Swiss Management Center

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by LadyExecutive, Oct 24, 2005.

Loading...
  1. LadyExecutive

    LadyExecutive Member

    I read the 2003 posts about the SWISS MANAGEMENT CENTER and wanted to know if anything new transpired. It seems back then, that the validity of the center was at issue. Any firm reports? I met a student at Nova's Residential Institute last week that had a Doctorate Degree in Diplomacy from there. He is completing a certificate in Conflict Resolution to supplement the Doctor of Diplomacy degree. Just checking.

    Kind Regards...
     
  2. triggersoft

    triggersoft New Member

    cetainly still not a legit swiss degree granting autority (cp. www.anabin.de).
    cheers,
    t.
     
  3. jhenderson

    jhenderson New Member

    SMC-Accreditation

    I disagree with your assessment. The SMC holds ACBSP accreditation and is thereby recognized by CHEA in the US. You can verify this yourself by visiting the ACBSP website. SMC is also accredited by the ECBE, European Council of Business Education. Under Swiss law the SMC is authorized to grant university level degrees.

    I am a Doctoral student there and we have professors from Stanford, the University of Grenoble, McGill amongst others.

    Best, Jeffrey
     
  4. sshuang

    sshuang New Member


    Hi jhenderson,

    What are the structures of the courses?
    Can the degree be completed 100% online?

    Thanks
     
  5. Woho

    Woho New Member

    But why are they not even accepted in other countries of the European Union? There status in Germany is still H- as mentioned in Triggersofts post. H- declares in specific a not even near university level status situation.
     
  6. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    Maybe in the US, but ACBSP is not really recognised outside the US and hardly recognised within the US. AACSB is the way to go for business accreditation.
     
  7. mintaru

    mintaru Active Member

    Why SMC isn't recognized by several other European countries.

    SMC's ACBSP accreditation isn't the problem. The problem is the fact that SMC lacks full academic recognition within Switzerland! The reason is the Swiss system. Virtually everywhere in Europe it's the government, in very most cases the respective Ministry of Education, who accredits universities. (But the process itself often has a different name.) Generally, it's the central government who has that power, but Switzerland and Germany are exceptions. In both countries that's the business of regional governments, the governments of the cantons in Switzerland and state governments in Germany. But there are two differences:

    1 - The Swiss Constitution gives the federal government the right to run two institutes of technology and also one university. However, a federal university is still unrealized. Technically, these institutions are accredited by the federal government.

    2 - Much more important in this case is the fact that Germany has the so called Kultusministerkonferenz, (full name: Ständige Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or in English: Permanent Conference of the Ministers of Education of the states in the Federal Repubic of Germany - a longer name was not possible :D) This institution sets minimum standards for virtually everything in German education, including the accreditation of universities. These minimum standards are legally binding, so every German state integrates these standards into its state law. Therefore, a university which is recognized in one German state is also recognized in all other states of Germany. (The German eqivalent to RA is actually called staatliche Anerkennung or state recogitation, but the process itself is quite different from state recogitation in the US.)


    And there is the problem. There are no minimum standards for cantonal recogitation in Switzerland! Some cantons are very demanding, in others there is no regulation at all. In the canton of Zug, for instance, all you need is a business licence and diploma mills are in fact legal as there is not a single law regulating higher education. There are no real universities in Zug, but there are diploma mills, unfortunately. The cantonal government doesn't think that Zug needs a higher education act since there is no higher education system in Zug. The canton is just to small to have one. However, in most cantons, there are laws regulating higher education. The problem is that the standards are very diverse. Therefore, a university which is recognized in one canton is not automaticly recognized in other cantons. Only the cantonal (public) universities and the two institutes of technology are automaticly recognized. In the case of private universities it's always a case by case decision. However, the large Swiss universities generally accept only degrees from from other Swiss universities which are recognized or accredited by the Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities. (or the foreign equivalent, of course) Here is the official list: http://www.crus.ch/information-programme/recognition-swiss-enic/recognised-or-accredited-swiss-higher-education-institutions.html?L=2

    SMC is perfecly legal but it is not recognized by the Swiss Rectors' Conference. That's the reason why SMC generally isn't recognized in several other European countries, including Germany. BTW, even the Swiss federal government only accepts a degree for employment which comes from a university that's recognized by the Rectors' Conference and the intitutions on that list are also the only intitutions which are recognized by all Swiss cantons.

    mintaru
     
  8. tribilin80

    tribilin80 Member

    I beleive the better question is what is your need for the degree?

    if you work primarily for an international type organization and have already secured a career, then the SMC with ACBSP accreditation is a great program.

    if you need the degree to enhance your CV, you may want to do more research on how ACBSP accreditation by its self is recognized in your industry.

    I personally feel that the curriculum meets my needs and actually prefer international programs.

    from what I have learned about the SMC from other forums is that this is NOT an easy endeavour and by no means a diploma-mill.

    If you learn more..... please share in this forum.

    cheers!
     
  9. Pipe

    Pipe New Member

    Hello to everybody,

    I wish you all a Happy New Year!

    I`m considering applying for a DBA/PHD program offered in Spanish?

    Is there any news about the academic recognition of the DBA of SMC since the last post? Is it globally accepted?

    Does anybody know a DBA/PDH distance offered in spanish?

    Thanks in advance for your comments!

    Kind regards
     
  10. Pipe

    Pipe New Member

    Hello to everybody,

    I wish you all a Happy New Year!

    I`m considering applying for a DBA/PHD program offered in Spanish?

    Is there any news about the academic recognition of the DBA of SMC since the last post? Is it globally accepted?

    Does anybody know a DBA/PDH distance offered in spanish?

    Thanks in advance for your comments!
     
  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It's not on their site, but they have a dual degree program with Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala. UFM's a good school, so contact them and ask them about it.

    -=Steve=-
     
  12. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    It depends where you want to use your degree. In the US and Canada for example, most employers would ask you to get your foreign degree evaluated from a recognized foreign credential evaluator like WES. WES can evaluate this degree and can tell you if it would be considered equivalent to an American or Canadian PhD. For what I can see, it would be unlikely as the institution is not recognized by their own government but may be the business accreditation might help.
     
  13. major56

    major56 Active Member

    From a business school perception, one would expect that with specialized ACBSP accreditation there should be U.S. acceptance by industry; not sure regarding academia in that SMC isn’t recognized by Switzerland's Government – but who really knows?
     
  14. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    As ACBSP is a recognized agency by CHEA, it might be possible that WES recognizes it as an equivalent to an American accredited school. If I were to use any foreign degree in the US and Canada, I would contact WES and verify that would be accepted as equivalent before enrolling. WES reports are also accepted by many schools when applying for faculty positions.
     
  15. major56

    major56 Active Member

    Good idea ... the only way to be sure!
     
  16. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    The only problem I have with services like WES is that they work to the lowest common denominator. For example, technically speaking, a PhD from NCU, Walden or Capella would be recognised as equivalent to a PhD from a Canadian university because of their RA accreditation. However, there are no online PhD's in Canada and AUCC-member universities are pubic, non-profits that have very high standards for admission and content.

    The utility of a WES "approved" PhD in Canada is hit or miss, and often looked at suspiciously. For example, a DPhil from the University of Oxford or a "Doctorat" from the University of Paris-Sorbonne, does not require a WES evaluation and no Canadian university would ask for one. Yet, WES evaluations are indeed required from American "for-profit" universities right next door to Canada. The reputation of the granting university is more important than what WES has to say.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 8, 2010
  17. KariS

    KariS New Member

    While there are no online Canadian PhD's (yet) there are on line Canadaian doctoral programs.

    Look at: http://www.cvu-uvc.ca/cgi-bin/cvu/cvuinfo.cgi?qn=level&lang=en#X17
    and find:

    Doctorate
    Doctor of Education in Distance Education Athabasca
    Doctorat en informatique cognitive TÉLUQ
    Doctorate in Business Administration Athabasca
     
  18. Scott Henley

    Scott Henley New Member

    Indeed there are some doctoral programs offered externally. I believe that all of them require residencies of varying length. If you think about it, there might be 3 "online" doctoral programs (with residencies) in Canada, whilst the US probably has hundreds...
     
  19. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    In Canada nobody has asked me for this report but it seems to be huge in the States. I have applied to few schools and their policies state that any foreign degree should be evaluated by a place like WES.
    If Walden, NCU or alike for profit have the same credits as a Canadian PhD then they would be considered equivalent to a Canadain PhD for sure. I understand that this report wouldn't work so much for a tenure track position but it might work for other situations like a government job where a report might be needed to put you on a salary scale.
    However, I must say that I don't know anybody that has gotten a report with a lower education level than expected from WES. WES pretty much gives the same value to foreign education as being equivalent as long as the school is legit.
    In any case, if the post requires the Swiss doctorate just to work as an adjunct, the WES report should do it. If the person thinks that the Swiss doctorate is going to give him or her the route to a tenure track, then it would be a very risky decision although not impossible.
     
  20. freakoutguy

    freakoutguy New Member

    Any further updates

    Any further updates on SMC University? Has anybody recently joined their DBA program or is currently pursuing one?
     

Share This Page