School of Business and Trade (sobat.org)

Big Ben always has.

 

The best imitation was by Dr. Cox. I use it sometimes when debating with my suppliers, my subordinates and even my CEO...

 

One thing you have to watch for in the British schools that deal in high-order equivalents but cannot award their own degrees: If they're offering a University track, make sure it's one you can use - not a non-British source that might be sketchy. I've seen them offering hook-up to degrees that don't even exist in the country of origin - e.g. an otherwise-good Polish University offering English-language DBAs. The DBA doesn't exist in Poland. Governing Authorities don't even have one on the spec-sheet! How are you going to get this recognized in your own country? Tip: You aren't. Note: If the "level-up" school is talking doctorates - usually their partner is not a British school. ALWAYS CHECK.

I've also seen some of these British "level-up" schools offer degree-hookups to Swiss Cantonal private outfits that legally issue largely meaningless degrees, which may have no standing in Switzerland or elsewhere - their Mexican or Costa-Rican partner-school validation notwithstanding. If they're hooking you up for a degree - make sure it's one you want. And always consider "going direct" and making enquiries of the University itself. Going there without an intermediary may be cheaper, more reliable and more expedient.

 

Right. If something can be 'sort of' accredited, can you then 'sort of' have a degree?

It's either accredited, or it isn't. If it's not accredited, but can be transferred and form part of an accredited qualification, that's great - but doesn't change the status of the original course.

I noticed the wording on the website was similar, with plenty of hedging and qualifying, alluding to the maybe potential possibility of maybe being able to possibly transfer into SOME universities, somehow, somewhere.
They then provide a list of universities, without clarifying what formal pathways, if any, exist. Is this a list of unis with MOUs? Formal pathways? Historical precedent for accepting transfers from CMLS? What exactly is this list?

Rather frustrating lack of specifics here.

Like the ENEB 'MBA' course, 300 pounds for a post grad diploma in Business Admin is a great deal - but only if that qualification means anything. A piece of paper stating 'post grad diploma' or 'MBA' is ultimately worth maybe 30 cents - unless the paper is accepted as a representation of something greater.

If you can pay 300GBP for something 'valued' at much more, you come out a winner. But if you pay 300GBP for something worth 30 pence, they come out the winner. I wouldn't fork over a penny until I was assured of the former. YMMV, of course.

 

True, this is certainly a sore spot with EBMA.

 

As far as 'top up' qualifications go (in the UK, at least), it seems the best approach is to start from your end goal, and work backwards.

Most of the UK unis offering top up Master degrees, specify what type of Level 7 diploma you can have. Eg. 'A Level 7 Post Graduate Diploma awarded by Edexcel, Athe or LRN' or 'Edexcel Extended Diploma in Strategy Management or NCC Education PG Diploma in Business Management' or 'Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Executive Diploma'.

I'm not seeing much in the way of EBMA Level 7 diplomas for top ups, but I'll keep looking.

 

.And some universities say that "other Level 7 qualifications will be considered". Well.

Personally, I guess that there is nothing wrong with EBMA, but a guaranteed way to a Top-Up MBA looks different.

 

I noticed the wording on the website was similar, with plenty of hedging and qualifying, alluding to the maybe potential possibility of maybe being able to possibly transfer into SOME universities, somehow, somewhere.
They then provide a list of universities, without clarifying what formal pathways, if any, exist. Is this a list of unis with MOUs? Formal pathways? Historical precedent for accepting transfers from CMLS? What exactly is this list?

From the site (answers to enquiries):

At the moment, we are offering MBA – Dissertation jointly awarded by the Open University of Switzerland + University of Dabrowa Górnicza (WSB) (State University) + Taras Shevchenko National University (Public University Ranked 430 worldwide)."

All these schools are unacceptable to me:

(1) University of Dabrowa Górnicza is the Polish school that offered DBAs (nonexistent under Polish rules) in English - prior to that, they had a good rep. I think the Open University of Switzerland may have persuaded them to do this. I remember they had an arrangement for dual OUS / UDB degree programs. What else is UDB up to, I wonder?

(2) Open University of Switzerland is not a Swiss Federation recognized University. They opened a branch in Malta and acquired Maltese accreditation. I don't think the school there is still open and accepting students, but the Swiss school still hangs on to this foreign-school accreditation - and calls itself a University - in Switzerland. How does that work? I feel it shouldn't be using that word, but who the hell am I? It's a Cantonal thingy, degrees legal but not recognized in Switzerland -or elsewhere, AFAIK. We have numerous threads on this school, under a couple or three names.

(3) Taras Shevchenko - the "Mother School" has an excellent reputation. However, this Swiss (?) School above talked them into an arrangement to open a separate school to offer online degrees in a partnership. These degrees are not State-recognized - as are those of the "Mother Ship." The person in authority at Taras Shevchenko regretted the partnership quite quickly and pulled out.

Funny - all three of these schools are on the CMLS list and OUS seems to be a common factor. Hmmm.

I'm out.

 

BTW - just found we went through ALL this CMLS - Swiss Open stuff in another thread. CMLS was clearly a 'feeder' school for Swiss Open University. Why are we re-inventing the wheel? https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/associates-degree-with-uop-or-postgrad-diploma-with-cambridge-management-school.57100/#post-537310

 

We (including yours truly) should have smelled this one right away. Another FARCE!

 

Yeah. I didn't think about it only because I spent five minutes exclusively looking for "Level 7 Diplomas" from "EBMA" under the $200 price point, this is really fishy.

Even the most legitimate looking of the EBMA-accredited organizations, London School of International Business, offers only vague promises.
Total program cost? That's there. Round 1 is delivered by LSIB / EBMA organizations, round 2 is delivered by "partner universities" of which none are listed...anywhere.

 

Hello!


Well, I looked under reed.co.uk for Level 7 courses and found CMLS. My first impression was, as they offer certificates from OTHM (they are, um... accredited by Ofqual) that they are likely legit. The guys from EBMA seemed, again, legit as they list possible progression routes on their website.

If I was wrong and gave a bad recommendation out of overeagerness, I would like to apologize. I would like to add that I am not a paid shill.
However, I will likely do ONE course with them and will gladly tell about it as soon as I am finished.


Best regards,
Mac Juli

 

Maybe not all bad news: https://www.ebma.org.uk/university.html

Uni of Plymouth, Uni of East 'Angular' (note this is an MBA in Strategic Carbon Management, for anyone looking for obscure qualifications) and Uni of Bolton all accept (according to EBMA, anyway), Level 7 towards a top up MBA. ECU in Australia also accepts (again, according to EBMA) the EBMA Level 7 towards their MBA.

That final top up year might not be so cheap, and I don't know the reputation of the UK unis (ECU is fine, not top, but far from the worst) - but if there is transferrability, this could be a worthwhile path.

Note the dates listed for the BA from Uni of South Wales, so I don't know how out of date this listing is.

 

There is no University of "East Angular." It's a gross misspelling of "East Anglia," which no reputable site that deals with Universities should allow to mar its web-presence. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with U. of East Anglia. Definitely a glaring oversight at EBMA. They have some work to do.

I'm just completely out of patience with the time we've wasted on CLMS. I don't care who rubber-stamped their "Accreditation." Any outfit that dabbles in, or brokers degrees of Swiss Open University or its various East European or Latin American collaborators or cross-validators (I nearly wrote "cross-violators") has barred itself from serious consideration here.

Sorry, Mac. I know you're not a shill. And eagerness is often a good thing. I'm just peeved because we all fell on the idea and spent time on it - and WAY down the line I found the heavy lifting had all been done before. Much of it by me.

 

We have threads on this school too. Let's not go there twice. Suffice it to say that LSIB cannot award a British degree - nor does it have permission to teach degrees awarded by any British degree-granting school. Any degrees it will hook you up to have to be in another country. Never did discover which ones. Could be private schools in Guatemala, Latvia or Kazakhstan for all I know. I can remember a couple of real dandies that set up (unaccredited) in Latvia. One was from US, the other from Latin America. Not saying theyhad anything to do with LSIB, of course.

If that is indeed "the most legitimate-looking" of EMBA's listed offerings, please spare me the rest.

https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/entrepeneurship-certification.53066/#post-517367

 

Whoops! Let me walk that back a bit. LSIB could, of course, have articulation agreements with British Unis to get people into Top-up programs. If they did, I think they'd say so. So I'm thinking they don't -or maybe they once had such a deal, but don't now. I'm not going to lose any sleep over them.

 

LSIB site is a laugh, in some ways. Really forthcoming, too. From the FAQ:

WHO AWARDS THE DEGREES?
A University awards the degrees.

About a dozen degrees offered. Not ONE mention of a University name - anywhere. Yep - I'm back to thinking Latvia, Kazakhstan, Costa Rica etc. Or maybe a Swiss school that has/had connections in Eastern Europe and Latin America...

 

LOL

If only they said, "A legally recognized institution provides you with a self-accredited qualification that is recognized under Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognizes the human right to education."

 

Hello!


If it still interests someone: I have credible information from an insider, let's just call this insider DEEP THROAT, that the University of Chichester is involved with LSIB. I consider this to be credible as they do this a lot.


Best regards,
Mac Juli