arena, which is fine.

 

I've never measured it. My totally subjective impression is that there's been some modest growth in the number of DL doctoral programs in business. But there seems to have been little or no DL doctoral growth in most other subjects.

Given that several hundred universities in the United States award B&M doctoral degrees in a whole variety of subjects, there doesn't seem to be any significant rush to offer programs online. Many academic subjects don't seem to be served by any DL doctoral programs.

The growth in DL over the last 10-20 years has mostly been at the masters level, largely in business and vocational subjects. There are more than 200 DL MBA programs out there.

 

I wonder how well PhD from a .com school would be respected as opposed to an DBA from a B&M school. I might start a thread on that subject.

 

I see a steady growth in on-line engineering related doctorates around the USA including these from Colorado State, Alabama, Indiana, Maryland and ERAU. I think this trend will continue although the degrees so far tend to be in specialized areas and expensive.
Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (M.S., M.E., Ph.D.) - Distance | Colorado State University Continuing Education
UAHuntsville Distance Learning
Distance Learning: Technology Management (Ph.D.)
Graduate Degree Programs, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland
Aviation PhD at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

And there are lots o DL engineering programs at the masters level not to mention other areas. But I agree that there are few grad degrees in the natural sciences area (my current area of academic interest).

 

You've nailed it! This is a point of view that is often ignored when this "online doctorate is inferior" discussions are going on.