Ukrainian-American Liberal Arts Institute “Wisconsin International University (USA) ?

One of my previous direct managers a VP of Engineering had MBA from HWU.
He graduated in the 90's at the time when one had to take exams in British consulate.

As to the list of top corporations who had accepted the degree, I think based on it success the less then wonderful's quickly incorporated such lists in to their catalogs and marketing materials as well.

 

Whether a company "accepts" a degree is also open to interpretation. My company has Capella as a preferred graduate education provider. So, naturally we will hire a person with a Capella degree. If you don't have one, we will happily pay for you to get one!

But one could argue that ANY company that hired a Capella grad "accepts" the degree, even if they do so with less gusto than us. One could argue further that if I get hired by company X and, during the course of employment, I earn a Capella degree that I completely self-fund and earn outside of company time, that the company "accepts" the degree of they do anything other than actively pull me aside and say "we will not accept your degree, stop claiming it, take it down from your office wall and go earn a degree from a different school."

That latter situation is highly unlikely. I imagine if a person working at Goldman Sachs for 25 years suddenly started claiming an Ashworth MBA, GS would likely not actively refuse to "accept" it. Does that mean Goldman Sachs "accepts" Ashworth degrees?

In a sense it does. But I think if you start throwing that instance into marketing materials you are sending a somewhat misleading message.

I'm not saying HWU or any other specific school did that, mind you. But it's one of those little factoids I periodically see in marketing material that simply fails to impress me. We could put together a list of companies employing "graduates" of Almeda using the same criteria.

Some companies do actively embrace certain schools. And that's good to know. But it's important not to confuse indifference with acceptance and always important to be aware that a school could likely legally justify blurring those lines to further their own purposes. It's like buying a car; just because the salesman said it doesn't mean it is a lie. But it would be silly to rely solely on his word without making any attempt to validate that information.

 

But as Dr. Bear tells " The prove is in the pudding" it obviously worked, I think this approach is used even today.

My employer has tuition assistance policy that simply states that the school has to be RA, the degree selection needs to be approved by hiring manager and the final grade in the class minimum a B.

Shankar a PM coworker graduated from top Indian University, he adds to his social media resume a line that Anna University Guindy campus ranked top 5 University in India

He thinks because his University is less known in the US the extra line sets the level in the mind of the person reviewing the resume / profile.

 

"Institute of Higher Education" is weak. Ukrainian American University. American University of Ukraine. Prof. Romanovskiy American Ukrainian College of Business and Liberal Arts, if you want to win the syllables game (that many Ukrainian schools seem to play so well).

 

Sorry for threads necromancy. While replying to an ABMS thread, I did some searching and discovered that Ukrainian government now, finally, has an easy-to-use listing of accredited HE institutions. Browsing the entries for Kyiv, I discovered something else: our friends at WIUU did exactly what I called for 2 years ago!
The school is now called "Ukrainian-American Concordia University"; they try to force "ConcordiaUA" nickname. Moreover, they got an agreement with the legit Concordia University Wisconsin and appear to purge connection to Wisconsin International University, at least from the more conspicuous parts of their website. Major, major upgrade! There do not appear to be any dual-degree programs with CUW, at this time.
It appears that their "American" BBA degree is still accredited by the FIBAA. I am extremely curious what exactly this accreditation signifies; it appears that the accreditor does have some sort of official status in Germany and does NOT have any obvious degree mills in its ranks. Also, this is partially moot, because it looks like they only offer BBA as part of the "dual degree" deal along with Ukrainian "state format" Bachelors in International Business or Bachelors in Management. I believe the local term is still "state format", but it should be just called "accredited", because the current law cancelled the requirement for all accredited programs to award the diploma on the same plastic card (which in practice was a very sweet deal for a monopoly printing company). All around, rare good news from reforming but still corrupt and war-ridden country.

Their MBA program is still only FIBAA accredited, with no local accreditation. However, this is in line with all the other business schools, because "Business Administration" still did not get into the official list of majors. They do offer Master's in "International Management", an accredited major.

As a next step, I believe ConcordiaUA should apply for RA through Middle States. Maybe they'll get to it in 2 years, who knows?

 

FIBAA says it can offer both programmatic accreditation and institutional -and describes both. I don't know which kind applies to ConcordiaUA. (Could it be both?) Unlike other, more familiar program-accrediting agencies, FIBAA extends beyond business, accrediting social science-oriented programs, e.g. a Master's in Philanthropy and Fundraising and degrees in Health Studies and Social Enrichment, and some others - e.g. a degree in Wine - Sustainability and Sales. The site has info on accrediting to both FIBAA standards and German Accreditation Council standards.

Get more FIBAA here: http://www.fibaa.org/en/welcome-page.html

 

The school posts their certificates online. It's programmatic. I still do not know how recognized FIBAA is; for example, will this diploma be accepted in Germany? How about by WES? Nevertheless, the graduates are well served, because these are BBA/BS and MBA/MS programs and BS/MS parts are RA equivalent.

On Ukrainian side, it appears in the Register (here), and is accredited for two specialities: "Management" and "International Economic Relations" up to Master's level. Certificated they post online appear genuine, and Accreditation Commission protocols they refer to are posted on the Ministry website and do indeed have entries for "Ukrainian-American Liberal Arts Institute “Wisconsin International University"" ("ConcordiaUA" name is brand new). They do NOT have state accreditation for BBA and MBA, BUT it's for a very good reason: there's no standards in the country for Business Administration. There IS a number of business schools (mostly offering an MBA degree in what appears to be "Executive" format); none of these degrees have government accreditation (even though at least one has AMBA). I specifically checked Kyiv School of Economic, whose Master's degrees in Economics are absolutely top notch (in fact, dual degrees with University of Houston). Of the Top 15 Economists in Ukraine list by Forbes, 13 have a KSE Master's (and Western PhD: all 15 work abroad). Yep, they offer MBA; yep, it looks quite good; nope, it's not "accredited". I'm sure this'll sort out in time.

In short, ConcordiaUA is a small private school that appears to have its ducks in the row, accreditation-wise.

Another fun fact: Kyiv boasts 237 HEIs (that's universities, colleges, institutes, all of them). The next-highest number seem to be in Lviv : 68 and Dnipro (fka Dnipropetrovsk): 54. Quite a gap.

 

Or in this case, to drape two rust-bucket Zhigulis (Russian) and a broken-down Zaporozhets (Ukrainian).
Here's a guy you might know, with his Zaporozhets. You might not recognize him with his shirt on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZAZ_Zaporozhets#/media/Fileutin_with_his_1972_Zaporozhets.jpg

J.

 

I have no idea about WES but I can tell you that this diploma is accepted in Germany. Accreditation is mandatory in Germany and FIBAA is fully recognized in Germany. That means FIBAA accreditation fulfills that mandatory requirement. However, there is a little catch. The German point of view is the law of the country where a school is located has the highest priority. That means FIBAA accreditation alone is no longer sufficient if "Business Administration" becomes an official major in Ukraine.

 

OK. Impressive. I think when Business Admin gets its code, Prof. Romanovskyy will be capable of getting the right checkmarks within the Ukrainian system, as he has been for the last 20 years. Dubious choice of the initial co-founder notwithstanding.
Can you comment on the status of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich http://www.ufu-muenchen.de/? It is treated as recognised in Ukraine, which apparently happened in the 90ies - I can't find the primary document online. Previous education minister and President of the prestigious National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy (public school, well known as liberal-leaning and innovative), Dr. Serhiy Kvit has his doctoral degree from there. OTOH, no one in Germany seem to remember it exists. It is a small, B&M, graduate operation for mostly Ukrainian students. What's the legal status?

 

Well, exactly; which is why it is good the now "ConcordiaUA" drops the "WIUU" name and connection.
Nice picture of Zaporozhets, but the image of the shirted evil creature smears the perfectly fine vintage... um... let's call it a "car". I see what the Unprintable does here: ZAZ is a bit of a nostalgia brand, exactly the message he wants for himself. USSR, Brezhnev, stabilnost, vodka for 1.80 rubles, this kind of crap. Messaging targeted for morons, his biggest support base.

 

Years ago, there was a scheme here in Canada - I think it was in the 70s and handled through Ukrainska Knyha - whereby one could buy a Zaporozhets for about $1,680. Not for import to Canada, but for relatives or friends back in Ukraine. That was the first I ever saw or heard of the car. Zhigulis were sold in Canada, in the 80s. They were Fiat 124 clones badged as Ladas -same car. Around the same time, I believe the identical car was made under licence from Fiat and sold in Iran as a Peykan. Zhiguli/Lada was also Fiat-licensed; it was made in Togliatti (Tolyati) Russia, named after the father of Italian communism. They sold new in Canada for about $5,000 and didn't last worth a darn. Around then I bought a new Hyundai Pony for about $6,000 instead - and it was fine for 7 years until a Buick demolished it. Tough little car. Cheaply-made but quite sturdy, until the Buick came along...

"Messaging targeted for morons, his biggest support base." Indeed. And there's more than one leader playing that game!

 

And Gianni Agnelli was twice wounded in fighting the Soviets in WWII. That somehow didn't deter Agnelli or the Soviets.

 

Yep, Lada/Zhiguli is a Fiat 124 clone; Italians built the Volga Auto Plant in Togliatti (probably founding the city of Togliatti in process). It was built with very minor modifications for decades and was the most popular Soviet car ("popular" may be misleading, because all cars' supply was greatly less than the demand; so production numbers come from production capacity and central planning and were not affected by any consumer sentiment. Soviet citizens bought any rust bucket they would be permitted to buy, usually waiting in endless lines and paying bribes for the privilege to even have a chance). Quality of the thing, like everything mass-produced and not military-grade in Soviet Union, quickly degraded to abysmal. Keep in mind that Lada marketed in Canada was manufactured specifically for export, with much, much more stringent quality controls. Soviets tried to maintain the reputation of their "system". As a Soviet, you would have to be a member of some elite group (Party boss, Foreign Service, KGB, celebrity actor) to get access to an "export" Lada; huge status symbol. Most car-owners quickly became expert car mechanics and had to network prodigiously to have access to black market auto parts. Legendary Soviet oligarch, Professor Boris Berezovskij (murdered in London on Putin's orders) got his start selling Ladas; according to his glowing (glowing, Carl!) biography, before that, being an admin in the Soviet research institute, he supplemented his and a group of researchers' income by ghost-writing doctoral dissertations for top VAZ managers - in exchange for auto parts, worth serious dough and even more in favours in the black market.

Zaporozhets' are both beloved and mercilessly mocked. Since they didn't carry the same status as a "real" car like Lada, they were much more of a means of transportation, of people and cargo. They were made by ZAZ until 1994; in I believe 1988 or some such, ZAZ introduced Tavria model. Tavria is a Ford Fiesta look alike; it offered much better comfort compared to all three Zapor models, but was widely despised for poor, poor quality and horrible safety. Still, during soviet times, demand greatly outstripped supply. This is easy when you don't have any competition. Nowadays, ZAZ makes Chevrolet and Daewoo compact cars; some Tavrias and Zapors are still on the road.

 

Among the many things I've started and never finished was a novel - back in my writing-class days (early 1990s). It was about a professor of English, who lived and taught in Iowa and was also a killer-for-hire. When home, he drove a newish Oldsmobile, but owned three other cars, picked up on his travels to killing assignments: A Russian Zhiguli, a Chinese Dong Feng and a Peykan from Iran. He kept these awful cars as an object lesson to his high-school age kids - signifying that "their" (foreign) system doesn't work and "ours" (U.S.) does -and how lucky they were to be Americans. He made a lot of money killing people, kept it in Vanuatu and spent quite a bit of it on his passion - rare books. He might have had a leftover East German Trabant in the "bad car" collection too - I forget.

 

He really should. However, the Trabant is not only a bad car, it's also an accidental one because that car was the result of a planning process which had intended to design a three-wheeled motorcycle!

 

The Ukrainian Free University in Munich is a special case, and it is recognized in Germany. It is quite unknown outside the Bavarian capital, but that is mainly because it's an Ukranian-speaking institution. Few people at other German universities speak Ukrainian, and those who do usually are Ukrainian themselves. Unfortunately, that language barrier makes UFU almost invisible in Germany. I myself only know about UFU because I once read an article about it. I even found that article again, but it is in German like everything I found about UFU. So maybe you should use Google Translate. Here is it: http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/inhalt.studenten-und-lehrer-bangen-um-die-heimat-ukraine-die-exil-uni-in-muenchen.a5de6b98-21ad-4cae-8fd1-95dcc7b132be.html

I also found a long and interesting article about it here: https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Ukrainische_Freie_Universität That article says there was a time when UFU got money from the Vatican and even German (or most of the time West German) taxpayer money from the Bavarian state government and from the (West) German federal government.

The responsibility for the higher education system in Germany lies primarily with the German states, while the federal government only plays a minor role. Therefore, a university has to be recognized by the respective state government. UFU was first recognized in West Germany in 1950 by a Bavarian ministerial decree. (Ministerialerlass Nr. XI 60710) That recognization was renewed with the "Bayerisches Hochschulgesetz" of 1978. That is the Bavarian law which regulates most aspects of higher education in the state, including the recognization of universities. I can't find these two documents on the internet, but that is not surprising. Many German legal documents from pre-internet times, especially so old ones, are not available on the net right now. (or at least not for free)

However, the current version of the Bayerisches Hochschulgesetz has a short part about UFU. It is in article 103 (part 3) and you can find it here: http://www.gesetze-bayern.de/Content/Document/BayHSchG-103

That article says two things. The first thing is the Ukrainian Free University has the so-called "Promotionsrecht", the right to grant doctorate degrees, and the "Habilitationsrecht", the right to grant the German higher doctorate Dr. habil.
It is important to know that it is 100 percent impossible for a school in Germany to get these rights if that school isn't a fully recognized university. There are in fact many recognized universities in Germany (in very most cases universities of applied sciences) without these rights.

The second thing is that the law of 1979 still applies to UFU, and that is the main reason why I said UFU is a special case. An accreditation system didn't exist in West Germany in 1979 and all a university needed to be fully recognized was recognition by the respective German state.

In other words, UFU is the only university in Germany I'm aware of, and maybe the only university, period, which is exempt from mandatory accreditation in Germany. I do not know why that's the case, but the Bavarian state government clearly has the right to make such a decision and the governments of the other 15 states lack the right to question it.

However, I should probably mention that the German accreditation system only applies to Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Doctorates do not need accreditation, and German accreditation agencies do not even accredit PhDs.


I hope that clarifies that the Ukrainian Free University in Munich is fully recognized in Germany.

 

As "they" say, "a camel is a horse designed by a committee." Anyone want a Trabant? One hump or two?

J.