New Canadian online University

I agree. Going to Athabasca requires far less explanation. I suppose at the end of the day, that's really all that counts, isn't it? It's not the quality of the program, the excellence of the delivery, or the professionalism of the service - it's name recognition. You pay more to go to the school with the most recognized name, because these are the ones employers are less apt to question. That doesn't really sound to me like it's any indication that you'll get a more well-rounded education. It just means that you'll be deeper in debt and more in need of that good-paying job after you graduate.

I'm glad to see that public schools are realizing the potential and the NEED for online learning. However, to be honest, I'm still dismayed that after all these years they still are not offering a better selection of programs online in Canada. Most of the online offerings provided by the public schools on the CVU website are only certificate and diploma programs. I'm also curious as to why the CVU website isn't listing programs from other online schools (like Royal Roads University, for instance), in addition to Athabasca. Seems rather one-sided, doesn't it?

 

Yes and no. Most of the online for profit schools use "rented faculty" with prestigious degrees that can look good on a catalog. However, most of these faculty members are moonlighters that just work for few thousand here and there. The reality is that these faculty members are not going to put the same work and effort to a part-time on the side job than a full time job that pays 100K with benefits.
In paper, the online school looks as good as its faculty rooster is full of people with fancy degrees but in practice most of these faculty members wouldn't put the time to make a quality program for the few thousand they get.

The abuse of online adjuncts in online for profits makes them less credible in my opinion. I think you cannot compare a solid institution with full time committed people to an online for profit that runs with rented faculty just to look good on a catalog.

Don;t be fooled by the show of the "star" faculty that many online schools use.

 

If I'm reading that chart correctly, the Lansbridge graduates entered the program earning $95,000 and exited earning $120,000. Those numbers are close enough that they could reflect a single graduate who needed an MBA before he or she could be promoted, earned the MBA, and received a promotion and pay raise. It would be nice to know more about the methodology that was used.

 

The lansbridge MBA is not exactly cheap. The program costs more than 20K

http://www.lansbridge.edu/programs_mba_breakdown.php

My MBA at McGill cost me about half of that price. I know that some Canadian online MBA programs are expensive but 20K for a program that cannot be used in one province in Canada and that is only DETC accredited seems pretty expensive to me.

I would think that the main market for this MBA is non Canadian students given its price and poor recognition in Canada.

 

Professors have their own individual reasons for wanting to give online teaching a try. If they are pleased with the process, they will stick with it and put in the effort to do a good job. Many of them even find the experience preferable to teaching in class and continue doing it for years. The best ones often even manage to parlay the job into a full Dean position with the school.

However, if they aren't carrying their weight, the students are quick to vocalize their complaints to administration, even in mid-semester. The university is then legally able to take whatever action is deemed necessary to address the problem, including replacing them with another professor if necessary.

The private university is focused on the satisfaction of its students. They don't keep faculty who aren't interested in sharing that focus. In this environment, there are no unions for bad professors to fall back on if they want to keep their job. The school is under no obligation to keep poor instructors on staff simply because of seniority.

The fact that tenure doesn't exist in the private university system doesn't mean that professors aren't provided full creative control over their classes and authority to issue grades as they deem valid. They are. It simply means that they don't have that cushion to float from class to class without investing themselves in their lessons, like they have in the public schools.

 

This is precisely why it's so important to weigh all of your options when choosing the school that's right for you. If you're in a position to be able to sit in a classroom and find the idea of a public university setting appealing, then why bother with an online school in the first place? Find a public school that fits your needs financially and academically and stick with it. You'll be happier in the long run, I would think.

However, if you're not in a position to be able to attend a traditional university setting for whatever reason, then online learning should be an accepted, viable alternative (either from a responsible, accredited private school or a public school invested in the time and effort of properly teaching online). After nearly a decade, I'm still not seeing Canadian public universities fully embracing this idea. They still seem too focused on the notion that private schools are stealing something away from them, leaving us with very few "acceptable" online alternatives (e.g. Athabasca). I know that I would rather have more choices to pick from when it comes to online learning schools in this country, not less.

Oh - and you're probably spot on with that observation about the Lansbridge MBA targeting more American students. It does seem that way with their DETC accreditation and all. I think that has more to do with the fact that Canadian accreditation is province-based, rather than nationally recognized like in the States. It's probably easier for their degree to be universally recognized in the States by virtue of their DETC accreditation. In Canada, there's still plenty of resistance coming from public universities and those agencies sympathetic to them.

Seeing as how public schools have done little in the past nine years to actually investigate the merit (or lack thereof) of the private online learning model, it makes me wonder where this prejudice against these private schools really comes from. It's not like there are two different standards of accreditation in New Brunswick or anything. The programs are similarly constructed and taught by experienced, qualified professors. Far as I can tell, the only real difference is in the delivery method. Given that the New Brunswick government is making sure that these schools obey the same regulations as public universities, I would think that schools like UNB should be happy to know that there's a service out there providing an education for a whole market of people who are unable to attend their campus. A better educated province is in everyone's best interest, after all.

 

You know, I think I actually know who that MBA graduate might be. Not kidding, the numbers match up correctly. The stat is probably based on this one graduate (a senior administrator at a Canadian community college).

 

University of Fredericton Canada

Hi Guys,
This is my first post, and any help is appreciated. I am scheduled to start my first class with The University of Fredericton on Monday but I have not paid my tuition yet! I found this site last night when I wanted to do some homework to make sure I am making the right decision. The course is 100% online and that is what I am looking for, also they accepted me with an AS degree from a NY college with some profisional certificates like PMP, and 5 years of senior management experience. Should I go for it?

Thanks for your help,

 

Tell us more - what are you taking and what kind of degree are you completing? How much are you paying? What are you future plans?

 

University of Fredericton

I am applying for an MBA in Leadership it is 14 courses plus any foundation courses that they deem necessary, as Micro and Macro, and some math courses, which I have already. So to me it is a total of 14 courses for $14K canadian i live and work in Toronto .
The plan is to use it in my work advancement, I have technical experience but very little business experience for working in the field for 10 years” in telecommunications” before moving into Business operations for the last 5 years. Actually my company management are the ones that recommended this school! Do you know any thing about University of Fredericton in New Brunswick?


Thanks for your reply,

 

The University of Fredericton (UoF) is chartered in NB but it is not a member of the AUCC. This being said, the U of F is not exactly a prestigious school by any means but legal.

The MBA market is quite saturated specially in the Toronto area. If you are planning to use this MBA for self improvement or self employment, I would say go for it as for this you wouldn't care about the name of the school but only the content of the program.

If you want something that employers can recognize for better employment opportunities, I would invest more money and go for a more recognized MBA. You have some good online MBAs in Canada, few worth looking at are:

Athabasca University
Queens University
University of Laval
Royal Roads
Laurentian University


Please bear in mind that a better MBA is not going to cost you 14K, you are looking at 30 to 50K for a recognized degree. However, as explained, the Toronto market is not easy, I have few friends with UoT MBAs that are not having an easy time in TO so I would think that UoF wouldn't cut it for positions where a recognized MBA is required.

 

University of Fredericton MBA

Thanks for your help. As I stated before I am using this degree for personal improvement, but I would like to be able to use it in the future if needed. To be honest in my type of work experience means everything, and as long as the school is legal I don’t care about its prestige! I don’t have 30K-50K to spend and even if I did I will be in competition with other schools that cost 70K-90K in Toronto! To me if I don’t take this one I will probably not take anything. The real question is:” is an MBA from U of F better than none?”

Thanks for your help, and I guess I am starting on Monday, wish me luck!

 

It is better than nothing in my opinion, however, there are more cost effective options for those that cannot afford a better MBA. The CMC designation (Certified Management Consultant) can be earned for less than 14K and it is accepted as equivalent to an MBA for most employers. The CMC can be earned by self study as well. You have also other less prestigious management designations such as P.Mgr that might be worth looking at.

 

The University of Fredericton is not the same institution as the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton. From the web site of the University of Fredericton, " The University of Fredericton is a fully designated degree-granting university offering MBA and EMBA Programs under Section 3 of the Degree Granting Act of the Province of New Brunswick in Canada." [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]From the Government of New Brunswick, "The Degree Granting Act permits private businesses to offer university degrees, but only when they have been officially designated under the Act to offer the degree(s)." As you will note this section of the Act covers private businesses not traditional publicly-funded universities and colleges in New Brunswick.[/FONT]

 

If the management of your company are willing to at least partially reimburse you for the cost of the degree, you have nothing to loose especially if the degree will be recognized within the firm for purposes of promotion. On the other hand, those same managers might have merely read an advertisement for the University of Fredericton in a magazine.

 

This is a tough question. I think it's possible that an "unaccredited" MBA might actually hurt someone more than help.

I once received a CV on my desk from an applicant with an undergraduate and MBA degree from two well-recognised and prestigious Canadian universities. However.... his Ph.D. was from a degree-mill down in the United States. I disqualified him right there for his stupidity and the CV went into the shredder.

Had he not put the Ph.D. on his CV, he was the perfect candidate for the job. Remember, you don't want to decorate you cake with mud.

 

Technically speaking, having provincial charter would not make an institution accredited in Canada according to AUCC. Please see the statement below:


"Canada has no formal system of institutional accreditation. Membership in AUCC held in conjunction with a provincial charter may be accepted in lieu of institutional accreditation. AUCC members are invited to reaffirm their adherence to the criteria for membership in the association every five years commencing in 2005."


http://www.aucc.ca/

UoF might be the US equivalent of state licensed. This means that their degrees are legal but you might have problems using it for PhD admissions at other accredited institutions. In addition, you might have problems getting accepted for designations such as P.Mgr and CMA.

 

University of Fredericton accredited or not??

Hi Scott, and thanks all for your reply.
I didn't ask if an unaccredited degree is better than none, I asked if an MBA from University of Fredericton is better than none. " The University of Fredericton is a fully designated degree-granting university offering MBA and EMBA Programs under Section 3 of the Degree Granting Act of the Province of New Brunswick in Canada. Can you please let me know if that is the same as un accredited?

 

See my previous posting,the degree would be legal but not accredited in the sense that you cannot guarantee that will be accepted by all the Universities in Canada and professional associations. If you are planning to use it for a PhD, contact your prospect University and ask them if this schools would meet their admissions criteria. You can also contact CMA Ontario and ask for their opinion.

It is a bit of a gray area when it comes to accreditation in Canada, the province might charter the school but if it is not member of the AUCC, a member University might refuse it for admission for a higher degree.

 

P.mgr

Thanks for your reply it was the most helpful. I looked as you suggested at the P.mgr Website and I can apply with more than one criteria by the time I get my MBA" a couple of years of more experience" do you think that would help on the resume, and add more value to the U of F MBA? I also have a PMP and more than 5 years of PM experience.
I will contact The Canadian Institute of Management to check if they accept the MBA from U of F.

Sorry for posting too many questions, and thanks for your help again!!