Hello to all.. I am seriously considering a Msc in financial economics from the University of London's external program. I would greatly appreciate any comments regarding the overall quality and reputation of the school in general and any comments regarding the program specifically. Also, does a degree from the external program state "external program" on the degree itself? Thanks in advance!
Elyko, I cannot speak for LSE external program but in the field of economics LSE is highly regarded, of course that also depends upon the economic school of thought with which you are dealing. So if you into the typical neoclassical, statistics based economics it is a very good choice.
Send an email to angela. She did an MSc through CeFiMS. If you do one of the External Programme degrees, the diploma will have the word "external" on it.
What´s wrong with that? The U of London state that there is no difference in the External and on campus degree requirements.
Nothing wrong with it. I have one myself. And my father earned his University of London PhD with the "external" designation. I was just responding to elyk1979's specific question. On the other hand, the idea that all University of London degrees are equal is, in my opinion, laughable. Certainly the graduates of nearby UCL would laugh at my Birkbeck degree. Actually, my boss is a graduate of UCL (and now both an Honorary Professor and a Fellow of UCL) and he does laugh! But I understand why the organization needs to make this claim.
It has been my understanding that within the past year or two, the University of London discontinued issuing diplomas with the designation of "external" on them and now issues identical diplomas to both internal and external students. I don't remember where I received this information, but I'll see if I can find a link.
This page at the External Programme web-site still states that the diploma specifies that the graduate studied "as an External student." Plus the disclaimer that: "Candidates granted degrees and other awards shall have attained the same academic standard irrespective of mode or place of study or examination." This doesn't actually say that a Birkbeck degree implies the same academic standard as a UCL degree (etc.) though this equivalence is sometimes inferred (incorrectly in my view).
I'm doing the financial mgmt Msc, which is very similar to the financial econ degree. I'll be done in October. I recommend it. The materials are good, the reading list is current and well-chosen, and generally they really have their stuff together on the administrative side. The exams and assignments are graded at a pretty high level, but fairly. I'm happy to elaborate if you have specific questions. I think the disclaimer about no differences in External vs. Internal is subject to misinterpretation. I think what they're really saying is that assigments and exams are subject to standards that are every bit as stringent as those for internal students. I have no doubt about that, and I think you can count on that. They aren't saying that every college in the UoL system is equal, or even that every degree/course of study is equal. Certainly no one would assert that in a non DL setting either. In fact if a UoL external degree program doesn't have an identical counterpart in the internal program, then there can't really be an apples to apples comparison anyway. Such is the case with the MSc finance degrees, but I would wager they keep abreast of what LSE is doing on the BS finance side. So you can rest assured that the course will be rigorous, and that to get through it will entail a fair amount of work. You would expect no less in the internal program, and that's all they're saying really (IMHO). Tom
Re: LSE I don't think that he actually finished his degree. I believe that Mick left his Jr. year to sing Rock n Roll...
Oxpecker, I heard that LSE pulled its LL.M. out of the University's common program. It now has additional research type requirements that my LL.M. program does not have. Do you happen to know when and why LSE did this, or even if they really did?
I completed the MSc in Financial Management through CeFims (although it was the CIEE back then). I found it an ok course, although less "management" and more "economics" in focus than I would have expected. In fact, I did an MBA thereafter to fill in the management bits, and there was very little overlap. My London degree certificate does have the "external student" designation.
The "management" in the title doesn't mean management in the MBA sense. It means management in the finance sense - management of investments and portfolios and the like. This is not a management degree at all - not even close.
