link for Canadian and US students of UNISA

The Centre for Labour Market Studies of the University of Leicester also has DETC accreditation. Their decision to maintain it will rest largely on the accreditation's utility to U.S.-based students.

It will be interesting to see if the DETC will begin including in its accreditation doctoral programs offered by foreign schools it accredits (like UNISA and the CLMS).

The CLMS is actively marketing to US students now, and has a website up for them.

My interaction with Dr. Esselen a few years ago was very pleasant and helpful. Anyone in the US or Canada contemplating enrolling in UNISA would do well to check with him.

 

Three other things:

The DBL brochure refers to a waiting list currently at two years. Perhaps that is to set expectations so the real wait of several months may not seem so bad? But people should be aware of this.

Second, I see where three "compulsary" colloquia are part of the program, with attendance at others highly recommended. Does anyone know if this involves three trips to SA? Are colloquia held elsewhere? Given that attendance at the 4 colloquia held annually is "strongly recommended," will the DBL candidate face traveling to SA many more times?

Finally, the cost for tuition in 2008 is R12.500 per year, or about US$1,900. Even including the anticipated travel, this seems to be a bargain. (CLMS doctoral students pay about US$7,000 per year for four years--which includes all books and materials--but they don't have to travel to the UK at all. The Australian schools like Charles Sturt are also bargain opportunities, if they don't require travel.)

 

After looking over the CLMS site I think the drawback is the limited scope(from a major disciplines perspective). Many of the Australian and SA schools provide a greater breadth of disciplines one can choose from.

 

I'm not sure how this is a drawback. The CLMS is one school of Leicester, so it's programs would, naturally, be narrower in scope than those offered by an entire university.

After one chooses a degree program to pursue, it doesn't matter much what others the school has--you're only going to do the one.

The University of Leicester, by the way, has many more programs available by DL outside the CLMS.

But, yes, the CLMS is narrow in focus--the programs are for HRD/HRM and related disciplines.