Northcentral University PhD (Should I do a Master's first)?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by JurassicVagabond, Jul 4, 2006.

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  1. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Northcentral University PhD (Should I do a Master's first)?

    UNISA has a lot of graduates working as full time faculty around the world. A PhD from UNISA is respected.

    NCU is a small for-profit school that has been in business for little time.

    There is no indication that NCU has a bad reputation. However, there is little evidence of full time faculty using a NCU degree compared with UNISA.

    I posted once a list of UNISA PhDs working in the US. There was a case of a UNISA PhD working as full time faculty at Wharton business school.
     
    RFValve, Jul 7, 2006
    #21
  2. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Northcentral University PhD (Should I do a Master's first)?

    UNISA has a good international reputation, especially in Britain and around the former British colonies, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Its Royal Charter comes from he same authority as many world class universities across the Commonwealth.

    Besides the pomp, it is a heavily research-oriented. This is something that NCU is not and probably one of the reasons why PhD's from NCU do not get full faculty positions at B&M universities in the US.
     
    Scott Henley, Jul 7, 2006
    #22
  3. Michael Nunn

    Michael Nunn New Member

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Northcentral University PhD (Should I do a Master's first)?

    Names of schools aside, a DBA is still more recognized than a DM and much more prestigious than any doctorate in education.
    If the name of the school is all that matters to you, then UMUC might just work but I would prefer Nova's DBA degree in a heatbeat if I had the cash.
     
    Michael Nunn, Jul 8, 2006
    #23
  4. Michael Nunn

    Michael Nunn New Member

    Re: Re: Re: Northcentral University PhD (Should I do a Master's first)?

    I see plenty of grads from Argosy teaching at several community colleges in Texas. I think that the fact that they are still not known as a 100% distance learning institutions helps.
     
    Michael Nunn, Jul 8, 2006
    #24
  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Names of schools aside, a DBA is still more recognized than a DM and much more prestigious than any doctorate in education.

    Doctorates in business are used in academia and consulting. Either way, I really doubt that anyone will be able to figure out what a "Doctor of Business Administraton" is but not a "Doctor of Management".

    As far as the relative prestige of disciplines, I find that more people respect educators than capitalists these days (not that they necessarily should). If you mean that a business doctorate is more lucrative than one in education, or more useful in the business world, well then in general I agree.

    If the name of the school is all that matters to you, then UMUC might just work but I would prefer Nova's DBA degree in a heatbeat if I had the cash.

    Fair enough, either's okay.

    -=Steve=-
     
    SteveFoerster, Jul 8, 2006
    #25
  6. JoAnnP38

    JoAnnP38 Member

    I didn't think it was that cheap. Regardless it is supposed to be a good program if you believe in the MBA thing.
     
    JoAnnP38, Jul 8, 2006
    #26
  7. JurassicVagabond

    JurassicVagabond New Member

    Thanks again, everybody. UNISA was always an option for me but it just seemed as if (from what I had heard) getting responses and good customer service would be difficult. I appeared to be extremely affordable and I also considered it attractive because an employee with the company I work with had a PhD from UNISA and our company, as we normally do for individuals that have graduated from foreign schools, requested a transcript evaluation from WES (foreign credential evaluators) and I can recall discovering that a PhD from UNISA was considered an equivalent to a PhD from a regionally accredited institution in the United States. So I guess it leads me to ask... what does anybody know about their customer service? (And it does look as though they have far more options (disciplines) for a PhD than NCU).
     
    JurassicVagabond, Jul 9, 2006
    #27
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Now you're talkin'!

    Thanks again, everybody. UNISA was always an option for me but it just seemed as if (from what I had heard) getting responses and good customer service would be difficult. I appeared to be extremely affordable and I also considered it attractive because an employee with the company I work with had a PhD from UNISA and our company, as we normally do for individuals that have graduated from foreign schools, requested a transcript evaluation from WES (foreign credential evaluators) and I can recall discovering that a PhD from UNISA was considered an equivalent to a PhD from a regionally accredited institution in the United States. So I guess it leads me to ask... what does anybody know about their customer service?

    I'm considering their Doctor of Education program myself. It may interest you to know that Unisa has an agent in Canada who helps students there and in the U.S. Consider going to http://www.iaci-canada.com and filling out the online form. Dr. Michael Esselen would respond and he's very helpful.

    (And it does look as though they have far more options (disciplines) for a PhD than NCU).

    Unsurprising, since they're one of the largest universities in the world. Search for some past threads, there have been a number of people who have had really positive experiences with them. Brad Sweet wrote a particularly helpful piece on his Unisa DEd experience in the middle of this thread. (He completed the program so he knows it from start to end.)

    -=Steve=-
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 9, 2006
    SteveFoerster, Jul 9, 2006
    #28
  9. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    UNISA's North American agent, Dr. Esselen, seemed very helpful in my discussions with him:

    http://www.iaci-canada.com/

    By the way, did you consider Touro?

    http://www.tourou.edu

    I'm working on my dissertation there.

    Dave
     
    Dave Wagner, Jul 9, 2006
    #29
  10. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    Re: Now you're talkin'!

    Good point. UNISA is a very old and well-established academic institution, so comparing it to any of the for profit and online schools in North American is untenable. My only concern about any of the foreign schools is acceptability for employment, which is the whole point earning the doctorate (i.e., union card); there are many valuable learning experiences available overseas but who wants to explain why they went overseas to get what is obtainable in the States?

    Dave
     
    Dave Wagner, Jul 9, 2006
    #30
  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Re: Re: Now you're talkin'!

    Perhaps. In my case, I'm interested in the intersection of international education and development studies, so a well-regarded institution in South Africa would make perfect sense. But even those who don't have that explanation could simply, truthfully say that they needed a distance learning option and the most reputable ones are overseas.

    -=Steve=-
     
    SteveFoerster, Jul 9, 2006
    #31
  12. Michael Nunn

    Michael Nunn New Member

    The education discipline is not that well respected by many educators in other disciplines, and this is no secret. Many people think that education degrees are easy and are a place of last resort for people who can't get into more competitive disciplines. I know that this is not always true - and I'm sure there are some excellent PhDs in education - but my point is that not everyone thinks too highly of education degrees.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 10, 2006
    Michael Nunn, Jul 10, 2006
    #32
  13. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Re: Now you're talkin'!

    I must say that is not easy to justify a South African degree. If one had a degree from an European University, it wouldn't raise many eye browes as many american go to continue their studies in Europe.

    However, not many American students are going to South African to continue with their studies.

    The best way is just to honestly say that the school provided the best option via DL that was available at the moment for the chosen field of study.

    At the moment, not all the fields of study are available DL in the US so perhaps this is the best strategy to justify a UNISA degree.
     
    RFValve, Jul 10, 2006
    #33
  14. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Oh, okay, I see what you mean -- and I can't argue with you. Hopefully I can be an exception to the rule. :)

    -=Steve=-
     
    SteveFoerster, Jul 10, 2006
    #34
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