Best online doctorates in business administration

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by chrisjm18, Mar 3, 2020.

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  1. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I'm no fan of ranking nor do I know how much weight this ranking carries. However, here goes:

    https://www.thecentralvirginian.com/news/state/online-phd-degrees-com-releases-best-online-doctoral-degrees-in/article_de8121f3-7579-511a-a104-702c25611aee.html

    The 20 Best Online Doctoral Degrees in Business Administration for 2020 can be found on the ranking web page as follows:

    Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA
    George Fox University, Newberg, OR
    Hampton University, Hampton, VA
    Felician University, Rutherford, NJ
    University of Maryland Global Campus, Adelphi, MD
    Keiser University, Fort Lauderdale, FL
    Wilmington University, New Castle, DE
    University of the Cumberlands, Williamsburg, KY
    University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
    University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX
    Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ
    Saint Leo University, St. Leo, FL
    Baker College Online, Flint, MI
    Columbia Southern University, Orange Beach, AL
    Johnson and Wales University, Providence, RI
    Northcentral University, San Diego, CA
    University of Dallas, Irving, TX
    Concordia University-Chicago, River Forest, IL
    Creighton University, Omaha, NE
    California Baptist University, Riverside, CA
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    None whatsoever.
     
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  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    The site onlinephddegreesdotcom exists exclusively to sell university advertising. I suspect that the #1 criteria for inclusion in their ranking system is that you buy advertising on their site. To me, their methodology page is relatively vague. The primary value in such rankings, IMHO, is that it provides a convenient list of programs that the prospective student can use to begin their search. I would not advise that anyone use this, or any other university ranking system, as the final world on the topic of "which school is best for me?"
     
  4. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    Utilize rankings as a means of searching for the right program. That is it in my opinion.
     
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  5. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Or don't. Because almost no one will ever care.

    Reputations of universities vary widely, and often have nothing to do with rankings, quality, etc. Some universities have a strong local reputation (good or bad), but are relatively unknown outside that locale. The same can be said for regions. On a national level, you find very few schools that resonate across the country--except those with notable football and basketball programs, or are named the "University of Phoenix."

    In my hometown of San Diego, the three main sources for an MBA when I was a student were the University of San Diego, San Diego State, and National University. In that locale, there was no doubt that USD and SDSU were much stronger schools/programs than was National. But once you got out of San Diego, nobody cared and no one ever made distinctions between the three. Except...

    USD and SDSU were accredited by AACSB, and that often mattered to other universities--but hardly ever to employers.

    The doctorate is highly personal. It will define you for the rest of your life. You can do outstanding scholarship and go really far with a doctorate from a no-name school. Conversely, you can bum around Harvard or Stanford and never get anywhere beyond a shack in Montana, typing out manifestos and mailing explosive packages.

    I'm not saying it doesn't matter, but it doesn't matter as much as people who haven't done it think it matters. What you study, with whom you study, what you do with your work, those things matter a lot. The difference between the 25th-, 55th-, and 555th-ranked DBA just isn't going to matter all that much.
     
  6. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    While I respect your opinion, and I understand where you are coming from, I do believe that rankings are a great starting point for someone looking at furthering their education. While the rankings may not matter to employers, they do list universities that offer that individuals program of interest. How else would someone find an online MBA, DBA, MSW, DSW, etc. without utilizing some form of a ranking system they find online? If you go to google and put in online MBA, online MS in Finance, online (insert degree of choice) you will be overwhelmed with rankings from various websites. These are great starting points for individuals in my opinion.
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Even if so, not this one, which is genuinely meaningless. It's not a ranking, it's an ad.
     
  8. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    I did not look into this one. As a general rule, I do not click on links on a company issued computer. I will take your word for it though! :)
     
  9. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    If you use google advanced search and put ".edu" in the domain field it will only pull up American universities. Similarly, if you put ".ac.uk" in the domain field it will only pull up British universities. By properly manipulating the search string you can refine your results quite a bit, eliminating much (not all) of the chaff. Google is your friend, especially if you know how to use it.
     
  10. JoshD

    JoshD Well-Known Member

    Correct. Even by using advanced search and putting .edu and searching online MBA you are given 31,000 results in 0.73 seconds. That is an overwhelming amount.

    I'm not negating the fact that rankings are arbitrary but I am saying that utilizing Google and rankings, one can find a program for them.
     
  11. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    While I am inclined to agree, I find it hard to believe that some of the schools on the list would pay to have their programs featured. For instance, the University of Dallas, UMSL, UIW. Maybe I'm naive.
     
  12. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I agree with that search technique. But focusing on the total number of results is misleading. By the time anyone gets through the top 100 results they realize the results are mostly irrelevant. The idea that anyone might actually look through 31000 links is silly.
     
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  13. Johann766

    Johann766 Active Member

    Allmost all are expensive US schools..
    would be nice to have a list of the cheapest DBA online programs and by cheap I mean outside US.
    Charisma University is a little cheaper than US schools e.g.
     
  14. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Maybe you could create one.
     
  15. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    The list is pretty short, at least if you're restricting it to degrees taught in English. There are a few in South Africa. A couple in India, Maybe one in Malaysia. If you're adventurous you could look at some of those Nigerian universities like NOUN. And that's pretty much your list, right there.
     
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  16. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    It should be. The result will be a degree that has no institutional recognition in the United States, nor any evidence of equivalency.
     
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  17. Johann766

    Johann766 Active Member

    https://www.universityofafrica.net/
    is another African option for a PhD (not DBA) in the Business field.

    I´d be happy if you could name a south-African online DBA prgram?
     
  18. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  19. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    There is almost no "there" there. It is listed by the Ministry of Higher Education. It says it offers the doctorate by research. It conflates scholarly doctorates (PhD) and professional doctorates (Doctor of Business, Doctor of Education, Doctor of Laws). But it offers no information about program content, courses (if any), etc. Just that you can undertake a doctorate (again, a PhD or professional doctorate?) "by research."

    Fees are about $US4,200 per year at current exchange rates between the US Dollar and Zambian Kwacha. (A 10% discount for paying up-front each year.)

    It is not clear how long it would take to do the degree. In fact, nothing--except that they offer it and charge for it--is articulated on the website. This includes curricular content, research requirements, residency requirements, thesis standards, submission and defense, and just about anything else you can think of. This isn't to say they do not exist, of course. If you want to find out about these things, you'll need to inquire directly.

    There are no faculty listed on their website.

    They offer a Master of Science in Pavement and Highway Engineering Management, which I think is kinda cool. I imagine shipping that parkway you built as your master's project could get expensive, though.

    There is no way to determine if a PhD from a private university in Zambia would be accepted in situations outside Zambia. I would not necessarily take that as a given.
     
  20. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

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