Remember the Smart.ly MBA?

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by Johann, Apr 6, 2019.

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  1. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    And every time I eat jambalaya (which also happens infrequently) I think of a university. Oh, man! We're a long way from the McIlhenny folks, down in New Iberia LA.!
     
  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    No surprise to me at all - thanks to the man behind it - Shai Reshef, who had a great track record and street cred. in education. Back when he founded U. of the People, he had sold his previous education-related business to Kaplan Inc. for multi-millions.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shai_Reshef
     
  3. rodmc

    rodmc Active Member

    Nexford compares themselves to Western Governors, Capella University, Walden University, DeVry University, and Southern New Hampshire University. https://www.nexford.org/tuition

    Not a good comparison, but WGU sure seems like the way to go in this instance.

    From my experience, accreditors are looking for reasons “to accredit.” It is a matter of checking all the boxes. Attend the training, plan on beating industry standards, accept nothing less than excellence and communicate with accreditors. Honestly, it saddens me seeing schools failing at accreditation. It means the institution is not meeting standards, attempted accreditation prematurely or did not take the process seriously. From my experience, accreditors do a lot to help schools become accredited. I have been through accreditation four times. I have also served on accreditation teams, and I can say, accreditors are not looking for the “I got you” moment. Accreditors exist for quality improvement. Accreditation isn’t an easy process, but the improvement process is incredibly valuable. Good luck to Smartly with DEAC.
     
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

  5. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    No, I don't remember the Smart.ly MBA.
     
  6. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    That's okay, Ted . . . they don't remember you either.
     
  7. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    What was the Smart.ly MBA?
     
  8. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

  9. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    It was a virtually free MBA offered by the as-yet unaccredited Smart.ly Institute. I started this thread when I learned they were now under consideration by DEAC.

    Can't find the old Smart.ly thread right now but the school is here: https://smart.ly/about
     
  10. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Degree validation in HR is, frankly, not a high priority topic in general. Verifying accreditation? Even fewer companies are interested. It's how so many mills get away with it. If they offer "verification" then that will pass many company screenings. Certainly not all. But I've seen legitimately accredited schools with bad names get flagged by hiring managers far more often than any formal process flagging an obvious degree mill.

    Still, this is, as sanantone notes, slipping through the process more than an endorsement that a company is OK with ASIC accreditation or that ASIC accreditation is, in any way, considered a recognized accreditor. They don't even claim to offer US-style accreditation. Schools play on that difference in terminology and I don't think ASIC is too ashamed to take the money from those less than savory schools.
     
  11. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    Bad how?
     
  12. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    The best example is American InterContinental University. Regionally accredited and with a name that causes more managers to google it because it sounds "fake" than almost any other school I've encountered.

    As "bad" can relate to reputation, I have had a few hiring managers try to toss candidates thinking that UPhoenix is a literal diploma mill where you pay and get a diploma in return.

    I had one hiring manager, in HR in fact, who wanted to tank a candidate's process on the basis that she had an MBA from AIU, noting "I went to their website and they just admit anybody!" If she had been wearing pearls, they most certainly would have been clutched.

    That same manager came into my office a year later wanting to know if the company would pay for an unaccredited MBA from a very obvious (to me, at least) diploma mill with a slick website.
     
  13. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    That's so scary, especially that last paragraph. I've heard similar over at the City-Data forums with people who believe that line of thought is rational. It alarms me to think of all the irresponsible people in charge of hiring, just makes you wonder about all the careers that have gotten held up because of it.
     
  14. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I'm going to let you in on a little secret...
    Except for a few specialty cases, HR is not in charge of hiring. The days of HR tanking a candidate for arbitrary and highly subjective reasons may not be quite numbered but the end is in sight.
    Years ago, HR sifted through applications and resumes for you. Now, the HRIS does that and delivers them right to the hiring manager.

    Good recruiters see through the BS. Where you run into most of the issues is with HR generalists playing their hand at recruiting. There are bad recruiters out there, for sure, but they tend to be internal recruiters whose damage is fairly limited. Often they just talked their way into it after working at that company for years. At large recruiting firms, you don't hit the necessary close rates by pulling some of that stupid crap.

    Are hiring managers biased and making decisions based on nonsense? Of course. There's nothing we can do to stop that. The thing is that there are a lot of hiring managers. I'd also call BS on most of the people at City-Data. For sure a manager might have a blanket rule against all UPhoenix grads, however, unless they are in a generalized industry where they just have limitless applicants, they will almost certainly change that opinion particularly when someone with the right skills comes along.

    Engineering is a prime example here. If you need someone with a specific niche skill, you hire that person when you find them. A proper recruiter seeks out that skill and not just electrical engineers, for example. And they'll bring in candidates from around the world for an interview.

    All is not hopeless. I've not languished in my career despite having a degree from a for-profit school. My education is, at this point in my career, just a box to be checked. Of the last three interviews I've had, no one asked me about my education at all. At this stage they're interested in my strategies on filling job reqs, balancing benefit offerings and dealing with the myriad other issues I need to deal with. No one cares where I went to school. I've too much time in for that to matter. And, frankly, if a hiring manager tried to tank me because of my degree? Let them. That is absolutely not someone I would ever want to work for.
     
    Phdtobe and SteveFoerster like this.

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