What is the most prestigious DETC accrediated school?

I think that eventually you will see more DETC-accredited schools pursuing this option, if only because it makes sense from a marketing standpoint. It also provides options for students who have a BA from say, California Coast University, for example, and want an MBA from a RA college.

Some DETC-accredited schools are happy to remain so. The president of Andrew Jackson University has stated in his blog the school has no plans to ever seek regional accreditation.

 

I remember talking to a staff member of one of our (Australian) universities at a display about this a few years ago. The point above is correct. There was also the feeling was that American students knew what DETC was which meant that they were less likely to be concerned about what accreditation Australian universities had. In fact, the Australian situation is straight forward, all universities are fully accredited under our law. That applies to the couple of private universities here too.

Apparently, some of the universities that obtained DETC accreditation have let it lapse.

 

I have noticed a number of non-U.S. universities have let their DETC accreditation lapse, most notably UNISA in South Africa. I believe, but don't know for sure, that these universities did not see the return on investment in having "American" accreditation with the DETC.

 

Aspen University gets a lot of love. I have an MBA from them and it has been very well accepted in the business world, including the fortune 100. I find their courses to be very well thought out and very flexible.

My 2 cents.

 

I live in California's Silicon Valley and tell you the truth, most people around here probably have absolutely no idea that Australia even offers distance learning. There's zero advertising visible in the local media, which at least until the recent economic unpleasantness featured many ads for local universities' continuing-education offerings (and inevitably for the ubiquitous U. of Phoenix). Australian universities don't have the networks of agents and study centers here like one encounters in places like Singapore.

My point is that lots of Americans would be attracted to Australian offerings if they only knew about them. The problem isn't American reluctance to accept foreign degrees. Since its rise to tech prominence, Silicon Valley has turned into a virtual United Nations and the person next to you in a cafe is as likely to have come from India as Iowa. There's already foreign degrees all over the place around here.

Given the lack of Australian marketing here in the states, my own speculation has always been that the Australian universities were acquiring American accreditation in hopes of strengthening their marketing position in Asia, among the sort of Asians who admire American universities.

But maybe the whole thing was a cultural misunderstanding. Australian universities might have assumed that Americans were already familiar with their DL offerings and weren't enrolling because we demand American-accredited degrees. While in reality Americans don't have the slightest clue about Australian DL and no doubt would accept it as an attractive opportunity, provided its provider is a fully recognized and credible university at home in Australia.

By and large, Americans just instinctively like Australia. I don't think that anyone here doubts the value and credibility of Australian higher education. We are already primed and predisposed to be major Australian DL customers if somebody would just educate us about what's available and make it convenient for us to access it.

 

I agree completely with Bill. The time is right, I think, for someone else to do what Heriot-Watt did in 1991.

Heriot-Watt University in Scotlan decided to rely entirely on a US marketing agency. Their target was 50 MBA students a year in the US. Our marketing company, International Business Education Inc., signed up about 800 people the first year, and it continued to grow each year, until, with more than 5,000 US students, it was the largest MBA of any kind in the US -- even larger, at that time (mid 90s) than Phoenix.

(We sold our marketing business in 1998, and things dropped back quite a bit, but it is still, I think, one of the 10 largest MBAs in the US).

 

I don't think that Australian Unis actually focus on the US market. They seem to have a foothold in Asia. I suspect that they may think that the US is a fairly saturated market. Some of the very few private universities here market their product abroad. Bond University has the majority of its student base from Europe or the US, but it does not offer distance learning.

It is a shame because distance learning here has a long history and nobody ever questions if you were a oncampus or offcampus student. Certainly, the degree does not disclose it. If you have a degree you have a degree, end of story. I think, having studied with the US and here, that the Australian product is just as good. Possibly because they have been doing it for so long here. Distance is always an issue here and, without distance education, there would be a lot of people missing out.

I know that USQ has a fairly strong student following in the US. Charles Sturt did as well. The good news for the US is that Australian Universities are subject to significant government overview and the quality does not differ as much between the universities. Some universities may be seen by their graduates as superior, but it is probably the case that "beauty" is more in the eye of beholder than in reality. I think the exchange rate still works in favor of the US as well.

 

Very good points. The US could be a very fruitful market. There was actually one American student in the distance learning subject I have just completed a tthe University of New England. Americans could be confident in dealing with any of our universities that offer distance education. Even the use of the word "university" is controlled by law.

 

This is an excellent explanation of the situation.

 

That is a really good point. I've lived in Silicon Valley for most of the last 25 years. There are over 1,100 people in my current social graph and I can't think of more than a handful that know anything about distance learning from anywhere, not to mention Australia...