UNISA Not A Real School

I was attacked by a colleague today about UNISA. He told me:

That UNISA was a f&^%$#@ diploma mill. I am buying a degree from that correspondence school. The diploma is not worth the paper it is written on. How dare I compare myself to him with his PhD from a tier one school ( Washington State University). It is a f&^%$#@ joke. I did not take classes at an American university and I will never have the breadth of knowledge that he ( and his colleague has). He did this in front of another colleague of mine and students. He went on to tell me he would “NEVER” recognize f*&^%$# UNISA and that I could not get into or cut it an American ( real, as he called it) school. Now, on the verbal barrage, I will get him by talking to our department chair. On the school front, got any ammunition to shut him up? He pretty much trashed my intelligence ( oh, I did not put that in here), my school, my POS degree and my even trying to put PhD on my resume. (Our accrediting guru laughed and stated, UNISA is a qualified school. It is accredited. As long as you get me the transcript and the credentialing, we are good)

 

Ignorance is bliss.

 

I know the feeling. A coworker looked at me crazy when I told him I was graduating from Liberty University with a multidisciplinary degree. To him I graduated from a no-name college with a useless degree.

"What will you do with that?"

 

You're best option is to not waste another bit of energy on this guy. Each defense is a small victory for him and will show him how hard you're working to win his approval. UNISA is a real school, which you already know. Quietly give your employers any proof they request and don't give another ounce of energy to the issue.

If there's jackass in the road, simply drive around it and be on your way. Why blow your horn or try to push it out of the way? It's just a jackass and you have somewhere to be.

 

Yep. My department chair and dean nailed him. That is ok, I am fine. I was totally peeved, but nothing a nice 7 mile run will not fix. By the way, still reworking on the first two chapters for the Degreeinfo update.

 

I know the feeling as I have a degree from a no name school in Australia. My advice is to publish in journals of high caliber in your field. Once you get few publications, you will earn the respect of your peers as many of these graduates from top schools cannot even publish in a local newspaper.

 

Jeepers, it sounds like your co-worker has his panties in a wad! :rant: Be proud of your accomplishments and your school. I am so sorry you were embarrassed that way. Some people can be such idiots! I hope you are having a better day after your run. :fing02:

 

I'm sorry that you got attacked in that way. I can tell you that I'd be happy to have an advanced degree from UNISA. Your co-worker is just displying his insecurities.

 

I have to reprint this from what Roscoe stated three years ago. This is just as true now as it was back in 2009...

A few years ago, when I wanted to know how SA degrees are viewed in the U.S., I contacted the provost officers of several universities. The officer at one school had just returned from SA and was surprised by my call. She said the quality of education in SA was equivalent to US schools, and that SA doctorates would be treated like US doctorates. The second officer on my list (from Howard University), said his school had a partnership with SA universities.

I did a quick search and found a number of US schools, including one in Michigan, have partnerships with SA schools.

Then I went to an academic conference and met five scholars (from the US and the UK) who had lectured at SA schools. One scholar I met, who teaches at Oral Roberts University, held a doctorate from UNISA.


Roscoe

 

South African universities can be quite good by US standards. For example, in the current Times Higher Education World University Rankings of the Top 400 universities worldwide, there are three South African universities that are ranked higher than Washington State.

On the other hand, none of them are UNISA. If your colleague is using terms like "correspondence school", then it sounds like he may be critical of UNISA specifically, rather than South African schools generally.

 

All of them....Walden, Phoenix, Capella....and of course he slammed overseas schools ( including Oxford and Cambridge ...because of the lack of classroom work.) He slammed Oxford and Cambridge ( because I was comparing UNISA to them) in the conversation too. He stated, "Who the f&^% cares about European or English schools? This is America". I swear, this happened. LOL

 

duplicate post, sorry

 

No matter what you do, you will never "win" in his mind. Move on, he is just a close minded ignorant.

 

Well, again, in prior conversations with him, he has slammed the University of Phoenix ( diploma mill), Walden University (overpriced diploma mill) and Capella ( he called it trash). This this is the first time he has slammed Oxford and Cambridge, although he has been on me about UNISA three times I can recall ( twice in my office, but not the vitriol that was exhibited today).

 

I am fine. I am fine Randell. This is not the first time I have been attacked by someone questioning me or my school choices (first ex's mother highly questioned my choice of North Carolina Central University for my MA. Why? It is an HBCU you know...sigh). Also, my stature does not lend itself well ( I am short and stocky in the legs) as a runner. Well, I was all state in cross country in 1983, so I have had many detractors. I am fine.

 

This is the disadvantage of getting a degree from any school that has "Africa" in its name. To the average person, Africa is synonymous with malnourished children, filthiness, massive swarms of flies, and tribes people in grass skirts dancing around waving spears.

 

One that holds a Doctorate isn't supposed to be "the average" person.

 

You should get a guy with Harvard PhD to rip into him for his "blue collar, public, state school" doctorate; hey, two can play this game. Taste of his own ignorant medicine.

 

Hey, I publish weekly in a local newspaper... lol

 

Yeah but that is only during the disertation defense!