DBA Distance Learning

i haven´t heard of ECBE,

but FIBAA is regarded as one of the official accreditors in Germany (operating in Austria and Switzerland also) though it uses rather easy accrediting standards and mostly accredits Polytechnics and not real universities. Besides, it is in the press rather negatively in the recent months sind two of the board members seem to have the opinion "the school that has paid also gets accredited".
Even more, FIBAA has two (!) DIFFERENT accrediting "seals", their own one (which does not say anything because it is not official) and the one from the German Accreditation Council (which is the only one that counts). All in all, the FIBAA seal alone would not say too much and might maybe only have a mid-positive effect, nothing more. But even the FIBAA´s Accreditation Council seal is not really "worth" more than the old diplomas or licenciates in the German speaking countries.

EQUIS/efmd has more importance and could be seen an equivalent to AACSB in the US, or maybe more like something in between ACBSP and AACSB... It would give a strongly positive effect on those degrees, I think, but still - if there´s no Swiss state approval, the chance of doing a Master´s (PhD) at a real university after one of those Bachelor´s (Master´s) would be near 0. Professional companies would think closely, I guess.

T.

 

The ECBE ist the European counterpart of ACBSP, affiliates of IFBE (International Federation for Business Education).

 

Are you looking for any accreditation standard, I know of several.

 

Visit Jonnie's distance learning Web page for local and international DBA programs at:

www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Haven/2386/distance.html

Click on "Research Doctorates" and scroll down to find several doctoral programs in business.

 

let´s say you live in the US and you make a PhD at this Swiss school. let´s further say this school is not allowed to issue approved degrees in Switzerland itself, nor does it have a foreign partner school that gives out the degree. the schol is also not in the unesco handbook, but does have a private accreditation like ACBSP, e.g.
what do you think is the chance that the american credit evaluation company will say? "being equivalent to a US PhD".
i don´t think so...

greets,
t.

p.s.: and, as i said, in germany and austria, we would be even more strict - te rule is: if the degree is not approved in the issuing country, the degree is in every case illegal to use here.

 

I don't think so either.

Incidently, ACBSP sees itself as a buisness, not general accreditor. Hence, for U.S. schools, the first thing you have to do to receive ACBSP accreditation is show that you are regionally accredited. Non-US schools have to have the equivalent. In particular:

"Institutions operating in the US must be accredited by their regional body. Non-U.S. institutions should have equivalent accreditation or recognition as appropriate. Enclose a copy of the letter of affirmation ..." www.acbsp.org

Incidently, Robert Kennedy U. (from Switzerland, I believe) which was once a member (but not accredited) by ACBSP, no longer appears as even a member of ACBSP on their website.

Regards - Andy

 

I am completing my fieldwork concerning part-time DBA programs and as part of my research I visited Switzerland in November of 2002 and February of this year. I have been to Business School Lausanne twice and have found them to be a legitimate degree granting institution (they are also accredited by ACBSP). I have also visited some of the other schools mentioned in these posts and some of them are less than wonderful.

If you are looking for a part-time DBA program I would urge you to consider the one I am in at Grenoble Graduate School of Business (name has been changed from ESC Grenoble). The program lasts for three years with a one-week residency in France each year and a one-week residency in the U.S. The rest of the program is via videoconference, net meeting, online and phone. Tuition is $8400 per year and the entire program is in English. I will be glad to forward information on the program to anyone that is interested.

 

Triggersoft and Denver are right. Robyn, here's the detail on Swiss law that creates the problem. Legal supervision of education in Switzerland is by the individual cantons, not by the federal government. Consequently, if you can convince Bert 'n' Ernie and their buddies in your cantonal administration that you, that nice Frau Egli, and Walter the talking horse are a university, then you are, or is, one.

Denver's observations and Triggersoft's lists are bang-on, as is T's observation about what is and isn't a legal degree for use in Germany (the same goes for Italy, too). A few schools which are not part of the university or technikon consortia T listed may well offer decent instruction, but the cantonal authorization is about like state licensing in the USA: nearly useless as a quality control indicator.

So proceed with very great caution in dealing with legal schools operating on cantonal authorization alone. They are most certainly legal under Swiss law, but any degrees they confer would likely be unrecognized by Swiss public universities and Swiss technikons, and illegal to use in much of Europe, and perhaps chancy to use in North America.

I repeat that a few of these schools are recognized by business school QC organizations (about which I know nothing), and the school established by Baha'is at, I think, Landegg, would be a place of integrity, as but one example. Yet difficulties likely abound.

 

sthomas58 - I can vouch, and have done research on this program. Denver has the information, but the people who I spoke with were very responsive and helpful. They also seemed to be flexible to students. The only drawback is not being AACSB. But since you are targeting international, that is probably not a big deal.