Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona- low cost online master degree

What do you think is it a valid degree!

Master's Degree in International Business Management
60 ECTS
Cost: 4995 €
Modality: Online
Location: Online
Dates: from 03/08/2016 to 14/07/2017
Teaching language: English (100%)

Link:
Master's Degree in International Business Management - UAB Barcelona - Spain

 

Autonomous University of Barcelona is a public institution with Government affiliated, so the degree is valid.

 

OK, here's one of those nuanced areas that people need to be aware of.

Is the degree valid? Yes. Absolutely no question there.

Are employers likely to respect the degree in the U.S.? Hit or miss, really. Some employers like foreign credentials some don't.

I have always been cautious about pursuing qualifications at foreign universities where English is not a primary or official language.

Reason? Show up at my office with an M.S. from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and my first question is likely to be:

"Great, how's your Spanish?"

I don't think it is an unreasonable assumption that someone with a masters degree from a foreign school be proficient in the native language. I recognize that many foreign schools have English programs. But it might strike an interviewer as odd. Worse yet, the typical HR department doesn't have means to verify that you actually earned that degree. So did you earn a Masters from a school in Barcelona? Maybe. But you don't speak Spanish, so now I'm becoming a bit more suspicious.

I realize that I probably sound like I'm teetering on a wall separating paranoia and cynicism. And I want to believe that a degree like this has great utility in Europe. But in the U.S., unfortunately, too many of my colleagues are unfamiliar with alternative delivery models and questions (reasonable questions which they could ask you and receive satisfactory answers to) are too often simply labeled as "red flags."

At least, that was what went through my mind when I was evaluating the distance learning MBA at Hellenic Open University (Greece).

Ultimately, if it's a good program you'll do what you'll do and you'll probably get a spectacular education. If you try to cater too much to the idiocy of American employers you'll end up sacrificing your own self-improvement (and you can never fully outrun stupid).

 

Thank you for the detail clarification and guidance.

Which one you suggest I should go for.

1. SMC University (ACBSP)
or
2. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Thanks

 

Assuming that you are planning on using this degree within the the USA, I would say that SMC gets a slight advantage due to the accreditation. Both schools will give you zero name recognition at best and so be prepared to answer questions on that subject. I know that money is an issue for you (and everyone else) and so I'm wondering if you've considered an of the South African universities as they are going to be among the most affordable.

Master's and doctoral qualifications

 

The University of Leicester allowed me to do my work in my native language (American English). I didn't have to learn how to spell 'programme' or use 'whilst' properly or anything. Jolly good chaps they were.

 

I note the University's name is not Spanish, though much of the website is. Perhaps that should be "Great. How's your Catalan?" :smile:

Well said. And I think it's much the same here, north of the border.

J.

 

You are correct.

It reminds me of the endless discussions I've had with employers (when I was a recruiter) about how Puerto Ricans are, in fact, U.S. Citizens. My most common answers were (you'll have to figure out what the questions were):

1. No, they don't need visas to work for you.
2. Yes, they are all eligible to work in the United States.
3. Since 1898

While I give credit to our neighbors to the North for being generally nicer, much more wordly and significantly less terrified of things like universal healthcare I think some of our hiring weirdness has rubbed off on some of your HR folks. I don't mean to say that all of my colleagues are ignorant of how higher education work or that we all work with xenophobic hiring managers who stubbornly refuse to listen to us about everything. But hey, at a certain point we need to examine the limitations of people's understanding, particularly if we want them to hire us for a job.

If I walked around sporting an MBA from Hellenic Open University I don't think it would be unreasonable for people to expect me to have at least some grasp of Greek. I have none. And with courses taught in English I could very well walk away with an advanced degree from the place without ever learning how to order a gyro the way Socrates surely ordered his. Of course, this example is also interesting because, at present, the Greeks are pretty heavily criticized by foreigners for a perceived lack of fiscal discipline. So that would really be two strikes against me with that Greek MBA, at least in my mind.

Of course, there are a few thousand people on LinkedIn who seem to be gainfully employed with their degrees from Almeda University. I don't think that's a feather in the cap of the proud Almeda alumni. I think it just proves that many employers really don't care.

Now, all of pontificating aside, aimymalik asked a very direct question: SMC or Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

For me, I would go with Barcelona.

ACBSP is fine but it isn't something I would go out of my way for. The fact that SMC lacks institutional accreditation makes me really wonder how a foreign degree evaluation would turn out even with ACBSP. With Barcelona, I can't imagine that you would run into an issue with evaluation. If you wanted to pursue even further education I think it would be evaluated favorably as would any foreign degree from any established foreign university.

Heck, you can always run through Pimsleur's Spanish in Five Days course if you want to add another language to your resume.

 

For sure. Although we Canadians strive to maintain our own eccentric identity, most kinds of business weirdness in the US have taken root in Canada. Other kinds - YMMV. One exception: no subprime meltdown here. Stephen Harper has forbidden our banks etc. to make or collateralize ninja loans. All ninjas pay cash! :smile:

I didn't get a chance to answer this question yesterday. You did it well. I agree absolutely, for the same reasons. UAB has mainstream, top-level degree-granting authority in its own country. That counts. No matter how good a school it may be, SMC doesn't. This is not SMC's fault, as we've noted, but how is a US evaluator going to deal with such a degree? ACBSP isn't even going to come into play at that point. I've known of SMC for 10 years - but I've yet to hear in the fora from anyone who's obtained a recognized US equivalency from FERP, ECE, WES etc. I'd really like to. Anyone out there who can speak up for your worthy alma mater, SMC? :smile:

As I said before - running a good school, offering approved programs at a reasonable price sometimes just isn't enough. :sad: As someone else noted - it's sad.

J

 

I feel the need to clarify something regarding this program. The master degree is issued by UAB and is not accredited by Spanish Ministry of Education as the title is not adapted to the European Higher Education Area (Bologna). The way Spanish higher education works is you have what they call "official degree" and "unofficial degree". Official degree have to go through an accreditation process with the government to become a "state degree" whereas an unofficial degree don't and is issued independently by the university. This doesn't mean the unofficial degree is of a bad quality, they are even often very well regarded by Spanish employers as being more adapted to the labor market. Now the ugly side is the degree is not recognized for doctorate entry in Spain and in most European countries. You might also have some issues with some employers if they are aware of Spanish official and unofficial degrees termination though it won't be an issue in most cases. This being said, the program is high quality from one of the world top university and very affordable.