Ebs/hwmba..... Amba Aascb

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Newbie2DL, Dec 9, 2002.

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Would you consider the HWMBA?

  1. I would have considered it

    1 vote(s)
    16.7%
  2. I would consider it

    5 vote(s)
    83.3%
  3. NEVER!!!

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Newbie2DL

    Newbie2DL Member

    Just wondering,

    Who here would have or would consider doing the HW MBA if it was fully recognised by both the AMBA and AASCB bodies?
     
  2. Myoptimism

    Myoptimism New Member

    Where is the option for 'would consider it as is'? :D

    Tony

    No refunds, no returns.
     
  3. tokyomike

    tokyomike New Member

    The better European business schools are starting to fight the “inflation” or “devaluation of currency” (i.e. the declining worth of the European MBA degree) which necessarily occurs when more and more institutions offer MBAs at more and more diverse (including lower) standards.

    Whether one likes it or not, the following semi-official ranking is emerging:

    · (“MBAs” from dodgy institutions which are not recognised by the national state authorities / ministries of education. Should not even be on this list of ranking, hence the brackets).
    · MBAs from institutions recognised (or sometimes just tolerated?) by the national state authorities.
    · MBAs which are accredited by AMBA http://www.mba.org.uk/ (especially for UK MBAs)
    · MBAs which are EQUIS accredited by EFMD http://www.efmd.be/ (the emerging pan-European accrediting body for MBAs)

    Both AMBA and EFMD (the latter supported by the European Commission) believe in peer review and have deans / professors of the better business schools on their awarding bodies. They believe an MBA is only meaningful after two or three years of professional experience (NOT if done straight after the first degree). They believe an MBA requires one year of full time study or its part time / distance equivalent which would be a minimum of 1.200 hours of personal work. They believe highly specialised degrees should not be called “MBA” but “Master of ……….”

    The exact criteria and lists of accredited institutions can be checked on the websites.

    I think there are two reasons why the EQUIS accreditation came about and why it will gain importance. (1) The European national state authorities have not been able to prevent the emergence of substandard MBAs which do not do the title justice - in the eyes of the better schools that is. (2) The masters degree in general and the MBA in particular are of “Anglo-Saxon” origin. Some European university systems (e.g. Germany’s) traditionally have degrees that are NOT directly comparable to “Anglo-Saxon” degrees. While Germany recognises accredited foreign MBAs, its own universities cannot confer the degree. This leads to the absurd situation that one of Europe’s top business schools (Germany’s WHU) can only offer an MBA in association with accredited foreign business schools such as Kellogg. An EU-recognised, pan-European accreditation of MBAs would get around this problem. (This is not the legal situation at the moment, but it appears to be heading that way.)

    Does all this matter to North Americans who want to do a UK / European MBA by DL? Provided your own national DoE / academic institutions / employers or whoever recognise the validity of the European institution conferring the MBA, it is probably enough. If the university is famous and has a good name, that is enough. Royal Charter (in the case of UK degrees) should be your minimum standard. If you are not sure, just be aware that there are such things as “slipping standards”, “dumbing down” and “jumping on bandwagons” and that the standards for a good European MBA have been set. The serious schools, including institutions like INSEAD, LBS, Henley etc, who certainly need no accreditation to validate their MBAs (and could tell EFMD where to stick their EQUIS accreditation) are getting accredited to protect the worth of the European MBA.
     

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