Heriot-Watt DBA

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Anson, Sep 22, 2017.

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  1. Anson

    Anson New Member

    From HW website it says that the DBA is offered by Edinburgh Business School through distance learning, however I can hardly find any information about the DBA in authorities such as UCAS, prospects.ac.uk, SCQF etc. Is the DBA program a recognized degree?
     
  2. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

  3. Anson

    Anson New Member

    Thanks decimon.
    I know there is a page about the school accreditation, but at least I should be able to find information about the DBA program in some authorities, say, prospects.ac.uk etc. right? I can search Liverpool online DBA there, why can't I find the HW DBA program? This is what makes me confused.
     
  4. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    I've never really been impressed by Heriot-Watt. (I feel that it's pursuing DL and remote-site education too aggressively and is over-extended.)

    But that being said, it's a legitimate British university and all of its programs by law fall under the oversight of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). The QAA is the British equivalent of a regional accreditor in the US.

    The QAA seems satisfied. Here's the results from their last (2015) review:

    http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/ReviewsAndReports/Documents/Heriot-Watt%20University/Heriot-Watt-ELIR-Technical-15.pdf

    So yes, I'd say that any program that H-W offers is recognized in the formal accreditation sense.

    You might want to inquire about specific business accreditations such as AACSB, AMBA (the British business school accreditor) or EQUIS (a European equivalent). Some employers want to see these, especially for teaching candidates.

    As I recall, H-W DL MBA didn't have any of these specialized accreditations. Its representatives (its business school dean used to post to Degreeinfo) insisted that was their choice, based on the accreditors' standards not being credible. But I believe that it was mainly because the H-W MBA's program design didn't begin to qualify. (That was when my opinion of H-W started to decline.)

    Whether H-W's business school has research strengths that might make a DBA from there prestigious or especially recognized by employers are different questions. I'm not familiar enough with the world of business administration to opine on the DBA program in particular.
     
  5. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Good info.


    They say no:

    To date, EBS has not sought to pursue additional accreditation from the main agencies that provide value-added accreditation for business programmes: EQUIS (the European Quality Improvement System); AACSB; and AMBA (UK Association of MBAs).

    https://www.ebsglobal.net/about-us/accreditation
     
  6. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    H-W is a fine university, some of their biz programs rank among the best in Europe, such as accounting. The only knock is they're better known overseas than in the U.S. About the only academic I can think of who has a H-W DBA is Bruce Bellner at Ohio State.
     
  7. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    One of the things I took away from my years here at DI is that there's no single academic program, on a given level, that's best for everyone. Nevertheless, some programs do stand out as decent choices. I believe EBS DBA is one.

    There are DL programs that are more affordable than EBS. None of these are in US or, for that matter, UK (Cumberlands and CalSouthern come close), and I don't believe any comes from a school of a standing of H-W or better. I can completely see someone opting for a cheaper program, or for US program over HW; there ARE reasons to go with H-W over any of these programs, too.

    There are DL programs from schools of better standing than EBS DBA, either in ratings or from being AACSB/AMBA/EQUIS. However, to my knowledge, all of them are more than twice the cost of EBS DBA, or more. Again, it's rational for SOME applicants to go with say Grenoble over EBS; others simply can't afford it.

    Finally, there's argument that H-W's emphasis on DL and international studies is not good for the school's reputation. Others might note that the very same DL emphasis means they have more experience running the programs. In a doctoral program, better processes may mean the difference between finishing the degree and washing out.

    At the end, Heriot-Watt runs a solid program, and is itself a major public university that is internationally ranked at an equivalent of American low first tier to solid second. They are at or near the top of my fantasy degree lists. YMMV.
     
  8. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    Yes. That may be the most important thing to consider.
     
  9. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    As it happens, I visited the campus last week in Edinburgh. What a spectacular building the business school now has. During the nine or ten years my company did marketing for EBS in the US and Canada, it became, to the best of our knowledge, the largest MBA of any kind in North America. We had students from more than 70 of the Fortune 100 largest companies. Out of our first thousand requests for corporate approval or payment, only three said no.
     
  10. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    Thanks for your insight, John.
     

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