Empresarial University

I wanted to ask the board if anyone has heard of Empresarial University. I is a University in Costa Rica and is said to be accredited by the Costa rican Ministry of Education. It was affiliated with USJ. I was sent information from my cousin about there DBA program.

http://www.unem.edu/

 

There has been some question about this school and its authority to award the degree it advertises.

Bear's Guide included it in the "accredited" section of the 14th edition, but it seems not to be included in the 15th.

There is an active thread on this board regarding this school, including a couple of posts I've made.

There are several things about this school that are inconsistant with legitimate schools (and, conversely, consistent with some not-so-wonderful schools). Single tuition rate, no listed faculty, unclear degree-granting authority, no clear process regarding course completion, etc.

The director of the DBA program writes from Tupelo, Mississippi. This is a long way from San Jose, Costa Rica. Also, he holds his doctorate from Empresarial, which is not a good sign.

I hope someone with stronger Spanish skills than mine will noodle through all of this. (Gus, where are you?)

 

I lived in CR for almost a year and never heard of this university. It might be accredited but it is certainly not known, the top business school in the area is INCAE.

http://www.incae.ac.cr/EN/

The only DL school that I know there is:

http://www.uned.ac.cr/


I hope this helps,

 

It is also fishy that it has a .edu domain while is costa rica most official institutions have .cr

 

Check the other thread. A guy posted that he had a PhD from Empressarial and discovered after the fact that the PhD programs were not recognized only (If I remember correctly) the Bachelors & Masters.

Be cautious. I do not know if GuvyerII (or whatver his name was) is accurate but if so...........

There are many other similarly or cheaper priced DBA programs (some like the RA Argosy priced similarly). I might add NCU's PhD in Business is probabaly cheaper (NCU is a candidate for RA). There are foreign equivalents that are cheaper.

When no one has nailed down Empressarial's authority with certainty for the PhD, it would concern me to spend that amount of money. The same could be said for Berne where we at least know that the doctorate can get a foreign credential evlautors nod. In both cases, why are you going to spend almost 20,000 with travel, & texts for ??? when you can do the same degree for the same amount (approx) in the US or even cheaper for a lot more certain GAAP foreign degree.

North

 

I checked, and it seems that the university is legit since it has a medical school.
http://www.carreras.co.cr/universidad.asp?Universidad+Empresarial+de+Costa+Rica

"The Empresarial University of Costa Rica is a private, non-profit, non-sectarian educational institution of higher learning which does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, or sexual orientation. This institution began its operation in 1992 as the International Post-Graduate School affiliated with USJ.

In 1997, the International Post-Graduate School became the Empresarial University of Costa Rica. The University is headed by Aldo Erazo, one of its founding members, who was recently elected President of the University by the Board of Trustees. The Rector is Dr. Rafael Angel Perez Cordova, a well known and respected Costa Rican educator who has had extensive experience as a teacher and an administrator in the field of higher education. Our main goal is to constantly strive for academic excellence. We are an institution dedicated to educational innovation and controlled growth of our student population in order to preserve academic quality.

The language of instruction in our on-campus programs is Spanish with the exception of the Medical School which presents the medical curriculum in English. In addition, most of our programs, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, are also offered off-campus (by distance learning) with a short residency requirement. All off-campus programs are conducted in English or Spanish according to the student’s language preference.

We, at the Empresarial University, are pleased that you are interested in learning about us. With these pages we hope to acquaint you with our institution and the opportunities that can enable you to continue with your higher education at both the undergraduate and or graduate level."

 

The editor at Ten Speed Press says that what probably happened was a late-in-production change in which Empresarial was to be moved from the "Accredited Non-resident" chapter to the "Accredited Short Residency" chapter following their statement that two weeks of residency on campus was required. So it was lifted from Chapter 18 but not inserted in 19. They tell me that the listing, as it would have been, will be posted in the Updates section at degree.net by Feb. 21.

 

So legit?

So is the general impression that Empresarial University is legit? It was supposed to be amended in the John Bear book. They do offer DBA for individuals who are looking to study and have the course process online to see. Sounds interesting

 

Yabbut they don' answer they e-mails or they contac' forms. Course, who wantsa go to Costa Rica for two, tree weeks--no snow dere you betcha.
Seriously, how does one get a reply out of them?

 

I went to the website a week ago and filled out an information request form. In two days I receive three emails from the director of the DBA program. But none of them shed anymore light on the situation, except to explain the tuition ($16,000).

-- Director has his Ph.D. from Empresarial

-- No other faculty listed

-- Single tuition rate

-- No identifiable process for meeting degree requirements

-- Correspondence goes to and from Mississippi

-- Questions about the acceptability of a doctorate from an unknown Costa Rican university

-- Questions about the authority of the school to award doctorates

-- Questions about who you're really dealing with--the university or some Americans who've rented the name

All very "MIGS-like." What is clear is that Empresarial University is recognized by CONESUP. What is not clear is whether or not the university is really awarding the degrees, whether they have the authority to award them, and to what extent such degrees would be recognized or useful.

 

I just sent the following to Dr. Michael Ewald at [email protected]:

Dr. Ewald:

There is a lively discussion going on www.degreeinfo.com regarding Empresarial. I'm participating in that discussion. Most of the discussion is around whether or not Empresarial has the authority to award these degrees, whether or not working with your office results in a properly issued degree from Empresarial, and whether or not such a degree would be recognized and/or useful.

These are not minor issues, especially given the cost of pursuing the degree. (It is comparable in cost to several other, properly recognized universities' DBA programs, including the U. of Glasgow, Charles Sturt U., Argosy U., and Northcentral U.

There has been one person who claims to have earned a Ph.D. from Empresarial, only to find that his degree is not recognized, that Empresarial doesn't have the authority to award such a degree. Obviously, that raises some concerns.

Having recently requested and received your materials on the Empresarial DBA, I've posted on www.degreeinfo.com these questions/concerns:

-- Director has his Ph.D. from Empresarial

-- No other faculty listed

-- Single tuition rate

-- No identifiable process for meeting degree requirements

-- Correspondence goes to and from Mississippi

-- Questions about the acceptability of a doctorate from an unknown Costa Rican university

-- Questions about the authority of the school to award doctorates

-- Questions about who you're really dealing with--the university or some Americans who've rented the name


These are not conclusions, but questions. I would encourage you to log into the web site and address these directly. The result might not just be a clearing up of some issues, but some enrollments as well.

Sincerely,

Rich Douglas
Burke, Virginia

 

Nice weather, good food, nice beach and gorgeous women. You will get all this plus a DBA, not a bad deal. 16,000$? take it like a vacation plan for three years that ends with doctorate degree.

 

Don't care about the weather.
Don't care about the food.
Hate sand; don't swim.
Don't need a DBA.
Don't have $16K.
Dislike vacations.

The rest of what you mention balances out all the negatives.

 

It seems that Dr. Ewald is a busy academic with appointments at several unaccredited schools like NCU and and CSU.

http://www.ncu.edu/mentor_list/public_list.asp

http://www.colsouth.edu/Admin_Faculty/faculty.htm

In the NCU site he defends his prestigious degree by saying that empresarial is the largest university in Costa Rica. Largest? Judging by the pictures from the site, it looks pretty modest to me.

 

Updates section

John Bear wrote:

> They tell me that the listing, as it would have been, will be
> posted in the Updates section at degree.net by Feb. 21.

And it's there! (At least a day early.)
http://www.degree.net/updates/bearsguide14/index.html

Nothing there yet about Excelsior, though.

 

While the statement about Empresarial's size does seem exaggerated, I'm not sure why you refer to Northcentral and Columbia South as "unaccredited." Northcentral is a candidate for regional accreditation and Columbia South is accredited by DETC.

 

While NCU is still unaccredited since it is still a candidate, CSU is accredited so apologize for this. It is too bad that the professor didn't accept your invitation so he could defend himself in the forum.

It seems that empresarial is a legit modest school that charges a fortune for its relative unknown DBA program. I don't see why it wouldn't have the right to grant PhDs if they have a legit medical school that grants MDs.

 

I would suggest that a school who is a candidate for regional accreditation is not "unaccredited." Candidacy is a formal recognition of the school's ability to operate within the accrediting agency's standards.

Credits and degrees from RA-candidate schools are very often accepted as coming from accredited schools. There are some cases where this is not so, and others where it is limited. (I recall reading on this forum that the APA will recognize degrees from candidate schools for a limited period.)

IIRC, only 3 DL schools that have advanced to candidacy since 1980 have failed to go on to accredited status--Prometheus, Interntional Graduate School, and USOU.

It would seem more appropriate to lump candidate schools in with the accredited ones--with whom they share much more in common--than in with the unaccredited ones. (Of course, the caveat that candidacy doesn't guarantee accreditation would still apply.)

In sum, is Northcentral accredited? No. Are the "unaccredited"? No. They're in-between (and far more towards accreditation that not). That's what candidacy is.

 

I apologize for not responding sooner, but I have been away for a few weeks taking care of my mother who underwent a total knee replacement. Due to the volume of posts, it is taking a while to catch up. Here’s some info on Empresarial.

As with most questionable schools, there is a long version and a short version of the story. The short version of the story is that, at on time, Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica (UNEM) was authorized by the Consejo Nacional de Ensenanza Superior Universitaria Privada (CONESUP), to grant three degrees; a Bachelor in Business Administration, a Bachelor in Accounting, and a Masters in Administrative Science. I say “at one time,” because at this time, Empresarial’s authorization to grant any degrees is in doubt. What is certain, however, is that at no time, was UNEM authorized to grant doctoral, medical, or any degrees besides the aforementioned three.

This fact is corroborated not only by CONESUP’s web site, but by UNEM’s new (see below) Web site as well. UNEM’s Web page that lists their undergraduate offerings displays a long list of majors. However, all but the Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting is marked with an asterisk that refers you to a note that states, ”UNEM has institutional accreditation and the university will be working toward having each program individually approved.” So, even though it lists concentrations in Finance, Human Resources, International Business, Management, and Marketing, they are not authorized to offer these majors. On Empresarial's Web page listing their graduate degree offerings (including doctoral programs), all but the Masters Program in Administrative Science are marked with an asterisk that refers you to the same notation.

It is important to note that the Ministry of Education of most Central and South American countries not only license a school to operate, but must also approve each and every program and degree offering. Moreover, if the institution wishes to offer a new degree or program, it too, must undergo the same approval process.

As is often the case with questionable schools, however, the long version of the story is much, but much, more interesting… Stay tuned, and when I have time, I will answer the following questions (although you can probably guess the answers already).

• Did Costa Rica officials really investigate Empresarial University because they were not licensed to run a medical school?
  
• Did the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission send a cease-and-desist letter to a one Dr. Winston Cannon, forbidding him to recruit students for Empresarial’s medical school? Were copies of the cease-and-desist order sent to the president of Empresarial University and to the Consul General of Costa Rica in New Orleans?
  
• Did Empresarial get into trouble with Costa Rican officials because it was featuring photos of some of the nation’s biggest hospitals and of students from other medical schools on its Web page as if they were their own facilities and students? Is it true that the new, updated web page still display links to the medical and veterinarian schools but both pages are now described as being under construction?
  
• Is it true that, thanks to a denouncement of Empresarial’s shenanigans to the U.S Department of Education and the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation (NCFMEA), NCFMEA, in its September session, decided not to recognize any medical degrees issued by the private universities of Costa Rica until the situation could be investigated and resolved?
  
• Is it true that Christopher Ward, cultural attaché at the U.S. embassy in Costa Rica, was presented a document enumerating Empresarial’s activities so that it could be forwarded to the FBI? Moreover, is it true that (as this document alleges) the partners that run Empresarial are based in Loganville, GA?
  
• Is it true that Educause was notified by a legitimate university in Costa Rica that they never authorized a .edu domain in their name? Is it also true that usj.edu redirects to unem.edu and that both are registered to one Aldo Erazo, and they both utilize the same technical contact in Miami, FL?
  
• Did CONESUP really file criminal charges against the Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica in October of last year?

Oh, what the heck; why wait? According to several newspaper and magazine articles in Costa Rica, the answer to all of the above questions is yes.

But how did the scam operate? Is there really a fictitious bank account in Hialeah, Florida in the name of a legitimate Costa Rican university that Empresarial used to pay bills in Costa Rica? Is it true that checks written on this account bounced? Are American students denouncing Empresarial in Washington? Why is the individual who runs Empresarial referred to as The Wolf of the Internet? The answer to these questions, I’ll save for another time.


As an interesting aside, the last link on this Google search made me smile. The link is for Northcentral University’s October 2002 Catalog (as a rtf, or rich text format document), and was included in the search because of faculty mentor Michael Ewald’s listing of his Ph.D. in Administrative Science from the Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica. The title of the link (which would also be the title of the link if you were to add it to your Favorites list) is the obviously truncated, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY. I guess they are not as separate and distinct entities as they would have you believe.

 

T'anks Gus. I figured there was less than met the eye; thanks for giving us the, uh, scoops.