Hi everyone, Many thanks for the tremendous insights posted in reference to my inquiry. One more favor, please. Can anyone post some cheaper regionally accredited online universities? I'm contemplating pursuing my MBA. Having read the different deliberations here, I wouldn't want to sail the KWU route. What happens if the State of Wyoming withdraws its license or recognition? That will be a devastating blow to all KWU graduates. The institution will have to struggle to get another State licensure. My question to some former and present students of KWU is why hasn't KWU obtain national or regional accreditation? It has been around for 17 years. What progress and effort have been made to obtain such accreditation? What has been the major stumbling block? Could failing to meet minimun quality educational standards as required be a determining factor? If all the good things that have been said by some KWU's advocates were true, why hasn't the institution receive accreditation? Besides, why do Californians decline enrollment eventhough the institution has offices in California? These are some of my million dollar questions for advocates of KWU. Please elaborate.
Most of the U.S. RA programs I've seen start at $5,000 (my alma mater comes to mind), though some probably do run cheaper; Aussie programs average at $3,500-$4,500 for a course-based master's; and South African programs can go as low as $1,500. You can find a list of about 213 accredited/recognized MBA programs here: http://www.geocities.com/liu_jonathan/dlmba.html http://www.geocities.com/liu_jonathan/dlmba2.html Good luck! Cheers,
Perhaps K-WU isn't accredited because it hasn't applied and it isn't accreditable. Rather than submit to outside scrutiny, it moved its license a couple of times to avoid it. The school cannot enroll students living in its home state, California, because it is enjoined from doing so. Read the threads on this board for all the information you need. Try Amberton.
Background Here is some info. info about K-W, from their catalog, the first portion is extracted from the DoE, Post-Secondary Website. To some it up, as long as the school meets the requirements to confer degrees by their legal Liscencure in WY, they are perfectly within their rights to issue legal degrees, and therefore, do not have to become RA. However, I've never heard that the school has ruled out becoming RA in the future: ACCREDITATION IN THE UNITED STATES ==================================== Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Office Education, Bureau of Higher and Continuing Education, Division of Eligibility and Agency Evaluation: "The United States has no Federal ministry of education or other centralized authority excercising single national control over educational institutions in this country. The States assume varying degrees of control over education, but, in general, institutions of post-secondary education are permitted to operate with considerable independence and autonomy. As a consequence, American educational institutions can vary widely in the character and quality of their programs. In order to ensure a basic level of quality, the practice of accreditation arose in the United States as a means of conducting non-governmental, peer evaluations of educational institutions and programs. Private educational associations of regional or national scope have adopted criteria reflecting the qualities of a sound educational program, and have developed procedures for evaluating institutions or programs to determine whether or not they are operating at basic levels of quality" Post-Secondary review is a process by which an institution or specialized unit of post-secondary education periodically evaluates its educational activities and seeks an independent judgement by peers that it has achieved substantially its own educational objectives and has met established standards. Generally, this review process involves: 1. a clear statement of the institution's or unit's educational objectives; 2. a self-study by the institution or unit that examines its activities relating to those objectives; 3. an on-site evaluation by a selected group of peers; and 4. a decision by this selected group of peers to determine if the institution does or does not meet its standards. To further provide the student with adequate assurances that the institution is maintaining appropriate standards; Kennedy Western University is reviewed annually by a visitation team consisting of three educators from regionally accredited universities who have no association with the institution. The on-site review process examines the following areas: a. the institution has facilities, financial resources, adminstrative capabilities, faculty, and other necessary educational expertise and resoruces to afford students the completion of programs of education which will prepare them for attainment of professional, technological, or educational objectives including but not limited to a degree, and; b. the curriculum is consistent with, and of comparable quality to, curriculum offered by traditional universities, and that the instruction being provided will be from those faculty who are also associated with regionally accredited schools. With regards to this, the University must show: 1. Institutional objectives 2. Adminstrative methods 3. Curriculum 4. Faculty Qualifications a) Master's or Doctoral degrees from regionally accredited university and; b) requisite teaching experience 5. Administrative personnel 6. Physical facilities 7. Graduation requirements 8. Financial stability Any institution may credit toward a degree only the education which falls within the following category; a combination of instructional learning experiences, for which the institution details explicit rationale for the awarding of credit, and a systematic and rigorous method for evaluating it. Kennedy Western University is licensed by the State of Wyoming under W.S. 21-2-401 through 21-2-407. From the US DoE Website: "Degrees granted or issued in conformance with cited statutes...are all equally legal under the law. Judgements of value and applicability of a certain degree are not made by the law of by the State. The appropriateness of a degree or applicability of a degree to a job or the transfer of education credit is decided by those who must render such evaluations for those specific purposes." (U.S. Dept. Of Education). **************************************************** While there are critics, no one can say that K-W is not 100% legal, just as legal as an RA school to confer earned degrees, within the guidelines descibed. Thanks, RJT
an MBA from USQ would cost you $6000 dlls, about the same price of a K-W degree and you won't have to spend the rest of your life defending your education.
Re: Background I've said many times before and will say again that K-W degrees are NOT 100% legal. They are not just as legal as an RA school. RJT continues to repeat this same lie over and over. RJT, it is not true. K-W will not admit students from their home state, CA. K-W degrees are illegal in Oregon. http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/unaccredited.html
Re: Background Here you go again. What, precisely, is your point? No one has ever disputed that K-W can legally confer degrees. So what? As has been pointed out so many times before, many degree mills are state licensed and can legally confer degrees. Do you understand the difference between legal and legitimate? Moreover, your comment that K-W has not ruled out becoming RA in the future is ludicrous; they can’t and they won’t. So basically this says that state licensure is not evidence of any kind of oversight or quality, and that there are good schools as well as some truly awful ones. Once again, what's your point? And here you have it in black and white. In the United States, accreditation is the means to determine and ensure if an institution is ”operating at basic levels of quality.” In other words, according to the DoE, without accreditation you cannot be sure of even basic levels of quality. The following, however, is interesting. Must show to whom? Why haven’t these graduation requirements seen the light of day? What, specifically are the graduation requirements? Are any classes in English composition (or suitable evidence of proficiency) required for a Bachelor’s degree? Does K-W even offer such classes? By law, whenever KW or any of its employees or agents mentions that it is state licensed, they must state the appropriate statutes under which it was granted licensure. That is so anyone can look up the statutes and see that there are only a few administrative requirements and that the statutes explicitly states that state licensure, in no shape or form, constitutes accreditation, endorsement, or even approval. In other words, they can print those diplomas, but that doesn’t mean they’re worth anything. I’m beginning to wonder whether you fully comprehend what you are reading and posting. None of this is seems to help your cause. This, perhaps, is the only thing on which we can agree: K-W can legally confer degrees in the state of Wyoming (although the earned part is debatable). However, it is true that it can be said that K-W isn’t 100% legal, as we know there are states (and probably many foreign countries) where their degrees are considered illegal. Moreover, it is your disclaimer concerning guidelines that I find particularly troubling. According to the guidelines you described, according to all the information you posted, there is still no evidence K-W is operating at even basic levels of quality.
Re: Re: Thanks, but one more thing. But the USQ degree will require a lot of work. Have a heart, guv!
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, but one more thing. Yes, I'm enrolled in its DBA and find it very challenging. Australian education is good and they have very talented faculty but also tough, they have rejected my dissertation proposal several times and are very demanding when it comes to research. Exams are not that difficult but they are tough markers, it is not easy to get an A.