This university in Holland appears to offer an off-campus PHD that can be done for about $6000. http://www.nyenrode.nl/
This may be a silly question, and it may be a school very well known in Europe, but I could not see that it holds any accreditation?
Also, I'd be interested in knowing if they are willing and able to offer this degree program in the English language. (pardon my Anglo orientation) Jack
Nyenrode is a great private Dutch University. Among its illustrious alumni is former Primer Minister Willem Kok and thousands of other politicians, top executives, bankers, etc,… It is perceived as a very prestigious institution within The Netherlands. Please, remember that those American accreditations are basically meaningless in Europe where universities are chartered by governments. I know of a person who is working on her PhD on an external basis in Holland and she meets her supervisor quite often (once every two months), so I wonder if that PhD could be arranged from abroad. Respect to the language, that ‘s not a problem, every single Dutch person from your bus driver to a university professor speaks at least acceptable English. There are thousands of Bachelor’s and Master’s programs conducted in English all year round (on campus). I am absolutely sure they permit someone to conduct his/her dissertation in English so this shouldn’t be a problem. On the other hand, Dutch people are very cool, pro America and I think they could be lured into a distance PhD if they are approach with tact. Good luck and be assured that Nyenrode is a great place.
Nyenrode is the elite b-school in the Netherlands. The university is establised by MNCs such as Philips, Unilever...etc. Nyenrode's MBA program is accredited by EQUIS and AMBA. They are also a member of AACSB. I studied at this school a few years ago and I remembered one of my professors got his PhD at Nyenrode. I think the PhD program is targeting Dutch managers, but things may have changed. Just send them an e-mail, they are pretty responsive. - Ken
Nyenrode is definetely a Dutch TOP Business School, besides that Holland only has about ~ 11 universities that are in general ALL high level institutions. (Private) Accreditation in Europe is not (yet) a topic at all since nearly 100 % of these universities are state universities that are approved and accredited by the country´s ministry of education. That, in (old) Europe counts a lot more than e.g. regional accreditation in the states. Best regards from Germany, Trigger (who studied in NL for one semester)
Holland is not in the US. It is in Europe. A university in Europe needs either a charter or a parastatal agency's authorization/approval to operate. Ike Okonkwo, Ph.D.
Those of you familiar with the Bologna process and the harmonization of the various European degree structures to fit a two-tier bachelor/master model will be aware that the European higher education area is increasingly promoting courses taught in English to compete with the giants (read US, UK, Oz). The globalization of education is something that (old) Europe is only too aware of and keen to tap into. Harmonization of degree structures into a more understandable, coherent and professionally relevant system is an effort to make the Euro-area more attractive to overseas fee paying students and thus competitive on the world market. Another key issue of concern for players in the Bologna process is the issue of accreditation and the assurance that credits gained in Latvia are transferable and as legitimate as those gained in the UK because institutions and programs have had to go through similar quality assurance processes. So, of great concern to the architects and players in the Bologna process is the development of Europe-wide quality assurance procedures by national bodies. ENQA (European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies) is leading quality assurance initiatives. Many countries now have legislation in place to allow accreditation procedures that include site and program visits from teams of external evaluators, institutional self-analysis, oversight by autonomous bodies... - similar to the states - in place of ministry recognition as the be all and end all. Anyway, I guess the moral is not to overlook courses taught in non-Anglophone Europe because classes are increasingly being offered in English, especially in the business-degree market, and degrees from accredited or state-authorized degree-granting institutions in Europe will be evaluated as equivalent to those in the US or elsewhere.
Nordic countries and the English language Wherever I traveled in northern Europe I found most everyone spoke English. I went to a movie in Denmark that had Danish subtitles. They hadn't even bothered to dub it into the native language. This should make schools in that part of Europe fairly easy to work with in English.
I haven't had time to check many of the relevant web sites but it seems quite clear from my review of the Leiden University web site that they offer research doctorate programs in English and they state quite clearly that the research that the student undertakes, as well as the writing of the dissertation, can be done in another country. The main problem would appear to be finding a full-time professor to supervise your dissertation. I didn't check out the costs. Jack
Lack of communication I sent 2 emails requesting info on this program. One to the dean and the other to the information address. No response as of this date. Could be on break or not interested. Don't know.
EVERY SINGLE EU country except for Germany (and therefore also Austria and the German speaking part of Switzerland) does not have the money to "synchronize", and therefore show foreign movies and TV series in its orginal language with subtitles... You can therefore generelly say that especially the Scandinavian countries + the Netherlands speak almost EXCELLENT English, the German speaking countries speak GOOD English, and the rest of the EU (France, Spain, Italy) rather average English... Besides, Ike and Clarky are totally right with their statements. @chris: it´s totally normal for Dutch universities to take weeks, sometimes even months for answering emails, I had this experience about half a year ago (with the University of Nijmegen). Besides, officially of course every Dutch (and also German) university accepts PhD studies and dissertations in English. You just have to find a supervisor who is interested in your topic. There are (up till now, but this will change with Bologna in the following years, there is - almost - no coursework for a EU PhD, just two or three week-end seminars, for example, and the dissertation). (btw: a Dutch PhD takes about 4 years, for those who are interested, a German one 3-4 years). m
On a lighter note Whenever I participated in multinational military maneuvers we almost always communicated in English (except the French, they refuse to speak English). Heck, after a few beers at the end of maneuver bash you can communicate with anyone anyway, LOL....... I found that the Danes were almost 100% English speakers, the Dutch about 80%, the Belgians and Germans about 50%. The French were about 10% when they admitted to it. The Irish and the English on the other hand were about 95%. I never could understand the deep Cockney or Irish brogues. It took me about 5 minutes to understand that the woman in the cafe near London was asking if I wanted pancakes for breakfast. I even resorted to asking her if she spoke German, lol. Just goes to prove Churchill's statement, " We are a people divided by a common language". I found that German TV did dub their American TV shows. Knight Rider was a real hoot in German. In 12 years, I only went to one movie in a German cinema. It was in English, however the girl I went with said this wasn't the norm. Most were dubbed. Who cares anyway, I wasn't there to see the movie!!! That was in the 80's though, things may have changed.
@ JLV: it will be (nearly) impossible to write a PhD dissertation in Germany in any other language than German or English (which is officially allowed at most, if not all, German universities) - except for maybe language studies (like e.g. writing a PhD disseration in Nederlandse taalen (or so ) in Dutch - that would be possible too). THIS homepage here should answer nearly all questions regarding the German university system: http://www.daad.de/de/jump.html?l=en&p=%2Fde%2Findex.html%21 (if the link doesn´t work, just go to www.daad.de and chose "English" somewhere on the upper left) Yo can even do databank searches over almost all German universities and their degree courses (also the English language ones). But: don´t forget that PhD studies are not "course studies", as I said, and might therefore not be included - and you have to contact each and every Department of your field of study of your chosen university itself... Best regards, Master
Master, Geez, one thing I can guarantee you: French, Spaniards or Italians may have no money, but I assure they spare nothing from entertainment. Of course they dub every single foreign show they play…… I can’t believe you got such a wrong impression. This has been like this since I can remember (and I am 35). Clearly French, Spanish and Italians speak worse English than Northerners since they are Latin, and very chauvinistic which explain why they translate to their own language every single show, book, magazine; you name it. In fact, it is not easy to find English speakers in those countries. My perception of the issue coincides with that of Chris. Anecdotally, Spain and Italy, next to the UK, are the strongest allies G.W. Bush and the US has in Europe. Respect to the new PhD pattern, well, I am not sure either. I look at the UK, for instance, and they seem to be redesigning their PhD curricula: A PhD new route, they call it. The trend extends as well to the PhD titles. In continental Europe it used to be very traditional like PhD in Political Science or Economics or Mechanical Engineering. Now, it occurs to me, PhD titles seems to be less vague and more explicit and specialized, such as PhD in Robust Design or PhD in Information Society. I don’t think that Bologna has brought really any change other than a common nomenclature and lots of wishes. Now most states begin to use those “bachelor” and “Master” titles, but differences in education systems persist. We’ll have a constitution within a year (it is already drafted) but it is not clear yet that all European diplomas can be used across the EU as Mr. Triggesoft pointed out couple of weeks ago. Would you be so kind to elaborate on German PhD’s? German education in general enjoys high prestige, at least here in The Netherlands, and I think it is an option worth exploring it if German universities are willing to work with foreigners and in English or other European languages. It’d be great if you could provide some links to help us understand better the peculiarities of earning a PhD at a German university. Thanks a lot in advance.
Master, thank you very much for your very quick reply. I have been looking at the links you provided and it is quite interesting. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find many programs at the master’s level conducted in English, and taught by distance learning (I live couple of hours away from the German border). I contacted some one at the Technishe Fachhochschule Berlin, and replied right away (Germans!!!) saying that the Fernstudienstitut in Berlin has an industrial engineering program in English on a distance learning basis. This is the link: Fernstudieninstitut (FSI) I visited it right away but everything seems to be written in German. Have you heard about this specific program or any other in engineering taught for distant students? I would be willing to travel on weekends, and perhaps on vacations. For me it would be a great to study for a degree in Germany, it would ad a lot to my educative experience. What a pity that in order to arrange a PhD one has to contact every department. It is a lot of work, but the reward, if everything turns out well, is very attractive! I will definitely consider it. Thank you very much for your help. Tot ziens! ;-)
I spoke with Prof. dr. J.M. Arnold who is the contact for this program this morning. The program is not a “part-time” Ph.D.; however, a business professional may continue their career and work on their doctorate. Professor Arnold indicated that it would be difficult for someone outside the Netherlands to complete this program due to the need for frequent contact with the supervisor.
