Looking into UK distance MBAs

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by gravamen, May 8, 2007.

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  1. gravamen

    gravamen New Member

    More years ago than I care to remember I entered the MBA program at Vanderbilt University (where I attended classes in a former funeral home with none other than everyone’s favorite professor and distance learning expert, Andy Borchers). I completed the first year of the program but was encouraged by a couple of the faculty members to forego the second year and proceed directly to a doctoral program in Finance. I did so, completed the program, taught (undergrad, MBA and PhD students) and performed research at two AACSB accredited business schools. After teaching for a total of 12 years, I accepted a position with a large financial institution. I am now an officer with a Fortune 50 company.

    For the past several years I have been reconsidering my decision not to complete the MBA. More often than not, those thoughts arise after I have participated in a meeting in which I seemed to be the only participant who had not partaken of the “Kool-Aid.” At those times, I have two thoughts. First, I feel vindicated with respect to the concerns I held as a faculty member regarding the superficial nature of the MBA curriculum. Secondly, I can’t help but wonder if I might not benefit from an MBA as I seek a fuller appreciation of the “softer” (i.e., illogical) aspects of business and organizations. While I’m not convinced that I would benefit from the MBA, at the same time I doubt seriously that I would be harmed by it. At worst, I gain three more letters after my name and some new input to my own decision-making paradigm.

    With all of that as background (and with my wife’s encouragement), I set about looking for a completely distance MBA program. For reasons I’d rather not get into, I quickly decided to limit my choices to programs in Australia and the UK. After several weeks of research, I have reduced my choices to the distance MBA programs offered through/by Heriot-Watt, Leicester and Liverpool. Leicester is AMBA accredited. All three have Royal Charters. Both Heriot-Watt and Leicester involve self-paced independent study with proctored final examinations. Liverpool uses very short courses requiring interaction with students and faculty but no “testing.” Given what I hope to accomplish, I can see advantages to both approaches.

    Heriot-Watt and Leicester have similar costs. Liverpool costs more than twice as much as the other two; money is an issue but not a major issue. I have been accepted into Leicester and Liverpool and I am waiting to hear about exemptions/waivers from each. I can start Heriot-Watt today simply by purchasing a course but I would seek waivers from them as well.

    I would appreciate reading about the learning experiences of others in these programs as I try to choose between them.
     
  2. edowave

    edowave Active Member

    I was both a DL and on-campus student at Heriot-Watt. With a PhD in Finance, you will probably get a wavier for Finance (IMHO, the hardest course in the program) , and perhaps Economics. After going through the program, and being able to compare it to UF's MBA program (AACSB, #37 in USN&WR, etc) I can attest that the Heriot-Watt's MBA program is high quality.

    Another option you might want to consider is taking some/all of the Heriot-Watt courses as a part-time student. These are usually done over a long weekend in Edinburgh. You don't feel so out of touch with your fellow students and it gives you an excuse to fly to Edinburgh!
     
  3. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    Schools Rankings

    From a purely elitist perspective, I've always thought that getting a degree from the highest ranked (possible) university would be the way to go.

    None of the schools you mentioned were AACSB or EQUIS-accredited, however, as you mentioned, Leicester is AMBA-accredited. Everything else being equal, this is a big plus.

    http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityguide2008/0,,2027789,00.html

    From a UNIVERSITY RANKINGS perspective, EducationGuardian.co.uk ranks these universities as follows on an overall score:

    Leicester: 66.84/100
    Liverpool: 62.67/100
    Heriot-Watt: 59.97/100

    So, from an OVERALL perspective, Liverpool beats the other two.

    Now, let us take a look at the BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES RANKINGS:

    Leicester: 52.90/100
    Liverpool: 49.70/100
    Heriot-Watt: 47.40/100

    Again, Leicester beats the other two.

    So, combining the fact that Leicester is AMBA-accredited and outranks the other two schools on both OVERALL and BUSINESS rankings, I would say that Leicester is the way to go.

    Of course, this is just a quantitative perspective from the Guardian. There may be qualitative issues that need to be taken into consideration....



    Here is some more ranking information...

    The Times Good Universities Guide:

    http://www.thegooduniversityguide.org.uk/index.php

    OVERALL (out of 100 UK universities)

    Leicester: 24/100
    Heriot-Watt: 36/100
    Liverpool: 41/100

    So, again, it seems that Leicester OVERALL comes out on top (and does quite well!)

    Hope this helps!!!
     
  4. Yan

    Yan New Member

  5. preisma

    preisma New Member

    Liverpool MBA....

    Hi,

    I am currently in the dissertation stage of the Msc IT DL program at Liverpool and the one difference between other degree programs that I have been exposed to in the DL world in is the significant amount of interaction with a very diverse student body from all across the world. It is my understanding that the format/study style for the MBA is the same as for the Msc. If you are interested in lots of of interaction and looking for a very diverse student body Liverpool is potentially not a bad choice.

    Also if you are looking for higher end UK programs you may also want to consider Manchester University business school or Warwick University both of which are much higher ranked than the three programs you had mentioned in your post. Manchester is actually tripple accredited and shows up in most ranking before known high end schools.

    http://www.wbs.ac.uk/students/mba/learn/dl.cfm
    http://www.mbs-worldwide.ac.uk/default.asp

    Regards,

    Matthias

    BS Information Systems Management, University of San Francisco
    MS Information Systems, University of San Francisco
     
  6. morganplus8

    morganplus8 New Member

    Hi,

    I'm a graduate of the Liverpool MBA program and this degree has been very good for me in the past year, highly recognizable and readily acceptable in academics. I'm taking a couple of economics courses prior to enrolling in the UNISA DCOM program. The two highlights of the program are the intense interaction of the program and the dissertation at the end of the course load. I have a strong network of contacts all over the world because of this degree and that is one of those intangibles that follows you the rest of your life. Great program, best of luck,

    mp8
     
  7. tcmak

    tcmak New Member

  8. gravamen

    gravamen New Member

    Thanks!

    Many thanks for the replies and insights.

    I did look into Warwick, Manchester, Durham, Royal Holloway, etc. And I was intrigued by Open University. Warwick, Manchester, Durham and Royal Holloway all required (albeit brief) residencies and Open University witholds one of its required courses from North America.

    I did look into the CeFiMS/SOAS program. If I just wanted just an MBA credential, that six course program in Banking (which includes only courses I have taken or taught) certainly is where I would go but I'm truly more interested in the non-technical aspects of an MBA.

    If thre are other entirely distance UK MBA programs, please let me know about them.

    As I consider the three entirely distance programs I did find, I am somewhat amazed at their differences. Leicaster is presents the program in a set of integrated independent study modules. Heriot-Watt is independent study and completely free form. Liverpool actually has formal classes and required interactions. Each approach has its own appeal.

    As for credit for previous learning, I'm pretty sure I qualify for at two exemptions from Liverpool, Leicester and Heriot-Watt on the basis of prior academic credentials and because I hold a CPA designation. Heriot-Watt told me that they will consider an additional two courses for credit on the basis of prior MBA classes regardless of when the classes were taken. Of course, I have to pay Heriot-Watt about $800 to learn anything definite. The other two will provide me with a definite answer before I commit.

    Again, I appreciate the help. This is a surprisingly difficult decision.

    To Scott Henley: Normally, I do take an elitist perspective with respect to education, particularly my own and my children's. In this instance, I am not attempting to enhance my career prospects with an MBA. Rather, I hope to enhance one aspect of my job performance (and, perhaps, my job satisfaction) with the knowledge obtained. The credential is somewhat secondary (but I still want it). Nevertheless, your presentation is compelling. Thanks!
     
  9. novemberdude

    novemberdude New Member

    I may be mistaken but I believe that University of Wales offers a distance learning MBA with no residencies.
     
  10. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    There is also Henley Management College that offers a DL MBA. Henley has quite the international reputation, is AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA-accredited (the triple-crown) and is usually ranked in the Top 50 in Europe.
     
  11. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    University of Wales Bangor www.ifm.bangor.ac.uk offers distance learning two MBA programs, one for financial managers and one for engineering majors. BG15, 181.
     
  12. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    Question. Were the courses you are taking required to enter the UNISA DCOM or are you exploring an new interest?

    Dave
     
  13. Daniel Luechtefeld

    Daniel Luechtefeld New Member

    Going strictly by the Guardian's rankings, here....

    Two of the the three U. of London programs have been mentioned - Royal Holloway and SOAD. However, Imperial hasn't yet been mentioned, and of the three it's far and away the highest ranked:

    Guardian scores:

    Oxford 95.29
    Cambridge 91.92
    Imperial College 82.27
    St Andrews 79.30
    UCL 79.17
    London School of Economics 78.53
    Edinburgh 75.15
    ...
    Soas 71.55
    ...
    Liverpool 62.67
    Royal Holloway 62.42

    The Financial Times ranks Imperial at about the same level as U. of Washington, Arizona State, and Thunderbird - not elite, but very solid.

    http://rankings.ft.com/rankings/mba/rankings.html

    http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/prospective_students/postgraduate/imperial/mba/index.shtml
     
  14. tcmak

    tcmak New Member

    This one should be superseded by the programmes at Manchester Business School.

    (The URL no longer works too)
     
  15. Dave C.

    Dave C. New Member

    Scott, gravamen,

    I'm studying a DL MBA at Henley and even the International Stream offering requires one residency per academic year.

    All the best,

    Dave C.
     
  16. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    Dave, thanks for the info, I wasn't aware of the residency requirement. IMHO, I think residencies are a good thing for these type of programs, but may not meet the needs of some people.
     
  17. Dave C.

    Dave C. New Member


    Scott,

    I couldn't agree more. The weekend after next is my second residential of the year. As much as anything it's a great time to meet up with my cohort and enjoy a few well-earned dinners and beers...

    Do you know if your ancestors came from Henley-on-Thames? I'm not sure why but I have it in my head you are Canadian, and I can't be bothered to search the archives!

    Peace,

    Dave C.
     
  18. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

  19. morganplus8

    morganplus8 New Member

    RE: Dave Wagner's comment:

    Hi Dave,

    Sorry for the delay in responding to your query,

    I felt I needed some additional course background in economics/stats in order to advance my thesis. My work will relate to news media events and their effect on EMT or Efficient Market Theory as postulated by Eugene Fama in the 60's. I have a BA in Economics and my MBA but I felt this wasn't enough to prepare me for the statistical research ahead. For 25 years I have worked in the engineering field and not in the financial arena, this is a bit of a handicap but not that much. Prior to earning my engineering degree I prepared for and worked in the brokerage industry as a commodities and options specialist so I do have some background in investment finance. The courses I'm taking now are related to stats and finance so that I can refresh my knowledge base. UNISA haven't made any requests to date,.... I have provided them with a list of books that I'm reading at this time. I'm sure they will come up with something and that's fine with me as this is my last degree and time will not be an issue!

    Hope that answers your question!
     

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