Came across this school: wiss Management Center (SMC) believes in the idea that those who are academically committed shall have the right to access affordable higher education without compromising on quality, credibility or academic standards. A leading provider of graduate and post-graduate education services, SMC is dedicated to those seeking flexible alternatives to traditional higher education. its ACBSP and ECBE looks pretty good
It looks good but the catch is that they are not recognized by the Swiss government. Foreign degree evaluators would not be likely to give you a US equivalency as they are not accredited in their own country. Basically, you will be buying a very expensive piece of paper that wouldn't give you the right to call your self doctor in the US. The course might be of some value but if you are looking for something that wouldn't blow on your face, you should look somewhere else.
It's true that they're not accredited federally, but they're not eligible because of complex Swiss requirements that place it out of reach to smaller institutions like stand alone business schools. Whether it would be considered the equivalent to an American regionally accredited school hasn't been tested. Or, put another way, they've already passed at least one test in that ACBSP considered them the equivalent to regionally accredited. Either way, what in the world makes you think their graduates can't refer to themselves as "doctor" in the U.S.? Talk about "citation needed"! Because of the uncertainty, I wouldn't recommend them for those seeking faculty positions in the U.S. But for those who want to do doctoral study as part of a consulting career or something like that, they may be an economical choice. -=Steve=-
ACBSP is a programmatic accreditor, not an institutional accreditor. In other words, they accredit programs on a case by case basis. ACBSP, unlike a regional accreditor, does not provide "blanket" coverage of all programs offered by a given institution. This means that there is no assurance that every SMC degree program will be ACBSP accredited. In fact, most of them are, but the SMC PhD programs are not. This includes the existing PhD in Economics and the forthcoming PhD in Marketing. Many US states do have laws or regulations that restrict the use of unaccredited degrees, particularly doctorates. You could make a reasonable case that these rules should not apply to an SMC DBA degree, since it has ACBSP accreditation, which is widely recognized in the US. However, it would be much more difficult to make that case for an SMC PhD, which apparently lacks any form of independent validation beyond Swiss cantonal authorization. It would be legally questionable, in some US jurisdictions, to claim the title of "doctor" based on an unaccredited PhD degree like this.
Most jobs that require a PhD in the US would require a foreign degree evaluation from a NACES accredited institution. It is highly unlikely that a NACES accredited evaluator would accept Swiss management center as RA equivalent as they are not recognized in their own country. Do I have a reference? I would need to pay WES or other foreign evaluator for a report that states this but what you are asking me is the equivalent of asking for a reference that Ecole Superieure Robert De Sorbon wouldn't be accepted in the US as RA equivalent. In general, if the University is not recognized in their own country, it won't be recognized as RA equivalent.
Not at all. Robert de Sorbon is a notorious degree mill with no recognition whatsoever in France whereas SMC has the equivalent to state licensure, and additional programmatic accreditation for most of its programs from ACBSP, which requires schools to be regionally accredited or equivalent to qualify. Yes, in general. But you're making the situation with SMC out to be clear cut, and it isn't. It's in an inconvenient gray area where it's demonstrably legitimate, yet still potentially has recognition issues. I would certainly agree with you that this would might make it a poor choice for many people, but especially considering its low tuition rate, it might still be ideal for some. -=Steve=-
