I sent this to Charlie Wankel and he indicated it ought to go to the entire
list. So, with a few additions to my original note, here you are...
The issue of distance learning might heat up a bit--and soon. I received
in the regular mail a brochure from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh,
Scotland. H-W dates back to 1821 when it was founded as an engineering
school. H-W has held a Royal Charter (the equivalent of U.S.
accreditation) for more than 30 years. H-W is offering an MBA via distance
learning from its Edinburgh Business School. The curriculum entails seven
required courses and two electives. Each course is priced at $935, making
the cost of the MBA just under $8,500. These are the same courses that are
offered on campus.
The required courses include:
Accounting
Economics
Finance
Marketing
Organizational Behavior
Quantitative Methods
Strategic Planning
The electives include:
Decision Making Techniques
Financial Risk Management I
Financial Risk Management II
Government, Industry & Privatization
Human Resource Management
International Trade & Finance
Negotiation
Strategic Information Systems
Strategies for Change
GMAT is not required. (The reason given is fascinating: H-W says GMAT
filters out students owing to a fixed on-campus capacity. No such limit
exists for online study, therefore, no filtering via GMAT.) No bachelors
degree is required. If you have one that is acceptable, matriculation is
immediate. If you don't have a bachelors degree, successfully completing
any two of the required seven courses will allow you to matriculate without
an undergraduate degree.
The program may be completed over as long a period as seven years. Secure,
proctored tests are administered twice a year (June & December) over a
several day period. A long list of recognizable corporations reimburse
employees their H-W tuition (e.g., AT&T, Disney, DuPont, FedEx, Ford GE,
HP, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Pitney Bowes and UPS to name some).
Moreover, these companies are making it clear to their employees that this
is an acceptable route for acquiring an MBA.
The Economist Intelligence Unit lists H-W as one of the best distance
degree programs in the world (no British bias at work there). Finally, the
faculty appears competent and credible enough.
Lots of hyperbole comes to mind: "This changes everything." "Let the games
begin." And, "Ave Caesar, morituri te salutamus."
--
Regards,
Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting "Assistance at A Distance"
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
nickols@worldnet.att.net
(609) 490-0095