New MBA offerer in Barcelona, collaborates with English universities

This particular guy is a priest-monk; I think his clothes will disqualify him for selling used cars before anything else. I was mostly wondering about the convoluted degree source.

 

I realized that you were. But who would car-buyers trust MORE than a priest? Think about it. "All models are safety inspected, reconditioned ....and BLESSED!"
Just a suggestion. Something to tide him over if the holder is ever ...between parishes, or whatever clerics would call it.

 

You may include Buy one, get one free offer too

 

Theoretically, this does not matter. Some admin role at St. Gregory probably doesn't pay much; they got to be quite small. OTOH though, the guy with that doctorate is a professed monk - and shouldn't need much beyond basic sustenance. This is purely theoretical of course - I'm pretty sure Bp. Viktor, for one, is living comfortably - but theory is there.

I'm starting to think Fr. Andrew has it made. He runs his school as he thinks fit, with plausible claim to legitimacy - but not much day-to-day accountability. Good to be in a niche. Even his parish found a great niche - they are St. Spyridon Russian Orthodox Church in union with the Old Rome. This kind of naming is typical for parishes of the Russian Catholic Church, a teeny tiny structure (nevertheless, fully canonical) without its own Bishop. I mean, technically he should be subject to a local Roman Catholic bishop - but not part of his diocese. Brilliant. One of the hardest things about being an Orthodox or a Catholic priest is the duty of obedience to the Bishop (Bishops are far from infallible, and can be quite bad bosses if you are unlucky. Ask me what I think of the Acting Bishop of Toronto at UOCC). So if you can be fully canonical, but do not attract attention of His Grace who's nominally your head and father - mmmm, awesome! (Many would say that by switching from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to the Catholics, Fr. Andrew left the True Church. I no longer think that). My closest Ukrainian Catholic parish (in San Antonio) - is in a similar enviable position - they are under Ukrainian Greek Eparchy of Chicago. Best place in any army or a church is the farthest from the commanders.

 

Love it! How true! I think that would work in large corporations, too!

 

Stanislav, it seems I am quite behind on St. Gregory's! At one point, they were affiliated with Guatemala Rural University and then, last I heard, had switched to some potentially questionable institute in Serbia. When did they change affiliations (yet again) to this Avgystyn Voloshyn Carpathian University? And does AVCU have some kind of website? From a brief search, all I'm turning up is St. Gregory's own webpages.

The Puerto Rico parish transfer experiment was applauded globally by many, including a handful of Orthodox that wished the community well. Has there been any recent news? How are they doing? Did the majority of the formerly Orthodox parishioners stick around?

As for the other jurisdictional matters, it sounds like you probably have quite a few stories. Would be great to chat at some point to swap tales.

 

It's weird; AVCU actually has a rather robust website. Here: www.kau.com.ua .
As I said, it is a personal project of Viktor Bed'. His list of feats reads like John Kersey-style fiction: he is a private lawyer turned businessman, journalist, politician (one time Member of Parliament), and finally educator and clergyman. Unlike someone like Kersey, this guy brings receipts: he was really in Parliament, and at least some of his academic degrees are official ones. There are people (some prominent, like dn. Andrei Kuraev of Russia) who intensely dislike him and his Academy; accusation is that it's a place a priest can get his doctorate with little hassle (so functionally, a mill). It is very small, with staff possibly outnumbering students. However, all documents are in order: the University and the Academy are both listed by MOE, they admit students, and graduate them (if only a handful). They even publish a scholarly journal. Viktor Bed' started his clerical career with the Russia-affiliated branch of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. He even held official posts in that jurisdiction's theological education system. This was under Met. Volodymyr (Sabodan), who was a live-and-let-live hierarch. This explains how not very pro-Russian folks (like Bed', a former nationalist politician from the Western part) survived and thrived under him (along with very pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian types). At some point, Bed' divorced and traveled to Greece to become a monk and get a priest-monk rank (Archimandrite). (I don't know why Greece; UOC-MP had and still has its own monasteries). As is his habit, he shows a letter from Met. Volodymyr permitting him to do that. Shortly after, the Metropolitan sadly died; new guard turned sharply to strict "Russian World" stance. When the new regime tried to fire Archimandrite Bed' from his post at the Academy, he responded that, secularly, he's that institution's founder and head; moreover, he's still technically under Church of Greece - so UOC-MP don't have jurisdiction to discipline him. He then switched allegiance to one of the independent churches, namely UAOC - and got ordained Bishop. Shortly after, Ecumenical Patriarchate "forgave" the hierarchy of UAOC and UOC-KP, took all of them in, and allowed them to form the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine (Moscow-affiliated bishops were also invited, but only two joined the new structure). So, bottom line, Viktor Bed' is officially His Grace, Bishop of Mukacheve and Carpathia; he also has a government-approved Professor title and doctorates in Theology and Law.

As for St. Gregory's, it seems to still be affiliated with Nikola Tesla University in Serbia. However, that school seems completely secular private institution with emphasis in Construction Engineering. So them may be using it for secular degrees, and AVCU for religious programs. Just speculation.

No idea. The website seems reasonably up to date.

Yeah... Not a pleasant story. I had the misfortune to get myself into my Parish Council. We were crushed by the old guard; I still wonder what kind of accusations are there in that "secret" letter they sent to everyone in a position of authority in the jurisdiction, and what they were whispering behind our backs. What they said to my face and publicly was bad enough. This is how I get to know Bishop Andrew of Craiteia (Acting Eastern Eparchy) a little better. Let's just say that I believe a coat hanger with an Omophorion and topped by mitre can replace this guy quite nicely. I tried to avoid him since then and till my move South.

 

Fascinating story about AVCU. Unfortunately, the website does not appear to work here, unless I use a VPN to connect directly to Ukraine.

To the best of your knowledge, do they offer any English-language programs? Or are offerings purely in Ukrainian? And if so, does that mean St. Gregory's is their own English-speaking arm?

And re:St. Gregory's, does that mean that AVCU and Nikola Tesla both issue diplomas when someone completes a degree program? That would be very interesting to learn more about.

----

To admins: it seems we're getting off-topic for this thread. Is there any way to request a merge of these posts to one of the St. Gregory's threads?

 

Edit of my previous post: It appears that AVCU can now be accessed without VPN-ing to/through Ukraine. Don't know what was up earlier, but it wouldn't load. Gotta love technology!

 

And the answer is... *drumfill* ... nothing. "Page not found. The page you were looking for could not be found. It might have been removed, renamed, or did not exist in the first place."

Thanks for coming. Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.

 

I don't know. I really doubt they have resources for full English-language programs. They may work individually with doctoral students, maybe.

Yes, that'll be interesting.

 

Sing along with me - the melody should be as in Edwin Starr's "WAR"!

VEER! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing...

 

LEEA is approved to offer programs at degree levels - but it does not itself appear to be a UK degree-granting institution. I can see how their their own MBA diploma can be equal to Level 7 (Master's degree) - but I can't see it being an actual British degree. I just don't know how LEEA itself could award a diploma that purports to be any kind of British degree and not contravene the Higher Education Act. For more money - 6500 pounds, they offer a "real" MBA - from Bucks New Uni. (The "New" school is 125 years old!) For less than that - you can get a US MBA that's AACSB-accredited, no less. @GregWatts - sorry, Greg, but in this instance I really think the Georgia degree trumps the UK one for value - from a US perspective. AsianStew (and many DI readers) live there. They have to go by US rules. YMMV -or not.

Their Doctorate comes from a Swiss Cantonal school - no Swiss Federation recognition, despite the EduQua accreditation, although there is nothing wrong with Eduqua itself. It just does not make the school recognized as a Swiss Federation-recognized school that can call itself a University. I know of NOTHING that can do that, for reasons that have been outlined time and time again. These Cantonal license-based degrees are problematic when it comes to US evaluation because of lower standing than Swiss University degrees and lack of any equivalent to institutional accreditation.

I'm against spending money on Swiss Cantonally-licensed schools unless:

(a) They have Triple Crown (Programmatic) Accreditation - EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB. IMD is the only Swiss Cantonal School I know of that has this. MBA there costs around $100K.

(b) Or - they have an iron-clad articulation/validation deal with a bona fide British Uni or one in another country that you know will get a good equivalency on your home turf. Such Cantonal schools do exist. I don't know if any are better bargains than direct dealing with a British school, though. I suspect not many are, simply because TWO schools have to make some money from the deal.

Right, Bryan - I'm out, too.

 

Hello!

I did not even get an answer from anyone after 22 days. I was never in, but nevertheless, I am out too.

Best regards,
Mac Juli

 

Hello!


If someone is interested in the fate of LEEA: https://www.udemy.com/course/global-mba-online/#instructor-1


Best regards,
Mac Juli

 

OTHM accredits classes and diplomas, not schools, they teach some business and technology subjects certifications in the UK you can use for credits onto a UK degree, but they cannot accredit degrees.

 

HAH just tried the websites for fun, all down or erroring-out. The Swiss school was interesting, when I typed the name into WES Canada, (I have an active application there) a big fat warning came up saying that school is not being evaluated at this time.

Another crummy "Swiss" school that was edgy at best, complete rubbish at worst. Even the website is kinda garbage from a design point of view. Very interesting. I'll add that to my no-go list