OK, this is a strange overseas/NA accreditation question.

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by recruiting, Oct 3, 2012.

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  1. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    Which is preferable, an american university with national accreditation or going to a university with a great reputation from another country? Would an employer not say "hey that's not an accredited school"?

    I see folks here offer than as an option when certain questions are asked. I would think that going to a big name overseas university would have little impact here in the states opposed to a degree earned here, approved by the federal government (NA).

    It's confusing as to why that would be offered up as a viable path to take, unless it's just for personal fulfillment(which I think is great).

    Not understanding the mentality behind this course of action is the only reason I never considered an overseas education.

    So I ask, what a I missing?
     
  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    What you are missing is specificity. Which degree from which university and for what purpose? Do you just want a BA so that you can say that you have one, so that some HR staffer can put a check mark in the box? Does this degree need to qualify you for a license? For grad school? Are you lokking to cap off your credentials with a PhD? What about costs? What about convenience?

    These and other questions need to be answered up front before anyone can venture an opinion as to what option(s) might suit you best.
     
  3. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    What you are missing is specificity. Which degree from which university and for what purpose? Do you just want a BA so that you can say that you have one, so that some HR staffer can put a check mark in the box? Does this degree need to qualify you for a license? For grad school? Are you lokking to cap off your credentials with a PhD? What about costs? What about convenience?

    These and other questions need to be answered up front before anyone can venture an opinion as to what option(s) might suit you best.
     
  4. recruiting

    recruiting Member

    I was talking Graduate level. Are overseas schools like say the University of Wales more widely accepted than a local NA school?

    That is my question and dilemma. :scared1:

    I have seen some great overseas schools but thought that getting it accepted here for employment, promotion, or transfer would be a giant issue.
     
  5. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I think it depends on the schools' reputation. I see most of top colleges/universities have professors, who earned their Doctorate oversea. Some schools like Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University....for example: Dr. Wang Ming Ph.D., University of Wales, Swansea, UK, 1993; currently a Professor at Yale University
     
  6. stehaw

    stehaw member

    This was my question for a long time. Thanks for clearing it now
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Well, "Graduate level" is slightly less inspecific, but not much. A degree is a tool that helps you reach some specific personal or professional goal. Without knowing what that goal is, there's no way for anyone to suggest which degree program would be the best one to help you reach that goal.

    Put another way, people always want cut and dried rules when it comes to this sort of thing, but higher education just isn't that simple, so "Which is better" questions that deal with broad categories are almost always pointless.
     
  8. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member


    In answer to your original question I would say that a foreign degree from a first world country is preferable to a US NA degree.

    Many, if not most, countries do not have the type of accreditation used by the USA. However they usually have some kind of government approval tp operate. The University of Wales, for example is approved by the UK govt (https://www.gov.uk/check-a-university-is-officially-recognised/recognised-bodies).

    I have never heard of anybody from a first world country being discriminated against on the basis of their degree source (at least from the UK or Australia).
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 17, 2015
  9. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Nor will you ever likely hear of it. The person simply won't get called for an interview.

    Has my CTU degree held me back? I have no idea. I've applied to many jobs during times when I was job hunting. I get a few interviews and from those I get a few offers. Would I have received more callbacks if my B.S. was from Cornell, Penn State or Virginia Tech? Maybe? We have no way of knowing.

    I just extended an offer to a gentleman last week who earned his B.Eng. from Addis Ababa University. Last week I hired an IT guy with a degree from a community college I never heard of. A month ago I had to tell a guy with a degree from UPenn that we appreciated his time but were going with another candidate.

    None of those decisions were based on their degrees. Their applied positions had educational requirements. They met them. Honestly, their current (or most recent) employment experience was the reason we brought them in. The fact that they killed the interview is why we hired them (or didn't, as the case may be).

    So I'm not sure what type of "sound" you think "degree discrimination" makes.

    I'm certain there are interviewers who occasionally make rude comments about a degree. But overall if they think your education is a big fat joke they likely aren't calling you in for an interview in the first place.

    That said, I think it depends on the person, their occupation, the level of education and the job requirements.

    Last year I was hiring an EHS Specialist. I had a very strong applicant with a degree from Columbia Southern. There really aren't a lot of Occupational Safety and Health degree programs out there (compared to fields like Business, for example). So the specialized coursework in the area I'm hiring for is kind of appreciated.

    If he had B.A. from say, the University of Leicester (and identical experience), he would still have met the hiring requirement but he honestly would have appeared a bit less competitive. Not because there's something wrong with UL (or something so great about CSU) but because the specialized coursework really mattered. And even if he had a B.A. in Occupational Health and Safety from UL, I'd still be disinclined because U.S. Occupational Health and Safety standards are different from European standards. That concern might be allayed with significant U.S. based experience but it would be the first thing that came to mind if I saw a foreign degree in a specialty field like this. I'm pretty sure Engineering works the same way in Alabama or Addis Ababa (two notably similar places). But I'm positive that OSH isn't handled the same way in New York and England.

    This is also a borderline blue collar/white collar job. So a prestigious degree isn't really what the hiring manager is looking for. The manager was looking for someone who was smart, had experience, was adaptable and dependable and was comfortable wearing a hard hat and climbing ladders. It's the sort of job where an Ivy League degree might raise more eyebrows than anything else.

    If you need a degree in Finance, HR, Law, Business etc then sure, the UK option might be a solid fit. But there are quite a few occupations where the NA degree would serve you quite well.

    Basically, to reiterate what has been stated here, you cannot say that one option is objectively "better" than the other. There are way too many specifics that would need to be answered in evaluating such a decision.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 17, 2015
  10. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    Great response Nauhaus! I enjoyed reading it and found it insightful.

    You make a good point about education in general. It (degree) is only part of the equation. A degree gets your foot in the door by meeting minimum qualifications. Experience and interview performance are huge in success.

    In some cases the degree can be a huge factor in getting your foot in the door (e.g. big law). Then where you went can be very important.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 17, 2015
  11. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Absolutely. There are certainly industries and occupations where name is very, very important. There are others where it isn't so much. But then there are a dozen or so situations where the specific position (and its level in the hierarchy) has some nuanced needs.

    I was reading an article some years ago about law school choices. And it posed (what I believe was) a hypothetical involving a person accepted to both Villanova and Harvard Law with the ultimate goal of public interest law. And basically the conclusion was that, while the conventional wisdom would be to go for Harvard, one must take into consideration the career goal of working in public interest law. Harvard isn't really in the business of producing public interest lawyers. And the types of connections you would make there might be integral for a big law career but might ultimately prove worthless to someone who represents the underrepresented.

    My point is just that there can be a lot of nuance to any educational decision. Harvard Law is seen as "the best" choice for law school. But not if you intend to practice public interest law and graduate debt free. If those are your goals then CUNY Law is probably "the best" choice you could make (or at least clear in the running).

    I think a lot of people struggle with issues of legitimacy and reputation in the U.S. (at least as it pertains to formal education). It's a weird space to navigate.
     

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