I would like to get a doctoral degree in Finance.  SMC(Swiss Management Center) has a dual DBA program with the Universidad Mayor, Chile. My question is... Is SMC is at par with aregionally accredited schools? Are the credits (SMC's) transferrable to regionally accredited institutions?

PLEASE HELP.

I would like to get a doctoral degree in Finance.  SMC(Swiss Management Center) has a dual DBA program with the Universidad Mayor, Chile.

Who awards the degree?  SMC or Universidad Mayor? 

My question is... Is SMC is at par with aregionally accredited schools?

That's tough to say.  It's in Switzerland, which has no national oversight of academic legitimacy -- that's done at the canton level there, and cantons vary in how seriously they take it.  (It's like state approval of unaccredited institutions in the U.S., where in some states that's a good sign of legitimacy and in others it's meaningless.)

It helps that SMC is a candidate for accreditation by ACBSP, an accreditor of business programs that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.  However, they're merely a candidate, they're not accredited by them, at least not yet.

Are the credits (SMC's) transferrable to regionally accredited institutions?

That's up to the receiving institution, and their policies can vary wildly.  Generally speaking, though, if a school is evaluated as being the equivalent to regionally accredited by either AACRAO or a member of NACES then its credits will transfer.

-=Steve=-

Thank you, Steve. It's a dual DBA one from SMC and one from Universidad Mayor. Actually I am looking at NorthCentral University as well, but they are a bit expensive. I am so confused with this accreditation thing...All I want is to get a Phd/DBA from an accredited school(reognized by every institution and government) so that if I ever decided to go into academia, I would be able to do so.

Regards,

Al 

In that case, if either SMC or Universidad Mayor is acceptable, you should be okay.  But let me ask you whether you mean that you're interested in a tenure track position in American academia?  If so, and you're interested in business, it's even more complicated in that you're better off with a doctoral degree from a school with AACSB accreditation -- and note that this is different from the one for which SMC has applied.  And you'll have to spend more money than you would for Northcentral to get that and at that there are none available entirely by distance of which I'm aware.

-=Steve=- 

Hi Steve,

I am also interested in the DualDBA from SMC and Universidad Mayor. For example, in Germany Universidad Mayor is recognized, SCM not. Universidad Mayor is currently in the process of being accredited by the Middle-States Commission of Higher Education in the USA (MSCHE). It is the first Latin-American institution of higher learning to do so. It is currently accredited by the CNAP, the Government accreditation agency in Chile. SMC is accredited by the European Council of Business Education (ECBE)  and is a candidate for accreditation from the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

My question:

In Germany, the DBA is still not really highly accepted BUT this was also the case preciously for the MBA programms. Now MBAs are very valuable in Germany.. Do you think that it is only a matter of time, that DBA will also be accepted? How is the case in the rest of the world for DBA?

How do you see the seriousness of this programm (DualDBA)? I just want to avoid joining a "degree trader"!  

Thanx

Samuel 

samuel2007:

Universidad Mayor is currently in the process of being accredited by the Middle-States Commission of Higher Education in the USA (MSCHE). It is the first Latin-American institution of higher learning to do so.

Sort of -- Middle States accredits 47 institutions in Puerto Rico.  There are also a number of Latin American institutions accredited by other regional accreditors.  (Of course, that's not to say anything bad about Universidad Mayor!)

samuel2007:

In Germany, the DBA is still not really highly accepted BUT this was also the case preciously for the MBA programms. Now MBAs are very valuable in Germany.. Do you think that it is only a matter of time, that DBA will also be accepted? How is the case in the rest of the world for DBA? How do you see the seriousness of this programm (DualDBA)? I just want to avoid joining a "degree trader"!

What are you interested in doing with it?  Teaching, consulting, or an executive position?  I suppose if I were you, I'd find people who are in the field I'd want to use the DBA and ask them what they think.  For example, if you want to find a high level position at a large company, I'd contact Personnel departments and find out what they have to say about it.  The worst thing they can do is not answer....

-=Steve=- 

Hi Steve,

SteveFoerster:

What are you interested in doing with it?  Teaching, consulting, or an executive position?  I suppose if I were you, I'd find people who are in the field I'd want to use the DBA and ask them what they think.  For example, if you want to find a high level position at a large company, I'd contact Personnel departments and find out what they have to say about it.  The worst thing they can do is not answer....

-=Steve=- 

I do not plan to have an academic career. Rather a high level position. That is why I decided not to conduct any classical PhD (research only PhD!) because it does not help... It is really just the titel that one can carry with from such classical PhDs. I am Engineer and I had a Master of Business Administration (executive MBA) from one of the most prestigious schools in France (ESSEC). This gave me a genral insight the management world (with academic basis). What I now want is to broaden my knowledge in one specific managemt field through practice-oriented DBA.

Is this th right path I should go??

Samuel 

samuel2007:

Is this th right path I should go??

A DBA in Finance from Universidad Mayor would impress me, but hey, I'm irrelevant.  Given what you're saying, I think you should find people who are in the position you seek to have, and ask them whether it would be helpful in getting there. 

-=Steve=- 

Hello:

Please help me. As guessed, I have been accepted into DBA/PhD program at both UNiversidad Mayor-SMC and North Central (Prescot, AZ). I don't know which one to choose. SMC-Universidad Mayor is about 10K cheaper than NCU. Which one these two would carry more weight if I decided to teach in a small college? I know they both are not AACSB accredited. But that's all I can afford time and moneywise. If you had to choose between these two, where would you go?

Regards,

abhaya:

Please help me. As guessed, I have been accepted into DBA/PhD program at both UNiversidad Mayor-SMC and North Central (Prescot, AZ). I don't know which one to choose. SMC-Universidad Mayor is about 10K cheaper than NCU. Which one these two would carry more weight if I decided to teach in a small college? I know they both are not AACSB accredited. But that's all I can afford time and moneywise. If you had to choose between these two, where would you go?

They may not be AACSB, but Swiss Management Center and Northcentral are both ACBSP accredited, which suggests that they're reasonably similar in legitimacy.  Given that, I might go with the intriguing DBA that's offered jointly by the Swiss Management Center and Universidad Mayor.  But then I love all things international, so I'm biased.

If you have a small college in mind, I'd advise you to ask hiring deans there what they think. 

-=Steve=-

SteveFoerster:

If you have a small college in mind, I'd advise you to ask hiring deans there what they think. 

-=Steve=-

Major dittos!  Plus the side benefits of 'early warning' that you must may be knocking on their door in a few years, applying for paying gig, and the  chance that one or more of them just might do a little 'mentoring' on the side

As to the differences between AACSB and ACBSP, I don't want to bias you one way or the other so go directly to their respective websites and read for yourself how they see their mission and purpose, and certainly their specific standards and criteria.

Okay, I've been asking around and learned a little more on this.

SMC is approved neither by the Swiss federal government nor the local government at the canton level.  That means that yes, it has professional accreditation through ACBSP, but does not seem to have institutional accreditation (or equivalent government recognition), which may make it problematic to use its degrees in some circumstances.

Universidad Mayor, meanwhile, is an accredited university in Chile, but its approval by the Chilean accreditor only extends to Master's degrees, and its candidacy for regional accreditation from Middle States is similarly as a "Master's II" institution.

So I have to amend what I said before: I wouldn't recommend this Dual DBA for someone whose goal is a faculty position at a U.S. college or university.  If the choice is between that program and Northcentral University's Doctor of Business Administration and PhD in Business programs, the latter seem like safer choices.

-=Steve=-

Hi Steve,

I joined since 1 month the Swiss Management Center for the Dual DBA program. I am really pleased to see how professional they working... Now the program is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) to offer its master and DBA programs. 

I therefore recommend it... 

Samuel  

samuel2007:

I joined since 1 month the Swiss Management Center for the Dual DBA program. I am really pleased to see how professional they working... Now the program is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) to offer its master and DBA programs.  I therefore recommend it...

I realize that SMC has ACBSP accreditation and I'm not trying to suggest that this program isn't meaningful or legitimate.  But ACBSP only offers programmatic accreditation, not institutional accreditation.  I'm still concerned that neither SMC nor Universidad Mayor is institutionally accredited to offer a doctoral degree, and that might mean problems for those who want to use it in academia.

-=Steve=-