SMC Education claims to be a state recognised institution by itself in Malta now. Since Malta belongs to the EU the SMC degrees are fully recognised in the whole EU now. Been looking into the DBA program but more than 20k Euro is more than I'm willing to pay. https://smceducation.com/
Hello! Hopefully, they have evolved into something better since 2013 - then, I was there and it was simply bad. Best regards, Mac Juli
They seems to be a resilient bunch. For now at least, this seems to be a new school, separate from SMC University in Switzerland. DBA costs EUR21,500; not super-cheap but competitive I guess. Swiss school offers PhDs, seemingly jointly with Universidad Central de Nicaragua, for EUR14,500.
Universidad Central de Nicaragua's prices are pretty enticing for anyone looking at Doctoral studies for a low price. I seem to recall a UCN PhD program for about $8900 US. If UCN evaluates equivalent to a U.S. RA PhD, then that's an incredible steal.
Heck, yes. They claim to be active since 1985. I can remember that they had - among others - a cooperation with an university in Chile in the early 2010... but their university cooperations, except with UCN now, were quite short-lived.
Apparently, it's EUR 5500, which is about $6000. http://businessschooldirect.info/ I wonder how many people need "any doctorate to check the box". It is still too expensive for most people to get a degree just for personal satisfaction. The school probably has enough students, but it is a niche. Interestingly, UCN "European programmes" now advertises dual programs with that Polish school offering "DBA" program that I find questionable, and another dual program with a school in Slovakia offering "small doctorates" (a degree between Master's and regular doctorate, seems to be endemic to Czechia and Slovakia). This last one is interesting.
I agree, there is no point of having a PhD if you cannot use it. I think several people have reported some value for adjunct positions or resume booster. It is all relative, if I just need a check mark so I can make 2K per class as an adjunct, the NCU or SCM might work. I noticed few people with SCM doctoral qualifications working in Canada as adjuncts,. One has to be careful too, I noticed an incredible amount of growth in recent years with people with doctoral qualifications. Not just DL but any kind of doctoral qualification. The value of this qualification might not be so high anymore so maybe a better bet is a more specialized qualification if the ultimate goal is career advancement.
For personal satisfaction, many people I know just register in local qualifications for a generic PhD such as PhD in Independent Studies or similar qualification. In many countries, PhDs are tuition free so there is nothing to lose. What all these schools such as UCN, SCM, etc sell is convenience and time frames. People that I know that have completed local qualifications take more than 10 years to complete one part time while a lot these online schools give it to you in 3 years. So the value is really time savings. Rigor is relative because if I just need it to teach a basic Accounting 101 class, I really don't need it but it just acts as a resume booster. For this reason people see the 10K doctorate as an investment because the effort to get at a local school is just too much for the value in terms of time. This is a reason why many schools in Canada are starting to offer short residency and fast track versions of the PhD as DBAs, EdD, etc. Their market is the same as UCN or SCM, there is a need for this type of qualification that is not as demanding but enough to accomplish a goal.
Is there proof online of UCN's accreditation/official recognition in Nicaragua? I can't find it anywhere. I did check https://www.mined.gob.ni but I couldn't find anything there. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?
Hmm. I seem to recall that this was picked over here a while ago and the median conclusion was a grudging yes, but now I don't remember where we discussed that.
I believe it's this thread (page 1): https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/saera-spanish-university-offering-online-training-in-neuropsychology-other-subjects.57005/ But I'm from Missouri (not literally), so I always have to be shown more
The CNU (Consejo Nacional de Universidades) governs Higher Education in Nicaragua not the Ministry of Education. The Unversidad Central de Nicaragua is on this page of "Legally Established Universities" http://www.cnu.edu.ni/universidades-miembros-del-cnu/universidades-legalmente-establecidas/
Thanks for that. I really messed up. I saw the CNU but I don't remember the site so I must have gone to some kind of separate resource or something. Just so I understand, what does "legally established" equal to in relation to the American accreditation concept? I ask because I notice that there are a number of legally established universities, but only 10 member universities. Is this a situation of, "Legally Established Universities" = State Authorization, and "Legally Established CNU Member Universities" = Formally Accredited?
The concept "Legally Established" has no counterpart in the United States system of accreditation. There are no independent, formal accrediting bodies in Nicaragua. The "Legally Established Universities" operate under the Nicaraguan Higher Education Law which permits them to issue degrees that are recognized as being valid by the National Government. So, yes it is similar in that respect to State Authorization in a few of the United States. The Higher_Education_Law allows for the creation of additional universities beyond the 10 that were stated at the time of the law (Article 58, No. 7). Those are the 10 member schools listed by CNU. There is a framework in place to develop an accrediting body - Council on Evaluation and Accreditation, CNEA - but not much movement has happened on that front for many years.
I think I'm getting it now. Does this mean that the 10 member list doesn't denote a difference in recognition level from the the rest of the schools? And there is no higher level of recognition for schools in Nicaragua than being on the "Legally Established" lists?
Hey LearningAddict, As far as I know there is no difference in terms of recognition between the 10 "old" universities and the "new" universities. There is no higher level than being on the CNU lists. Even the CNU lists show the 10 "old" universities as "Legally Established CNU Member Universities / Members of the CNU" (in English). The page with the other schools has this title: "Legally Established Universities". To me there is essentially no difference other than the "membership" context. This kind of old document from WES talks about the distinction between the "old" and "new" universities: https://wenr.wes.org/2007/05/wenr-may-2007-nicaragua
Wow, thanks! Welp, it looks like UCN is off the hook. Always nice to see yet another legitimate, low cost option people can take advantage of.