This will be "for fun". How is the University of South Africa? I've heard reasonable things about them, and they're cheap. The other alternatives seem to be James Cook and Swinburne. Any comments or comparisons between any of these three programs? -Chris
Chris, In a nutshell, all three are affordable. The Swinburne program is a less-difficult terminal degree intended for serious amateurs. UNISA will require you to travel to an examination center for several, sometimes non-contiguous days out of a week once or twice per year; there are only six in the United States so depending on where you live you're looking at a week's hotel bills. If I understand the JCU program correctly, it is either entirely online or at most locally proctored. Both JCU and UNISA offer professional-grade research-oriented programs. Between the two, JCU is bound to have the simplest admissions process (not easy academically, just not an obtuse morass like UNISA's) and the least disruptive examination arrangements. Good luck and let the rest of us know how you do. Mark
Actually, I believe there are more examination centers in the US than that. You might be pointing to an old web page. See: http://www.unisa.ac.za/Default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=17068#usa In particular, there's an approved examination center about 10 minutes from where I live (San Diego). 9244-4 Anchorage, Alaska 9156-1 Austin, Texas 9252-5 Edmond, Oklahoma 9260-6 Emporia, Kansas 9250-9 Fresno, California 9262-2 Jackson, Mississippi 9246-0 Lawton, Oklahoma 9028-X Los Angeles 9261-4 Murfreesboro, Tennessee 9053-0 New York 9259-2 Norfolk, Virginia 9258-4 Normal, Illinois 9097-2 Oklahoma 9253-3 Orlando, Florida 9269-X Piscataway, New Jersey 9270-3 Reno, Nevada 9245-2 Salem, Oregon 9257-6 Salt Lake City, Utah 9247-9 San Bernardino, California 9249-5 San Diego, California 9255-X Victoria, Texas 9083-2 Washington -Chris
Lawyers Swinburne will take copies of transcripts that are certified by the following... "Certified photocopies are photocopies which are verified - signed and stamped with an official stamp - by a Minister of Religion, a Medical Doctor, a member of a Police Force, or a registered Pharmacist". http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/sao/ Notice that no lawyers or politicians are on the list.
How come no one ever talks about India? You would think that with a billion people and lot of computers, they would have some excellent online programs.
I read an article recently that answered this question by reporting that schools in India are for the most part legally required to only teach students in their region with a few institutional exceptions. I suppose if your market is constrained to a single region this might stunt the growth of DL.