Charisma University has received "Candidate for Accreditation ACPSP

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by worldtraveler, Apr 17, 2014.

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  1. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

  2. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Forgive me for not paying attention, but all of this leads to a degree from Charisma University, right?

    You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a regionally accredited school offering the MBA by DL. Why would anyone in the US bother with this thing? Asking for a friend.
     
  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    No, I guess you can't. Has to be a statute somewhere against it. I think that's as it should be. :)

    To answer your friend's question, Rich -- people do all kinds of things. You're talking to a man with a whole unimpressive 18 units of undergrad psych, earned in the backwoods of Canada, back in the dark ages of the 80s. So I'm still buffaloed on many aspects of WHY people do a lot things --- but they do. And I can figure at least some reasons why.

    We have Americans who earned South African degrees on this forum. We have Americans who have earned MBA degrees from India - from known good schools Like Don Bosco U. Degrees that get RA-equivalent evaluations here with no trouble. Some earn degrees from schools in Nicaragua, e.g. one or two who have had good reception to a doctorate earned there.

    (And there's the crowd who buy six or more Master's degree courses (mostly MBAs) at a time from Spain - OML - it's like Filene's Basement every time a new Groupon deal comes out! They're a bit different. No accounting for some folks. Can't figure 'em out. Best just to let 'em get on with it and see how they do. I think they're harmless . . . some seem intelligent and are quite likeable, even.)

    Why, I even know a fella who earned several US degrees, including an RA doctorate and went and earned another doctorate at University of Leicester in UK of all things. I'm sure he had good reasons - in fact I remember him explaining why someone might look at non-US schools. Fine school he chose., too. :)

    I think two things are at work. Curiosity, novelty and general inquisitiveness and perspicacity - well that's three or four I guess - rolled into one. Same thing that makes people want to visit exotic foreign places, maybe - and some end up living there. A second good reason (you've said yourself) is if the degree is a unique offering. I definitely don't see that one applying here - MBAs of all specialties abound in US, as you said.

    I think the main motivation is likely money. You don't see many MBAs for $2400 at US schools. In fact I only know of one - U. of the People. Free tuition - $2,400 in exam fees. Good school, as I see it. Wonder if that price will hold when they get Regional -- or is it now 'Big Six National' accreditation?

    So, I believe a large proportion of offshore degree-seekers are out to save money. And an English-speaking school anywhere will get looks. Lots of them. And if a business school has ACBSP accreditation for its programs, that's gonna bring even more interest, I'm sure.

    That's pretty much how I see "why they bother," Rich. I think I'll end it here. "No schools were harmed in the writing of this post."
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2020
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    CHEA still calls them "regional", and I doubt that's changing any time soon. (Besides, technically there are seven of them, since the Western region has a separate one for junior colleges.)
     
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Thanks! Good to know, Steve. Someone has to guide us through these perilous times. I'm getting lost. How does it work? CHEA still calls them Regional, but USDE says they're all National -- or is it different? And if it's four-year schools it's Big Six but for two-year schools it's Big Seven? Hard to de-fornicate things, sometimes. :eek:
     
  6. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Regardless of price, I'd want to be sure I was earning a legitimate degree from a respectable school--one that was considered equivalent to an accredited school in the US. I don't think low cost overcomes that.
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    As I understand it, the U.S. Department of Education just stopped making a distinction, for two reasons. One, their concern is only for eligibility for participation in federal financial aid programs, not credit transfer or pecking orders. Two, as part of that, they changed the scope to no longer restrict regional accreditors from only accrediting schools that are headquartered in their region, thereby opening up the regionals to compete against one another. (The feds get to determine the scope of institutional accreditors because when Uncle Sam pays the piper, Uncle Sam calls the tune.)

    But since receiving institutions still get to decide what credit they'll take in transfer and which institutions' credentials they'll consider for graduate program admission (which is why any of this matters at all), CHEA is more authoritative because it's a coordinating body that's actually created by the U.S. higher education industry itself.
     
    Johann likes this.
  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    And I'm sure the friend you were asking for would agree, Rich. I was just trying to answer your question - why people "bother" with overseas schools in general, when there are so many choices in the US. I wasn't making value judgments - each person makes his / her own. And you and I - and all DI members - are free to agree / disagree with those decisions. That's what makes DI such fun. :)
     
  9. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I think I accidentally threw you a curve. For me, this isn't a domestic vs. foreign thing. Having attended a foreign school, I can appreciate why someone would choose one. As I posted, however, it would be a good idea to do so at a school recognized as being equivalent to accredited schools here in the US.

    That's why I think the conversation about this particular thing is a bit odd. I can see why someone might consider a foreign school and make cost a factor in that decision. But cost savings don't make up for a lack of recognition of the school and the degrees it issues.

    When unaccredited DL schools rushed onto the scene in the 1970s, they were often the only alternatives available to working professionals. They were also really cheap. But cost didn't seem to be much of a factor. When more-expensive accredited schools began offering DL programs in earnest, the unaccredited DL schools did carve out a "bargain niche" with their low tuition. For the most part, they either (a) got accredited, (b) got gone, or (c) filled a narrow niche.

    There are tons of foreign (to the US) DL options from schools that are clearly considered equivalent to US accredited schools. Why bother with some of the programs we see here that dance on the edge of legitimacy when there are so many alternatives that simply do not raise the question? Cost doesn't make up for that.
     
  10. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    By the way, if someone earns a degree from a particular school and then produces a foreign degree equivalency evaluation from a recognized evaluator, I'd be good with that.

    There are two considerations when pursuing a school: the education you receive and the degree you earn. (You also offer two things: your academic effort and your money.) Well, I'm only talking about the second one, the degree. Not that discussions about the quality of education aren't valuable, I'm just excluding that from my argument. Because you can get a quality education in many places and in many ways, but you go to a university to get a degree.
     
  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Not to you, Rich - and not necessarily to me. It does to some others - and they're entitled to make their own decisions.

    In my case, it's sheer curiosity. I like to know how things (including schools) work. Maybe I should have studied engineering. Finally at Uni, in the 90s, when I was 50+ I found the best business profs (to me) - three of them, in fact - were former engineers, who had earned advanced business degrees. They were the best business teachers because they knew how things worked - in business as well as engineering - and had a knack for showing how business and economic processes worked - to students.

    The only reason I'm here is to find out how this GAQM / Charisma MBA alliance (if that's what it is?) works. GAQM is pretty vague (to me) on it. I can't ask Charisma directly - I'm in pretty bad odor over there, I figure. So I was hoping Stephen Michael could explain it. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering, and an MBA, I see. Bet he could show us how this works easily!

    Until that happens, I'm going back to my personal "engineering" project. I'm building a non-Fender "Telecaster" clone. A "Partscaster." I could buy the real guitar - but this will teach me more. The clone "kits" have awfully cheap parts; I'm shopping around for much better - Fender originals and some custom bits. Would you believe Amazon has seven pages of Telecaster parts? It's a long job. I should be playing it by my 80th Birthday in 2023. :)

    My mama told me, you better shop around, (shop, shop)
    Oh yeah, you better shop around (shop, shop around)

    (Apologies to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles)
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2020
  12. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Yes. But when they implicitly or explicitly recommend such actions as a reasonable course for others, it is worth confronting with the truth. (Not that you're doing that; it's usually those connected to these operations in some way.)
     
    Johann likes this.

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