Upgrad/SSBM Geneva - Global DBA - 36 months, $11K USD

I would argue the purpose of the doctorate has not changed. It's an apprenticeship in research. The type of research you do differs between doctorates (as Rich Douglas has noted at length around the board), but at the end of the day a doctorate provides you with basic research skills. Teaching as a skill is often taught/learned during the PhD (TAing courses and the like) but is clearly secondary to the research component, especially in a part-time program.

 

Do you feel the SSBM DBA is really meant to train you to do research? It is a 3 years part time program, it takes sometimes this long just to publish a paper. There are no publication requirements and their faculty is mainly part time adjuncts that most likely are not full time researchers themselves.
Canadian research Universities receive millions of dollars per year to fund research projects to advance knowledge. The questions is that if a doctorate from a solid research institution would compare to a SSBM DBA.
A prospect student should fool him or he self, if you are going to get a SSBM DBA is not because you are interested in learning research but just want a convenient doctorate at low cost to boost a CV. There are plenty of research institutions offering doctorates but they require commitment, investment and time.

 

I'll answer your question with another question. If the DBA isn't meant to train you to do research, and it isn't meant to train you to teach (how could it when you get no teaching opportunities?), what is it its purpose? I'm not saying the SSBM DBA compares in quality to a well-funded Canadian school, but the intent of the DBA at SSBM and one of those schools may be the same.

If the goal is to train business practitioners with advanced skills (like a Doctorate of Nursing Practice), then one would expect the coursework to reflect that. I haven't reviewed SSBM's curriculum so I don't know if it does or not.

 

The SSBM research description below:

https://www.ssbm.ch/our-research/

No names, no research publication, no funding, etc but one general page. There is a reason why the Swiss government does not accredit this school. It provides you with a DBA from an official sounding school located in a Western European Country that might deceive few people at first glance but it will not deceive those that look at it very closely.

 

This is the argument, my own experience (as a holder of a DBA) is that most of the graduates from my program found jobs in Academia, academic administration or professional adjuncts. The skills earned in a DBA mainly relate to writing research proposals, conducting literature reviews, analyzing data, conducting interviews, preparing materials, etc that do not relate to high level corporate decision making or other skills that are required for top positions. Most VPs or top executives do not have a DBA so the professional doctorate argument is not very solid unless there is evidence that the market really is willing to hire DBAs for top executive positions but my experience is that even DBAs end associated in academia maybe not as top researchers but in administration, lecturing, etc.

 

I agree.
It might be my eyes are getting old, but I cannot find United States of America in their dropdown of countries.
Also, my 2 Regionally Accredited universities aren't even listed.
So much for using the CHEA database

 

It doesn't include the US. For the other countries is more or less accurate. It is a free database. It has a black list of most known degree mills. SSBM is not a degree mill but I would consult with my local authorities to see if it would be recognized. In Canada, most universities use IAU (https://www.whed.net/home.php) to check if the university is legit or not but this database is also not accurate but it gives an idea.

 

I checked 2 schools from Ukraine.
Ukrainian Catholic University doesn't show up. Recognized and well respected private school.
Similarly, it has no record for a school with "Concordia" in its name. "Ukrainian-American Concordia University" is a weird entity, but clearly accredited. Searching under old name "Wisconsin International University" fetches a record for its former degree mill parent, labeled "unrecognized" and listing "Ukraine, Ghana and other locations". This is highly misleading.
On the plus side, it does list my alma mater, one of the biggest public universities in the country.

It seems like their info is so out of date it is functionally useless.

 

I also started a thread here with similar observations: https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/univcheck.58896/

 

Any views or experience on Swiss Business School? (Similar name and logo to SSBM)

https://www.sbs.edu/doctorate-programs/dba/

Their Masters received ACBSP

 

It is a free database, if you want something more accurate you can subscribe with WES and pay the thousands of dollars they want per year and it will be way more accurate. You cannot ask for free and be maintained every month with latest changes. If the University that you are interested is in the database as accredited, it is most likely accredited. If it is not, further research needs to be done.

 

I think we have to differentiate between government accreditation and professional accreditation. ACBSP accreditation does not make the school recognized in its own country. If I am a Swiss University, I need to be accredited by the Swiss government. Not Malta, Not the US, etc. The general criteria is that the school is accredited by the minister of education where the country is located, if it is not accredited, it is not recognized period.

 

https://www.swissuniversities.ch/en/topics/studying/recognised-or-accredited-swiss-higher-education-institutions

 

I disagree with this. There is no immanent attribute "recognizedness" that is processed by schools. Accreditation, apart from whatever direct legal effect it has (in US, limited to giving access to federal student aid), is an independent confirmation that a program is legitimate. Regional and RA-equivalent accreditation does that - but so does ACBSP. In my eyes, degree from one of these Swiss places with ACBSP is legitimate.
Having said that, some entities will take your view of recognition. So, cantonal schools with ACBSP can be less useful. It's a case of "degree with explanation". Similar to Nationally Accredited schools, perhaps a bit more limiting. So these degrees might be not such a bargain as they look. In general, the fact a degree is "recognized" does not always mean "it's a good idea to go earn it".

 

I respect your opinion but try to use a degree from SBS to get admission into an MBA at McGill or University of Toronto or try to use it to get admission into a CPA program in Canada. Approach a placement agency with your DBA from SBS for a Consulting role at a top consulting firm and see how you score with this.

Everyone's situation is different but the use of a DBA from SBS is marginal in most situations. I hold a DBA from an Australian Government recognized University and still have limitations because it is foreign, it is not a top school, DL, etc. I would not be able to use a DBA from SBS in anything but just to put myself a DBA in a business card.
If you check the location of SBS, it is one office space in a building that does not say much about the school. The website has no names of faculty and just general descriptions of the program. In some European countries, it is legal to open a private school and offer degree programs as long as you disclose that they are not recognized. This is is the case in Spain, France and other countries. These private programs might have value if you take them from a program that has good relations with some employers and they might help to secure employment, but SBS is a distance program and I don't see any effort to help graduates to secure employment.

If price is a concern, maybe the Nicaraguan school (UCN) might have better value because you might be able to use it for government jobs, professional associations, etc. This assuming that you can get it recognized by an evaluation service.

Nobody is arguing about the legitimacy of the school, but I don't see any value of this program for me other than making my linked in more attractive assuming that I hold a strong Masters and just need the DBA to dress my CV but it is not going to be the main hiring factor.

 

Using a degree from Ashworth in Canada is hugely problematic. This is not enough to declare it "not recognized, period".
I agree this is not the best offering out there. But there's a difference between question "is it legitimate?", "will it be accepted", and "should I spend money and time pursuing it?". It this case, answers are "yes", "sometimes", and "probably not". And yes, in the bargain-basement category, UCN may be a better choice, unless applicant is hang on having "Swiss" in the name of the school. There are perhaps other foreign schools one could look at. Example:

Doctoral programmes — Doctor of Philosophy — D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics (uni-svishtov.bg)

Eur2300 per year, and the school is in a EU country (bottom-three by GDP per capita, but still).

 

If you have to ask....