Cheapest degree program

Thanks to Lawrie Miller and other informants on this website, it is clear that students can obtain accredited degrees for very low cost. For example, the 18 exams of the British Association of Business Executives (ABE) earn around 90 of the 120 credits required for a Bachelor degree. The 18 textbooks for ABE are available on three CD Roms for £300 (institutions) or £65 (students). A combination of further exams drawn from DANTES, CLEP, GRE, Ohio University and other institutions can earn the final credits to gain a Charter Oak, Thomas Edison or Excelsior degree.

Anyone who wants to help me establish a college that offers such a program, please get in touch.

Dr Bernard Leeman

[email protected]

 

This sounds interesting as eventually I would like to get a Hotel/Restaurant degree. Does anyone have experience with this organization? Accredited? Will Excelsior actually accept this? the price listed is for books only? What would it cost to complete the 18 subjects including exam fees, study materials, etc?

 

I have been meeting regularly with ABE for the past six months. A large number of universities, including ones in UK, USA and Australia, accept ABE Advanced Diploma holders into their final Bachelor degree year. I wrote earlier in this forum about ABE and they have an excellent reputation. They do offer a Tourism and Hospitality course. It shares 13 of the 18 subjects taken for the Business course.
I recently published an article in the Times Higher Educational Supplement (August 6, 2002) showing how ABE can help students in dire circumstances (Burma, Afghanistan etc) get recognised degrees at low cost.

In addition to the course material, you will have to pay a small amount to register for the three levels of the course (maybe you will be exempt from the Certicate level). The exam fees are very low too.

The exams for Business are
Certificate: Introduction to Business, Introduction to Accounting, Introduction to Busienss Communciation, Introduction to Quantitative Methods

Diploma 1
Economics, Accounting, Busienss Communciation, Organisational Behaviour
Diploma 2
Marketing, Quantitative Methods, Human Resource Management, Management Accounting, Business Law (or another option)

Advanced Diploma
Five subjects

It is recommended that a resisdential course from Cert to Adv Dip lasts about two and a half years at 3-4 hours a day. Students can rely solely on the course material but to get the highest grades should also consult the additional recommended textbooks.

In some circumstances Advanced Diploma holders can be accepted for Heriot Watt MBA courses.

 

The costs are as follows:

Certificate
Registration £35
Annual subscription £20
Study materials £20
Exam fees (4 x £19) =£76

TOTAL = £151

Diploma
Registration £50
Annual subscription £20
Study materials £25
Exam fees (9 x £24) =£216

TOTAL = £311

Advanced Diploma
Registration £125
Annual subscription £20
Study materials £20
Exam fees (5 x £29) =£145

TOTAL= £310

But nobody has written to me to express interest.....

 

Hi.

Could you explain a little further what the "ABE" is, what they´re doing, who can take their exams, places to take the exams, their official website, etc.?

It truly sounds interesting, at least for me.

Greets,
Trigger

 

Can you please tell me the Australian Institutions that accept these ABE qualifications?

 

You know them. I answered this at length last time and you went off at a tangent demanding to know the details of my life.

 

Their website is www.abeuk.com

 

Although the ABE examinations are interesting, I don’t see how an American institution would evaluate them as 90 of the 120 credits required for a Bachelor degree. The courses are all business-related and as such would not fulfill any general education requirements. The courses necessary to fulfill requirements for Communications, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Humanities would alone exceed 30 units, not to mention the specific requirements of some schools for languages, courses in Women Studies, and the like.

You appear to be implying that Charter Oak, Thomas Edison State College and Excelsior College have evaluated and accepted the 18 ABE exams as fulfilling 90 of the 120 credits required for a Bachelor degree in Business. If true, this would be interesting news. However, why aren’t any of these institutions listed on ABE’s Web site as granting credit for the examinations?

It is also interesting to note that the ABE’s Web site does not state that the institutions listed on their Web site have granted credit for the examinations. The listed institutions may have only considered applications (not necessarily admitted) students who have passed ABE examinations.

• ”This page contains details of Universities and other Professional Institutes who have considered applications from qualified ABE students for admission to their degree programmes and professional qualifications, and where appropriate, for the award of credits on these programmes.”

Could you please state which American universities have admitted students into their "final Bachelor degree year' based solely on the ABE examinations? I do not doubt this has taken place, mind you (especially considering that both Bienville University and Fairfax University are on ABE’s list of institutions that may have done so), but this would be valuable information for the members of this forum to know.

 

Dr. Leeman,

According to Verisign's WHOIS, ABEUK.COM is registered to:
Alan M. Jones
William House, 14 Worple Road
Wimbledon, London SW19 4DD UK

Is this the same Alan Jones who is president of Fairfax University (listed as one of the universities that have "considered applications from qualified ABE students for admission to their degree programmes")?

 

I am aware of them ...

It's OK - no one out here has heard of them let alone recognises their qualifications.

I am aware of their Middle East group which is really where they 'are'.

They (ABE, MCG) are marketing (plugging into) programs offered
by other people, eg. Univ. of Portsmouth, as can be seen.

The MCG part I do know about - based in Bahrain. They offer other people's rograms, notably the Sheffield Hallam DL MBA until I think it was withdrawn in the region a couple of years ago.

So long as they can get students, they will be able to put them into regular programs other people are running - for a fee !!!

To be credible they need to offer NVQ/IVQ programs, and as for NVQ / IVQ certifications, these are only offered via Oxford
Cambridge RSA (OCR), City & Guilds and Edexcel examination certifying bodies.

Likewise, institutes can set up courses and plug into programs by getting the Vocational Assessors in. The certifying bodies will do external assessment (again for a fee) and the institutes can get their own vocational assessors to work with the students.

Either you have been sucked in or are trying to 'sell' some of us. You would get on better doing a course here with Carlyle Education which is at least AQF6 and does articulate into the second year of an Australian degree. THAT is not possible with your group - sorry mate, but you are misinformed or ....?

We would only accept one of your graduates based entirely on proven competencies - NOT the UK testamur.

Peter French
Principal
Carlyle Education Pty Ltd
RTO 6823 - Nationally Recognised Education Provider
Australia

 

ABE was founded by Lyndon Jones. John Bear was a consultant to ABE at one time.

 

I agree with Gus Sainz in doubting that *any* American universities have done this.

All of this stuff has already been discussed in greater detail in this earlier thread:

http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4942&perpage=10&pagenumber=1

It does no service to these low income students to promise them more than can be realistically delivered.

You need to do your homework before you go public and promote this stuff. You need to coordinate with some universities and get their formal agreement to participate in your third-world education schemes. You need a formal commitment from them about how much credit they will grant for the ABE exams, and what additional work they will require.

And you need some idea about how students in dire circumstances in Afghanistan or Myanmar can successfully complete that work. You are going to be dealing with issues ranging from computer access through meeting foreign residency requirements to lack of ability to function effectively in English.

 

I have made the Association of Business Executives aware of the opinions expressed concering them in this website. Their programme is very good and expanding. I will let you all know what further credits will be needed (once the ABE Adv Dipl has been gained) to get a Charter Oak/Excelsior/Thomas Edison degree.

 

Four months ago, you made the same grandiose assertions concerning the acceptance and transferability of the ABE exams, and were challenged to produce some evidence to back up your asseverations. At that time you excused yourself by stating, ”I have written to Thomas Edison College, Excelsior and Charter Oak asking for a rough estimate of what CLEP/DANTES/GRE/ECE combinations would be needed to add to an Advanced Diploma in ABE to enable students to get a Bachelor degree.

Did you indeed write to Thomas Edison College, Excelsior and Charter Oak four months ago as you stated you had? If so, did you receive a reply? If not, why are you once again, for whatever reason, making averments as to the utility (in the United States) of the ABE exams that far exceed any claims made by the ABE itself?

 

I have just returned from ABE's offices where they kindly let me read their correspondence with British and Australian universities. They also allowed to take away photocopies proving that ABE diploma and advanced diploams holders are given exemptions at leading universities.

From the files it is clear that, contrary to Mr French's malevolent assertions, ABE is indeed well known in Australian academic circles. The files show that the University of Adelaide in 1993 were "willing to grant some status" on its programmes to ABE examination holders.

In 1998 La Trobe University, Australia, stated that ABE Advanced Diploma holders were eligible for entry into its MBA programme.
In a letter of 19 September this year the University of South Australia accepted that the ABE Diploma was worth 31.5 Units and the Advanced Diploma 36 Units in undergraduate programmes. The University of Southern Queensalnd has written "The Faculty is pleased to note that many graduates from the ABE program have successfully completed further studies at USQ."

In the UK Leicester University, UK, confirmed as far back as 1996 that is would take ABE Advanced Diploma holders into its MBA programme provided they were over 25 and had 3-5 relevant work experience plus 6.0 in TOEFL if their first language was not English. The Sheffield Business School in 1998 stated it would be "willing to consider holders of the ABE Advanced Diploma in Busienss Administration for entry onto our MBA programmes" so long as their English level was high enough and work experience relevant.

In conclusion, ABE's claims are entirely justified and their exams appear to be the cheapest way to gain a considerable amount of credit towards US, UK and other degrees.

 

Yes, I did get replies. Several US universities take ABE graduates into their final year. For example Northwood accepts ABE Advanced Diploma holders for a 21 month course in which they take first a Bachelor and then an MBA. ABE Advanced Diploma holders are now applying on an individual basis to Charter Oak via a foreign credentials assessment service. Hopefully, an arrangement can eventually be reached whereby ABE Advanced Diploma holders can be accepted directly by Charter Oak without having to pass first through a foreign credentials assessment service.

 

Thank you - I will follow this up.

Regarding Australia - this is most definitive and helpful and I will be following this up later this week.

My assertions were not malevolent - I work with these Universities in the context of acceptance by them of accredited post year 12 vocational courses, and professional license exams.

A. 1993 - Adelaide - willing to grant some status to ABE graduates

B. 1998 - La Trobe - eligible for entry into their MBA program

C. 2002 - UniSA - advanced entry into undergraduate programs

D. No date - USQ - many ABE graduates have complete further studies

This of course doesn't tell me about their TOEFL score, Y12 requirements, vocational experience, which faculties or the particular awards. I sincerely hope that any foreign student checks up before they build up their hopes too high, as they prepare to wait in the line at the nearest Australian High Commission.

This valuable information may well cause some to realise that I was previously asking about *THAT* ABE when I spoke with them last time. If I also tell them that Herriott Watt *completely does away with the requirements of an undergraduate degree, that may do the trick - just that ltittle bit extra convincing

 

I'm still having difficulty in believing this. American degree programs rarely talk about "years". That's British terminology. American schools concern themselves with requirements denominated in terms of individual "courses" or "classes", measured in terms of "units" or "credits". So the question remains how much credit was granted, for which precise course requirements.

I want to make clear that I have no trouble at all in believing that schools do grant some undetermined amount of credit for the ABE exams. I also have no trouble in believing that some schools with 30 semester unit residency requirements do admit students who have all their work already completed except for those 30 final units.

What I do question is that the ABE examinations by themselves will satisfy all of the degree prerequisites necessary to give a student such a status. How are a student's general education requirments satisfied by the ABE exams?

 

Misleading rubbuish

Peter is obviously a very annoying person who tries to mislead with snide digs at what he refuses to understand. Eg.,
"If I also tell them that Herriott Watt *completely does away with the requirements of an undergraduate degree, that may do the trick - just that ltittle bit extra convincing "

The truth is we set a higher standard of admission than merely having an undergraduate degree - you have to pass two of our core examinations udner our exam conditions (or pass our Certificate in Business - 3 courses) beforeyou can be admitted to the MBA programme. Our exams - the only test of your performance we accept - are 3 hrs, closed book, no choice of questions, one re-sit only, graded at EBS, subject to External Examiners (who are senior faculty from other UK Business Schools). To imply that we accept anybody onto our MBA is an outrageous distortion, given that Peter knows this well (he cannot spell Heriot-Watt correctly either).

More than half of the students who try to pass Heriot-Watt's two course barrier fail; those that do pass do as well as those with undergraduate degrees (84 per cent) and those with MSc and PhD degrees (20 per cent).

For a person supposedly in favour of facilitating those whose life chances (not their inherent abilities) prohibited them from going the normal route of school, university, graduation before 22, Peter obviously likes a scrap. I may be wrong, and would be pleased to be corrected, but Peter's many contributions to this site are beginning to convince me that he is out of sorts in some manner and somewhat lacking in the humility normally acquired by those in university level education who thrive in its fringes.