SKEMA vs. SWISS MANAGEMENT CENTER Online Doctorate

Hi,

I am considering to do a Doctorate program either through SKEMA or SWISS MANAGEMENT CENTER (SMC).

My preference is SMC as it is 100% online, affordable and ACBSP Accredited. However, a friend of mine is recommending that I do my doctorate with SKEMA as it is AACSB accredited and I have been advised that AACSB accreditation is superior and stands high acceptance than ACBSP.

I need feedback from those who have completed their doctorate with either SKEMA or SMC as I am having a challenging time making a decision.

Thank you.

 

Between the two choices: SKEMA Business School skema business school - international school of global business and management - skema hands down IMO... :smokin:

 

The inability to make sufficient distinctions regarding this comparison points to a need to further develop your understanding of this field so you may make wise choices. The difference between these two is stark.

SMC, BTW, isn't recognized as a Swiss university. It seems legitimate, operates legally, and ASCBP accreditation is a good sign. But there might be concerns with the acceptability and utility of a degree earned there.

 

That's right - SMC is not Swiss Federation-recognized and that could cause you problems, as Rich says. One reason it's not: It's pretty well impossible to set up a distance school in Switzerland that does conform to Federation requirements, which include at least 100 full-time professors, buildings, research, etc.

I'm not saying SMC is a bad school; it's 100% legal; it has Cantonal permission. However, its degrees don't have the standing/recognition of mainstream Swiss degrees. I'm not suggesting that ACBSP would ever accredit a substandard program. I don't think that possibility exists. However, last I looked, SMC degrees had H- or "deficient" standing/recognition in Germany. Recognition of these degrees is in the eye of the beholder - and I know of no country that recognizes Swiss Cantonal approval on the same page as its own mainstream degrees. I'm pretty sure there's the risk in some areas that government recognition could be zero or close to it. Employer recognition could differ - or not.

ACBSP, of course, accredits programs, not entire schools. In the US they require a school to have RA accreditation for its business program(s) to be AACSB-accredited. Abroad, they need sufficient degree-granting status in the school's own country. Sufficient seems to mean legal - not necessarily mainstream. Lately, the organization has accredited programs as far afield as Mongolia and Kazakhstan -and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. As I said, the programs have to be good -and they're not accrediting schools. That said, the quality of Swiss Cantonal schools varies. At the low(est) end, there are a (very) few that fit under the degree mill designation, as I see it. SMC is decidedly not one of these. At the high end, there are schools like IMD, with "Triple Crown" program accreditation - AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS.

IMD is here: IMD business school, Switzerland Expensive - yes. ROI yes. Exclusive - very. The real deal.

SKEMA doesn't share any of that Cantonally-approved situation - it's not Swiss. 'Nuff said. I hope this helps.

J.

 

Wrong again, Johann! Really, at the very top end, there's only IMD. The one Canton-approved Swiss school I know of with "triple crown" programmatic imprimatur. Some other good ones, sure - but none I know of with the street-cred of IMD.

J.

 

Oops. True, but a typo. I meant "to be ACBSP accredited," as that was the org. under discussion. Sorry.

J.

 

Hi Johann,

I was told that in France, the title “doctorat” is protected by law and reserved to state universities. Private colleges may be able to award a credential that is at the same level as the “doctorat” if they go through a state process called homologation, which involves the assessment of their awards by the state, which then endorses the award officially. If they do not, their awards, often made in the English language or by using acronyms rather than the full title of an academic awards, will likely be legal but they will not be accredited. Their acceptance will be discretionary by authorities in the United States. Sure it is accredited, but it is a program accreditation only, and it is not from the country in which the school is based. It may mean theoretically that you could transfer credit from one AACSB school to another but in a doctoral program that would not be very likely regardless of accreditation. The problem is the lack of French state accreditation. It may or may not be accepted by different offices in the US.

As for the US doctorate degrees, I was told that the only degree that will “unlock all doors” in the US is the one from a US regionally accredited nonprofit university. Anything else, which is regionally accredited - has limitations as the institutions who get to decide the rules are not the for-profits, they are the state colleges and nonprofits. They have to move the market in their favor somehow and take anti-competitive measures. In saying this, my options are limited as nonprofit universities are campus based and I am not in a position to leave my job to do campus based doctoral degree.

The other option that remains is the UK doctoral programs. For the UK, there are handful of universities that do online/distance learning and those that do are rather pricey; for example, online DBA with University of Liverpool had a price tag of $60,000 to $80,000, which I can't afford as I have kids to send to college.

So if SKEMA and SMC have similar degree awarding issues, than I am better off with SMC as it is certainly way more affordable then SKEMA. In fact, SKEMA program requires that I travel to France occasionally, which is another added expense that I need to avoid.

 

Rich is right. And in contrast to SMC (ACBSP) and restricted to the OP’s two choices … SKEMA Business School being dual accredited (AACSB and EQUIS /EFMD http://www.skema.edu/skema/international-recognition—the accreditation aspect alone would reliably give SKEMA a higher acceptability and overall degree value to that of SMC in my estimation …

 

It'll likely take a while, but maybe something good will happen with SKEMA and North Carolina State U -unfortunately, not with doctorates, though. They're planning dual-degree programs in the US. SKEMA's NC campus is already in place, it seems. From the SKEMA site:

"The school has come to an agreement with NC State University Poole College of Management to work on a number of academic projects together, which include dual degree masters programmes, Bachelor degree and Executive programmes, student exchanges and internships, and joint faculty research. "

Nothing like that in the cards for SMC - that I know of, anyway. Neither school meets everyone's requirements in this discussion, but overall, I'd hazard a guess that a SKEMA degree might - for reasons outlined by Rich, Major56 and others (including me) - get better recognition than one from SMC. As noted, individual mileage may vary - a LOT - especially at the doctoral level, which is too, um... stratospheric for me. I'll leave that area to the experts - those who have already earned doctorates. :smile:

J.

 

A lot of these answers are, unfortunately, only speculative. We have no idea how they would be handled in a degree evaluation. Even if we did, there's no guarantee that it would help you get a job. There are plenty of PhDs who earned their degrees from non-profit RA schools who are making coffee for a living. And many of the, have the benefit of holding degrees form schools their prospective employers have heard of.

Go out and tell the average person that your University of Phoenix degree is a legitimate degree with the highest level of institutional accreditation available. It's true. And you may find the degree serves you well. But the bias of some people toward for-profits, and that school in particular, is going to override the objective truth surrounding your degree.

It would be great if everyone approached hiring decisions with a fair, balanced and objective mind. But they don't. Beyond for-profit/non-profit, RA/NA and all of that, there are still people who refuse to hire graduates of University X because (circle your favorite) it's a party school/their football team sucks/my cousin went there for a semester and hated it/that's where the people who couldn't get into (other university) all go.

So, as I've said numerous times, while it would be wonderful to just say either "good" or "bad" real life simply doesn't work that way. We have shown on this board tenure track professors with doctorates from for-profit schools. We can likely find significantly more un or under employed PhDs with degrees from public and non-profit private schools. Some people with degrees from schools with crappy reputations publish their tushies off. There are frankly too many variables to make a clear "this or that" judgment.

I have no idea how other countries would view SMC or SKEMA. We can speculate how those degrees might be viewed in terms of the government's response to the legality of your degree. We can speculate as to how a degree evaluation might turn out. We can speculate how an employer might view those credentials. But no one can give a definitive answer. We don't speak for every employer, every bureaucrat or every degree evaluator. Also, just because the government and the evaluators don't like a degree doesn't mean that people don't successfully use it (hence how diploma mills thrive).

AACSB is solid. But, as has been said, YMMV. If I had to choose between only these two schools I'd pick SKEMA. Broaden the field and there are some more tempting options. But even with the top accreditations no school is going to please all of the people all of the time. I once had a colleague who summarily dismissed a candidate from consideration because he felt that the candidate's degree in CS from Aalborg University was an indicator that he couldn't get into a US based CS program :/