MBA from Chartered Management Institute, UK

Can anybody tell me about the MBA from Chartered Management Institute, UK. Is it recognised by the British Government? What about it recognition by other RA universities & government recognised foreign U?

 

CMI-MBA

Forgive me if I provide you with information you are already familiar with. The Chartered Management Institute CMI) is the new name for the Institute of Management (previously the British Institute of Management). It is one of the oldest management professional bodies in the world and has much improved its programmes and offerings over the last ten years. The Institute has just been awarded a Royal Charter by the Privy Council and can now call itself 'Chartered'. You can move through various certificates and diplomas awarded by the Institute and now, only very recently, they've added a second stage to the Diploma in Management Studies (DMS). The DMS comprises Part 1 of their MBA and then they have a new Part 2 which, if you're successful with earns you the MBA degree. I cannot quite fathom out yet who is 'validating' this degree. It can't be awarded by the CMI itself so some other UK (I assume) institution must award the degree. Rather like the Institute of Directors runs a part-time master's in company direction in association with Leeds Metropolitan University so CMI must be doing a similar thing. I cannot understand why, in all its literature, the CMI says nothing about the validation/accreditation of the MBA degree. Perhaps the negotiations haven't been quite finalised. I don't know but I'll find out and let you know.

For those interested, there are various grades of CMI membership that allow the use of designatory letters. Have a look at www.managers.org.uk

telfax

 

The CMI say on their site that the MBA "... is quality assured by the Open University Validation Services".

Maybe that means the MBA degree is awarded by the Open University, then maybe not. Hopefully they will reveal more concrete information in the future.

The MBA costs 10,000 pounds (plus 2,000 odd pounds for the certificate stage that proceeds it).

At the current exchange rate, 10,000 pounds equates to AUS$27,000 which is alot of mulla, compared to what an MBA from an Australian university can cost (about AUS$12,000, but you can pay more).

Kind regards

 

A great deal!

Peter:

I agree! Why anyone would want to take the CMI MBA is beyon me when there are so many other, long-standing MBA programmes around int he UK, Australia, USA and so on - and all much, much cheaper. The UK Open University has a validation unit. I have major problems with it in one sense. An academic institution can apply to have its awards 'validated' by the OU and successful studewnts earn an Open university degree. The problem with it is that for me is that to actually get an OU degree itself is very taxing and demanding as, as you'll probably know, the majority of its students are adults/mature peoplre whereas many of the programmes it 'validates' are at institutions where the student body is aged 18-22 years. The standard of academic work required to earn the 'validated' degree is not the same. Now the case goes that it should not be! This is where I have my problem- for example, I am the Open University's external examiner at a US fully RA accredited institution that has a campus (again fully RA accredited in the US) in central London. Initially, it was agreed that anyone gaining a 4.0 GPA would get a first class honours degree from the OU. By and large, I simply cannot (and have not) concur with this. The institution has awarded one first class OU degree. However, I insisted on holding a viva for the candidate. He was quite exceptional and, unlike the majority of other students who had been classified as worthy of a 1st or 2nd class degree because they had a 4.0 GPA, he stood head and shoulders above them. He would have got a first anywhere in my view whereas the majority of the other 4.o GPS (there were not that many of them by the way) had simply jumpred through the hoops. In the end, we all agreed that it simply isn't possible to make the transfer so that a GPA of 4.0 was equal to a 1st and we've changed the whole system over the last two years we've being doing this. I guess there are always gremlins to sort out in new assessment schemes but this activity has illustrated the huge gap in what is expected for a 1st class degree in the UK and top grades elsewhere. And no, I am not trying to open up that can of worms again vis a vis standards. We are simply not comparing like with like - that's it. Finally, the problem with the OU, or any other institution validating another institution's programmes (and there are many about int he UK), is that the standards for the awards have got to be comparable with those required for their own students and because the Ouo does not really deal with youngsters I think there are two types of degree it's awarding but does anyone outside academia understand this?

telfax

 

I've just phoned them. Their MA is indeed from the Open University of UK.