Online PhD Degree Programs from India

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by greenvalleyedu, Feb 20, 2010.

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  1. NorCal

    NorCal Active Member

    You'll have no argument that the cost savings are huge. However, if you were born and raised in the good old US, yet to have a degree issued by a foreign institution (no matter where it is) many people would not take your accomplishment seriously (and who could blame them IMO).

    I could see if you were military and stationed overseas and earned your degree based on the availability and demographics - that's one thing. But if you reside in the US, have never lived outside of the US, but decided to graduate from a university in another country . . . . huge red flags would be raised as the reasonable person would be wondering why. . . . you could side with the cost saving, but the entire idea would seem a little suspect . . .
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 15, 2012
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It may still seem strange to some people that there are institutions in developing countries that don't need to look to the good old US for intellectual leadership, but I think that just as distance learning naysayers have lost their battle, so too are naysayers about cross-border higher education. The interest on this forum in low cost options from South Africa and even further afield is evidence of this.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I agree with this.
     
  4. raoshirvani

    raoshirvani New Member

    According to this articles retrieved from

    Indian university accused of selling fake PhD degrees - DAWN.COM

    "Credentials fraud is a serious problem in India, fuelled by a huge demand for qualifications, endemic corruption and poor regulation of the ultra-competitive and fast-growing education sector"

    Even this UGC Accredited CMJ University faced fraud investigation as the articles says "Police have arrested four senior officials from CMJ University in the northeastern state of Meghalaya on suspicion of fraud and forgery and are hunting for the chancellor, who has fled"
     
  5. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    You should take into consideration time investment. If your time is worth 40 dlls and the the degree takes about 6000 hrs, you will be investing 250,000 dlls of your time.

    Time investment is perhaps the most expensive asset when pursuing a degree. Of course, if you are jobless or cannot get consulting work then your time value might be close to zero so the degree might be worth pursuing. It is better to do the degree than just staying home doing nothing.

    Executive programs are expensive mainly because they run in accelerated format, executives feel that 100K is worth the money if they can reduce the completion time and have the flexibility.
     
  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Yes, opportunity cost is a factor to consider but for many people they wouldn't be working a second job instead of earning a degree, they'd probably just be watching TV.
     
  7. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Yes, in a sense you're right because we know that even in this modern age there are many people who are xenophobic.
     
  8. ebbwvale

    ebbwvale Member

    Xenophobia goes both ways. Sometimes my US degree gets a thumbs down from local academics. They, of course, are protecting themselves from the implications of the internet or globalization. Perhaps deluding themselves would be more the case. Condemn it and ignore it so it will go away except it isn't.

    I think their biggest fears is that very well known and prominent universities could extend their electronic footprint to offshore environments. If, Princeton and Oxford, for example, extended their footprints to a global market in subject areas that were amenable then I could see local academia being totally threatened. The govt here provides loans to students attending local universities whether by distance learning or otherwise. If significant number of students when with an offshore learning environment, I think the govt may have difficulty in confining the loans to local institutions.

    The other interesting thing here is that the Advanced Diploma offered by the Australian "Community College Equivalent" TAFE is growing in acceptance and replicating the degree in the employment stakes. It is focused upon competencies more than academics and employers are biting. There is also a lessor known Vocational Graduate Diploma which is university graduates who want occupational competency but do want a Masters. This is also taught at the TAFE level. Advanced Diploma Graduates are being allowed to do the Vocational Post Grad. qualification with the university graduates.

    The universities are being threatened upon two fronts i.e. globalization and alternative qualifications. Good for the educational consumer!
     
  9. KKU

    KKU New Member

    Dear All,
    Where ever in the world you are just see around you. You will find Indian Doctors scientist, scholars etc, who would have studied in Indian universitys. I think you also need to google search and know more about the Indian history and their contributions in education.
    You should be very happy to pass out from Indian Universitys, they cost lessor than other countries, but they are not less in terms of quality.
    so if your a Indian or not definitely there is good scope for you...
     
  10. KKU

    KKU New Member

    Dear Friend,
    Please do some google search, the Maximum fraud is happening from the US.
    Recently there were so many ads poping up on Facebook. Degrees being sold for US$ 199.
    A lot of people around the world are becoming prey to these kind of ads. Fraud or fake things are a part of the system.
     
  11. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    If this is the case, why half of the international students at Canadian and US Universities are from India?

    Sure, if your PhD is from IIT or ISM then there is no trouble with acceptance. Besides these few recognized schools, most Indian schools would be hard to sell in the US or Canada.

    This forum is full of threads about cheap degrees from Malaysia, India, Mexico, etc. However, I haven't seen anybody yet that got a cheap online PhD from an obscure school in a developing country that has been able to use it in the US or Canada for at least adjunct positions or top corporate jobs.

    If these were reasonable solutions, nobody would be attending schools that cost 100K or more.
     
  12. silvertoday

    silvertoday New Member

    -The students from India here come for a variety of reasons, one of which is just economic, that salaries hence with a USA degree or visa/or over-staying visa their economic prospects better.Some fields at upper levels USA may be more advanced, so for some a better education. However I dont think the number of Indian students in USA represents a faulty Indian education system per se. ( And judging by worldwide rankings of American education , well.....)
    - I guess depends where degree is to be used that determines its utility. Academic world quite diferent than business world- for example in academic world seems to have a DBA considered very important to be adjunct at Master's level, regardless of whether person having a DBA is very able in business in the first place.
    - There are many it seems who are questioning schools which cost 100k or more.
    - There is a certain xenophobia or provincialism or however you wish to call it in America about degrees from other countries. Maybe with more distance learning and globalization offshrore degrees will be more accepted.
     
  13. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I used to work for a guy who held a dean position because he'd gotten a PhD from a university in Macedonia. He'd been enrolled at a U.S. school for doctoral study prior to that but never finished. So it's entirely possible to make doctoral degrees from schools in lower income countries work out just fine. (Having a decent research profile probably helps also.)
     
  14. flannelberry

    flannelberry New Member

     
  15. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    There are people who insist on driving a Mercedes when my old jeep would get them to work just as well. Go figure.
     
  16. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    To mix metaphors: Some of them don't believe (rightly or wrongly) that they could GET a job to drive to, if they didn't have the "Mercedes." They don't believe having a "jeep" would get them anywhere in the job market.

    My take - if it's gonna cost you $100K to be job-ready, then unless you have it in hand or are going to make it back VERY quickly (say, a year) then maybe you should look into a different job that doesn't cost $100K before you can even apply.

    Possible exception: Medicine. Maybe - maybe not. I've heard of some doctors having dire problems with their educational debt. Sad.

    A knowledgeable person (lawyer) who posts on another forum said his rule of thumb was: don't go into education debt any further than the first year's expected salary after graduation; e.g. if you realistically expect to make $50K your first year -- don't go into "ed-debt" more than $50K.

    Very good rule - as I see it. Might be an effective misery-preventative in many cases.

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 10, 2013
  17. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Comparing an online PhD from an obscure Indian school with a "jeep" is not a fair comparison. A jeep does the job, a jeep brings to work and allows to travel wherever you want to go. I want to see if a PhD from an obscure online Indian school gets you anything in the US other than the legal right to call your self Dr.
     
  18. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I think this is a fair issue. To my knowledge we have no member(s) who have earned a PhD from an Indian university (or anywhere else in that part of the world) and so it's reasonable to ask if it would be useful or not. I asked the question in another thread recently and someone from that part of the world said that they did not think that a PhD from India was equivalent to a PhD from the USA. However, this was just an opinion and there was no supporting data. I honestly don't know the answer. I think however that the difference between your opinion and mine is that I have allowed the issue to remain unresolved due to the lack of data and you have made a decision, regardless of the lack of data. I don't need you to change your mind but I would point out that these schools are not "obscure" within their own environments (India). They're only obscure because YOU don't know anything about them (and their websites don't help much with this problem). Also, they are not "online" schools and even if they were, don't we promote online schools everyday on this site? Xenophobia?
     
  19. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I think another of the issues here is that not all schools in India are the same, and not all schools in the U.S. are the same. If we're talking about Delhi University, then that's different from something lower down the league tables, at least in my opinion. And then it depends whether the comparison is against Harvard or some nth-tier U.S. university that, while serviceable, is unremarkable.
     
  20. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    just curious, what schools in India did you research? were there any in your opinion that were accomodation to foreigh external students?
     

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