ICFAI is one of the respected professional eduactional institution which has produced some of the best managers . They have Distance MBA programs. http://www.icodeindia.org/main/prgs.html www.icfai.org http://www.iimtindia.org/ (PHD's) http://www.icfaitech.org/main/btechfrm.htm (BS) Let me know what you guys think about this.
I read where they conduct programs that lead to a degree from Transworld University, which has California BPPVE approval. Assuming this is true, one would earn a degree from an unaccredited school, a school without the same level of recognition as those degree-granting institutions in India. According to the website, their students take independent study, followed by examinations. The fees seem low (30,000 rupees, or about US$615), but I can't tell if that's for one course or the entire program. One course seems more likely, but there isn't any indication of that on the site. (Transworld U. seems to charge a mere US$495, so who knows? But that's for a diploma, not a degree. The MBA is more like US$7,500) Seems like a long way to go for an unaccredited degree.
This may be the next step in online education. A large share of the U.S. market in telemarketing and software development has been outsourced to India – why not distance education? If I can get an MBA for $700 from a respected university in India, I may just get another one.
It is likely the diploma will be at that price, not the MBA. The diploma consists of a few courses, and is named in order to confuse people into thinking it is a degree. ("Management of e-Business," which uses the initials "MEB.") Which respected India university? According to the website, the degree is awarded by Transworld University, a not-well-respected, unaccredited school in California. I made that very clear in my last post. If I'm mistaken, correct me. If not, please stop repeating what seems to be inaccurate.
I talked to Transworld university today and they said that ICFAI owns them. I think most of the universities were not accrediated when they started. Transworld claims that they have applied for DETC accreditation. Found this on their web-site :http://www.ibsat.org/aboutICFAI.htm www.icodeindia.org (Distance MBA) is an affiliate of ICFAI. The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) was established in 1984 as a non-profit educational society with the objective of imparting high-quality training in Finance and Management to students, working executives and professionals in India. ICFAI launched the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program in 1985, which is the flagship program of ICFAI. Currently, there are over 1,850 CFAs who successfully completed the CFA Program of ICFAI and received the CFA Charter. ICFAI believes in creating and disseminating knowledge and skills in core and frontier areas of Finance and Management through innovative educational programs, research, consulting, and publishing, and develop a new cadre of professionals with a high level of competence and deep sense of ethics and code of professional conduct. ICFAI offers a number of educational programs in Finance, Insurance, Accounting, Management and Information Technology on full-time campus format and distance learning format. ICODE offers training classes for Distance education students too. The examination process is very strict... Eligibility for Examinations Candidates are eligible to appear for the examinations in the following pattern: Stage I Group A after 3 months from date of enrollment. Group B after 3 months from the date of completion of Group A. Group C after 3 months from the date of completion of Group B. Stage II Groups D and E after 3 months from the date of completion of Group C. Groups F and G after 3 months from the date of completion of Groups D and E. Stage III Group H after 3 months from the date of completion of Groups F and G. Groups I and J after 3 months from the date of completion of Group H. Group K after 3 months from the date of completion of Groups I and J. Candidates should clear Stage I to become eligible to appear for the examinations at Stage II. Similarly, Candidates should clear Stage II to become eligible to appear for the examinations at Stage III. Candidates should clear the papers of all 3 stages to become eligible for the award of Master's Diploma in Business Administration. -------------------------- Stage/Group/Subject Marks allotted Stage I Group A Introduction to Management Business Communication 100 100 Group B Financial Accounting Economics 100 100 Group C Quantitative Methods Management Accounting 100 100 Total (I) 600 Stage II Group D Financial Management Marketing Management 100 100 Group E Information Technology & Systems Operations Management 100 100 Group F Organizational Behaviour & HRM Business Law 100 100 Group G Project Management Management Control & Information Systems 100 100 Total (II) 800 Stage III Group H Business Policy & Strategy Business Ethics & Corporate Governance 100 100 Group I* Elective 1 Elective 2 100 100 Group J* Elective 3 Elective 4 100 100 Group K Integrated Case Studies 200 Total (III) 800 Grand Total (I+II+III) 2200 *Note : The candidates can choose any one of the functional areas, namely, Financial Management/Marketing Management /International Business/ Human Resource Management. There are 4 subjects in each of these areas. The list of subjects is given in the heading "Areas of Study".
It still adds up to an unaccredited degree, not a recognized one. The whole ICFAI thing is meaningless academically. DETC does not allow its applicants to state they're applying for DETC accreditation. Transworld would be jeopardizing their application by doing so. Do you have a source for this? It is true that free-standing, unaffiliated universities start out unaccredited. Transworld may indeed obtain recognized accreditation. But that isn't what was stated. Your original post was about ICFAI, not Transworld. Obviously, there is not a recognized Indian university involved, just an unaccredited one from California.
They also had some legal difficulties recently, didn't they? http://www.aimr.com/pressroom/98releases/tradefact.html
Re: Re: ICFAI in INDIA - Distance programs It would appear, based upon that default judgment, that by solicitation of their program in the US, they are thumbing their noses at the court. The decision is pretty clear and I am surprised that they continue to try and operate in the US. It may be that they have no assets in this courty and feel that they are judgment proof. Wes
WOW this is wealth of information. Thanks everybody ! We need to be very cautious in dealing with institutions like ICFAI.
There are two issues that these posts bring up as to the future of distance education: price and who is going to deliver the product. As far as the U.S. market, overseas graduate schools are just as capable as delivering distance education as U.S. ones – the schools in Australia, South Africa and the U.K have already proved that. If we view labor cost as a major factor in the price of education – countries with lower costs are going to be extremely price competitive. In the next two decades we may see education become a commodity where price is the major driver just like we have seen in other industries. I live in Louisiana and our government has contracted with a phone bank in India to answer calls for some of our government services (before I hear any Louisiana jokes, Texas utilities have a similar program). While I don’t see state governments contracting with Indian professors to handle online classes, the technology is there. If the price is right, demand will occur. As I said in my previous post, “If I can get an MBA for $700 from a respected university in India, I may just get another one.” (note to Rich, note the “if”). That said, I am currently enrolled in two non-US programs that I picked more to accommodate my schedule than price. However, at some point in education, price becomes a factor. If my two programs had a legitimate competitor that was 10% of their price, I would probably not be enrolled with my current programs. The first legitimate institution to offer a taught distance degrees for less than $900 will revolutionize education.
The fee is for the entire program (see website link below). Currently, the fee is 35,000 Indian Rupees, or 41,000 including training classes, the latter amount translating into $854. Wow, that's the cheapest MBA degree I've ever heard of. http://www.icfai.org/main/Enrollmentfrm.htm