MBA-Regenesys Business School (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by sessue, Oct 16, 2013.

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  1. sessue

    sessue New Member

  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  3. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    The Regenesys home page advertises that the school is a "Member of the AACSB", which is one of the most prestigious global business school accreditation agencies. There is another reference to AACSB membership on the Regenesys "Accreditation, Registration and Membership Status" page.

    According to AACSB, it is true that Regenesys is an AACSB member. However, there's a catch. Almost any business school can qualify for "membership" in AACSB, so this doesn't really mean anything. What counts is "accreditation" by AACSB -- and Regenesys doesn't have that. As AACSB states:

    A Regenesys MBA degree may be perfectly valid in South Africa, and if so, it should be accepted in other countries as well. But a Regenesys MBA will not have AACSB accreditation, despite the repeated references to AACSB at the Regenesys website.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 17, 2013
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    The school appears to be accredited by the CHE (Committee on Higher Education) in South Africa - at least on this page: List of business schools in South Africa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Regenesys doesn't have a .ac domain, but that doesn't scare me. Some known good business schools in ZA like Mancosa don't have them either.

    I've seen that trick - fronting AACSB membership to impress unwary people who might not know it's not accreditation. That trick belongs mainly to Euro-schools of the lesser variety. The typical school that does this is a low-order Swiss Cantonal school, offering legal but less-than-mainstream degrees. It doesn't speak well for this school, to try something like that. There's also the "iffy" mention of free education. You can get free lectures and e-books and whatnot - but unless you pay to write assignments and exams, you'll get no credit.

    The actual price is $13,000 +. For that, you can get an iron-clad MBA by distance from a "real" school in several countries - including a couple of actual AACSB ACCREDITED schools in the US!

    I can't think of even ONE good reason to go to this school, with the other choices out there.

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 18, 2013
  5. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    There are so many other DL MBA programs around, even in SA. Why would you go with this questionable entity?
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It has all the right approvals. It may be reasonable to question why this school, but I don't think the school is questionable, if you take my meaning.
     
  7. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    PMR.africa conducts an annual survey of hundreds of HR directors and managers in South Africa about their perceptions of South African business schools. They generate a score for each school based on the survey results.

    The 2013 survey covered a total of 18 programs, including Regenesys. Based on their scoring, Regenesys ranked 13th of 18.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 18, 2013
  8. rsteenberg

    rsteenberg New Member

    Regenesys is fully accredited and not a questionable institution in any way. Annually it graduates more than 2400 people in programmes ranging from BBA, Postgraduate Diploma, MBA, Masters in Public Administration through distance and contact learning modes. It is fully accredited to award distance learning and contact learning MBA degrees. In total it has educated more than 70,000 students in South Africa and have graduated about 600 MBA's. It is a full fledged private higher education institution, accredited with Council for Higher Education in SA (CHE) and has been in operation since 1999. It has a large faculty and administration and as its main campus in South Africa and representative offices in other countries. It is also ISO accredited and has students from 135 countries. As a relatively new institution it only recently started participating in ratings and AACSB membership. AACSB accreditation takes some time.
     
  9. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I'm not questioning the institution's degree-granting authority. I'm questioning:

    (1) The relatively high price, for South Africa. An AACSB-accredited MBA can be earned in the US by distance, for less.
    (2) The marketing practices. "Free" education - as long as you don't want credit. The possibly misleading re-emphasis on AACSB membership, under the "Accreditation" rubric.

    That's wrong! ISO certifies, it does not accredit. It has no such academic authority. What are ISO's standards for a business school, anyway? I have seen degree mills with ISO certification - and I can supply the names! And before you start in on me, I am not suggesting that Regenesys is a degree mill - because it plainly isn't. On that, we're agreed.

    What I am suggesting is that -- if ISO lets you write the standards - and you are seen to adhere to them, your organization can be ISO-certified. And again, that is NOT academic accreditation of any kind, no matter how strict (or lax) the standards.

    And has the school applied for AACSB accreditation of its programs yet? :smile:

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 18, 2013
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    BTW -

    Rsteenberg - are you a Regenesys grad -- or do you possibly work there? Just wondering. :smile:

    Johann
     
  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Rsteenberg - Sandton (Johannesburg)
    Regenesys - also in beautiful upscale Sandton. Coincidence? :smile:

    Johann
     
  12. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    We've seen this before (maybe with Azteca?) where a school is "accredited" in it's country of operation but it is only authorized to offer certain degrees. So they go ahead and offer unauthorized degrees all the while saying "We're an authorized degree granting institution." Maybe authorized to offer degrees through the Masters level but not the Doctoral level? That's my point. rsteenberg has said these MBAs are accredited (or whatever term is most suitable) but I've seen no evidence. I would want to see something off of the South African government's Department of Higher Education website validating this. If this can be produced then I'll admit my error (I've gotten good at that in recent years) but until I get that verifification I'm going to go by the evidence that I produced in my first post. I don't care about the money. If someone wants to throw their money away (with the irony being it's a Business degree) then I'm not going to stand in their way. rsteenberger, where's your evidence?
     
  13. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    The South Africa Council of Higher Education (CHE) has posted an "updated list of all accredited MBA programmes in South Africa."
    It includes Regenesys.
     
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I think we saw that particular shenanigan big-time with UNEM (Universidad Nacional de Empresas) in Costa Rica. Azteca is a whole other bag of tricks. Private university, non-mainstream standing of degrees, "validation" scheme for about 17 other schools, some definitely on the shady side.

    Anyway - none of that with Regenesys. CalDog, Steve and I have all agreed it has proper degree-granting cred for MBAs - and CalDog's reference to CHE proves it. My objections are not connected with that. It's a business school. My objections are mostly about money. Doesn't look like a good business decision to me, in light of available alternatives.

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2013
  15. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    OK, so I was wrong. I apologize. Not enough homework by me. But as I said in my lasy post. If someone wants to pay $100.00 for a hamburger when they might cross the street and pay a fraction of that then I don't really care. If the poster is a shill it will become clear soon enough.
     
  16. sessue

    sessue New Member

     
  17. sessue

    sessue New Member

    Many countries have their own MBA. AACSB accreditation is not everything.
     
  18. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    True. However, for many of those aspiring to an MBA, especially over here, the programmatic accreditation is a deciding factor -- and AACSB is at the forefront here, and well-regarded abroad. European schools tend to have all or part of the "triple crown" - EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB. There are other well-liked programmatic accreditors too, e.g. ACBSP.

    My gripe is not that Regenesys programs are not AACSB-accredited. What I don't like is the impression given that AACSB membership denotes accreditation, in any way. Schools of 'way lesser calibre than Regenesys often consciously try to pass of their AACSB memberships as being equivalent to the Holy Water of accreditation. It isn't and they shouldn't. As I see it, Regenesys should be more up-front and descriptive of the difference than they are.

    As I've said elsewhere, I think either Milpark or Mancosa would be a better choice -- less expensive and higher-ranked. They're both good enough not to have to rely on puffery of any sort.

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2013
  19. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I disagree. Canada is an OECD country - and prices are much higher here. There are a lot of OECD countries -different economies. South African distance ed. is known to be a bargain, partly due to depressed currency.

    Regenesys' cost is considerably above what I'd expect for South Africa. Many good schools are cheaper. As I said, one can even get an AACSB accredited distance MBA for less in the USA.

    I think if you do some more research, you'll find I'm right.

    Johann

    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2013
  20. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Duplicate post - sorry.
     
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