Amity University, foreign education, and the language barrier

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Maxwell_Smart, Jun 14, 2019.

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  1. Maxwell_Smart

    Maxwell_Smart Active Member

    It's a little hobby of mine to contact schools and ask questions about their programs. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who does this. With the costs of higher education completely out of control here in the United States, it makes sense that some are seeking education from institutions outside of the country where prices are more reasonable. But one thing to be mindful of is the language and cultural understanding barriers because those two things can really throw a wrench into the situation.

    I contacted Amity University (regionally accredited by WASC, btw) curious about the numbers weeks that each class runs, and the response from several different admissions counselors was everything from the length of the entire degree program to the number of weeks per semester, but never an answer to the number of weeks per class. I politely attempted to restate the question in several ways only to get the same answers.

    I also asked similar basic questions about transfer credit limits, degree eligibility for Masters programs, and the limit on the number of courses one can take during a semester, all basic questions, all of which got similar answers that didn't tackle the question properly.

    It quickly became clear to me that they just simply did not understand what was being asked. This made me think, if that's an issue during the admission process, imagine what it would be like in class? In my American-based degree programs I've had foreign instructors who weren't native English speakers so while they spoke well they didn't understand certain specifics of the language (and they didn't realize it) and would sometimes grade papers and mark off parts inaccurately. It was frustrating. This is not to say that all foreign schools are to be avoided, but my guess is that one will probably run into fewer misunderstandings if the school is in a native English-speaking country.
     
  2. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Yeah, any school that can't answer something as simple as "how many weeks is a course period?", I'd run in the other direction and I don't care what part of the world they're from. What you describe does sound like a pretty real downside to foreign education. Seems almost inevitable that you're going to run into issues with written assignments.

    I recall some small talk here years back about a free BA from Amity University, but that died down rather quickly. A lot of times what sounds great on paper turns out to instead be a ball of confusion in practice.
     
  3. msganti

    msganti Active Member

    IMO Amity, like any other Indian university, has no clue about American education system. Yes they have RA through WASC, but the similarity to a US university ends there.
    Let me try to answer some of your questions with my limited knowledge of the US and Indian education systems:
    • Credit Transfer - doesn't exist in India (at least as of now). If you started with a school you are expected to finish there. Indian schools can not afford in-house evaluation, neither there are any evaluation agencies (like WES or ECE in the USA). Universities in India have to operate under UGC guidelines, and UGC has no clue on how credit transfer works.
    • Length of class - every class runs the whole semester/year whichever system the school follow. So if English-II is part of semester 2 then it runs the whole semester (6 months usually). So classes are measured in semesters/years rather than weeks.
    • Degree eligibility for Masters programs - usually provided as part of admission requirements in the "Prospectus". Some Masters degrees (like CompSci or Maths) may require a bachelor degree in the relevant field, while for some degrees they'd simply say "Any bachelor degree". If your bachelors degree is not from India, you may need a degree equivalence from Association of Indian Universities (see http://www.aiu.ac.in/evaluation/evaluation.asp)
    • Number of courses per semester - fixed by the school. You usually can't take more than described in the degree plan. You may "skip" one or more courses to finish later, but note that your transcript may show it.
    I hope I answered your questions and please let me know if I didn't :)
     
  4. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I'm sure that if you called them and said you were from the Department of Education and needed assistance in getting them their Title IV money they would suddenly seem quite well versed in our education system.
     
  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I wonder whether they're even set up to do Title IV.
     
  6. msganti

    msganti Active Member

    I wonder if they even know what is Title IV
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

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