Hi! I am coming from a small European country of Montenegro. I am very interested in taking online doctorate program. So far not sure which one to take, DBA or Phd in Finance.However, at the moment I am closer to DBA (finance or corporate finance option) but any good advice on this is welcome. I have a MBA degree (finance option) from CSUEB and currently work as a project manager in a big private owned company. My goal would be to get doctorate because of the career growth and maybe some academic role in the future. But the main issue for me is that the program should be adequately recognized in Europe and USA and accredited by proper institutions. Financing is very important to me as well but still on the second place. Searching the web I found universities such as Northcentral, Walden (quite expensive), SMC but still not sure about the credibility of these institutions. I would be grateful for any good advice on above mentioned dilemmas.  

 

I'm sorry, but generally they do not offer financial aid for foreign students at most schools.  That does not mean however that you cannot secure a private loan for the cost of school.  As far as accreditation goes, we in the U.S. have two types, regional which is pretty standard and a more specialized national accreditation.  So I guess you need to read our FAQ to see the differences and make sure you understand what is best for you.  For example a NA doctorate may cost much less than a RA doctorate.  As for the 3 schools you mentioned, Northcentral and Walden are fine, I'm not sure who SMC is... could you spell it out?

SMC is for Swiss management center in Zug (Switzerland)

Well SMC is accredited by the ACBSP which does carry a measure of weight in the U.S.  So I would say that they are certainly legit as well.  Really it's up to your needs and budget as you will likely be financing this yourself. 

Hi Xovu, and welcome!

We've already had a lengthy discussion on Swiss Management Center here on this forum, and you may find it useful:

http://community.elearners.com/forums/thread/5919.aspx

The bottom line is that yes, SMC is ACBSP accredited, which is good and to me shows they're legitimate, but it's also not recognized by other Swiss universities, which raises questions about what kind of international acceptance its degrees would enjoy, especially in the U.S. where that's a factor in foreign credential evaluation.

That said, there aren't many well-regarded doctorates in business available exclusively by distance that are comparatively inexpensive.  Perhaps you should consider the University of South Africa or another school in that country?  Their schools are accepted internationally and they're very inexpensive.  The disadvantage is that they are known for being rather bureaucratic, so that it's difficult to find out how to get started.

If you'd consider economics or finance, there's Far East National University in Vladivostok, which offers doctoral-level programs in English and Russian.

India's Indira Gandhi National Open University is very inexpensive and seems receptive to foreign-based doctorate students.

Also, just to cover the obvious, have you decided that the University of Montenegro won't meet your needs?

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

You may also try to contact the SMC to see if they can put you in touch with some alumni so that you may ask them on how their degree has served them.  It may be worth a shot.

HI Steve!

Thanks for your answer. Just to confirm, University of Montenegro is not an option for me as it is not recognized internationally. I am also not sure about the other universities you mentioned. As I said tuition fees are important to me but not the most important. Let me ask you this way. Please suggest top 10 universities (in US, Europe or other, internationally recognized) offering online doctorate program for finance and economics, regardless their fees.

Thanks.

So you're only interested in top 10 universities?  Like Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, California Institute of Technology, U of Penn, Duke, let's see, I think that's ten. 

 

Or by "top 10" do you mean regionally accredited?

Thank you vm Cajun.

I think I heard about these ten you mentioned. However I am not sure if they offer online doctorate studies (at least 80-90% of the program to be online). This is a condition, of course. If I have to be more precise about the tution fee it should be up to 30.000 USD (approximately) Can you suggest any, now? Also it is very important to give me some more explanation about the difference between regionally accredited and nationally accredited universities in US and how it affects international recognition of them.

Thanks
 

xovu:

I think I heard about these ten you mentioned. However I am not sure if they offer online doctorate studies (at least 80-90% of the program to be online). This is a condition, of course. If I have to be more precise about the tution fee it should be up to 30.000 USD (approximately) Can you suggest any, now? Also it is very important to give me some more explanation about the difference between regionally accredited and nationally accredited universities in US and how it affects international recognition of them.

In your circumstance I would avoid nationally accredited schools.  Recognition is getting better for them, but they're not equal.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress

I agree with Steve.  That said, I strongly recommend you check out the FAQ under articles and resources.  Once you've read that hit me with any additional questions you may have.  I think you'll find it probably will come close to answering most of your questions but we're here if you need further advice.

xovu:

Let me ask you this way. Please suggest top 10 universities (in US, Europe or other, internationally recognized) offering online doctorate program for finance and economics, regardless their fees.

Well, in that case, especially you being European, I'd suggest you look at the British and Irish universities you consider the most prestigious, and contact their business schools about the possibility of doing a PhD in Business by directed research.  they'll want you to have a specific topic that interests you so that you can be paired up with a faculty member.  In fact, with this route it would be better for you to have a sense of what you want to research, then find faculty members who share that research interest and contact them directly.

-=Steve=-

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B.S., Info Sys, Charter Oak State College
M.A., Educational Tech Leadership, George Washington University
Doctor of Health Education, A.T. Still University, in progress