Hello! Well, this is interesting (not for me, but maybe for someone else): https://www.udacity.com/masters-artificial-intelligence. Partnership with WOOLF University. Interesting price tag. Best regards, Mac Juli
It appears these degrees are awarded by Woolf, located in Malta. There is evidence that they've been evaluated in the U.S. as equivalent, but there is caution to be had.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251015217506/en/Udacity-Woolf-Launch-Masters-Degree-in-AI-Democratizing-Access-to-Graduate-Programs-in-Tech
Not to be a gloomy gus but I'm having a hard time visualizing this degree on an actual resume. Going by their sample diploma, the degree will list "Udacity" on the left and "Woolf" on the right. Woolf just seems to go by "Woolf" and does appear to use college or university in its name. So would you say an MS in AI from Woolf? From Udacity? From Udacity & Woolf? I don't know enough about Maltese accreditation to speak to that. This just feels like a really clunky credential. One won't need a degree evaluation (truthfully, most employers don't bother) if companies can't get past the fact that your degree doesn't sound like it came from an educational institution. Could be a neat program and the price seems reasonable. But there are cautions, I think, beyond those Rich advises.
Credentials from Woolf's partners are awarded by Woolf. What it says on the diploma or transcript I have no idea, but even on the MFHEA page it refers to them simply as "Woolf".
This reminds me of when Penn Foster was still Thomson Education Direct. It was accredited. You could get some neat degrees (such as the specialized engineering associates that are now grouped into one general ET program). But the name just didn't sound like a school at all. I dated a woman in those days who earned her AAS in Early Childhood Education to supplement her social work degree. It did help her make a career shift she was hoping for. But every interview inevitably saw an interviewer asking what Thomson was, if it was a school and noting how they never heard of it and it didn't sound very schoolish (she did report, years later, that upon shifting to Penn Foster the reception by employers was much warmer). It's just giving me that similar vibe. But hey, maybe it will catch on and mononym schools will be all the rage.
In the case of Woolf’s regulator (MFHEA), there is a recent issue: the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) noted that MFHEA’s application was not accepted and that MFHEA was found to be “partially compliant” with some of the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for quality assurance. MaltaToday.com.mt+1 This might raise additional questions for U.S. evaluators. While Woolf does have legitimate licensing in Malta and claims a broad recognition framework, that is not the same as being guaranteed equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s or master’s degree. Many U.S. schools and employers will evaluate it case by case — and some may apply extra caution given the recent quality assurance questions with MFHEA. https://backend.deqar.eu/reports/EQAR/MFHEA_Appeeal_Decision_final.pdf
