If any of you have heard of or have personal knowledge about the Swiss Management Center , could you please s hare. Does this center have a reputation, academic credibility?
A friend from Singapore is considering enrolling in a doctorate program with the Swiss Management Center for an online Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program.
Never heard of them, they look like one of these multiple private business schools that seem more concerned by taking your money in exchange of a diploma rather than challenging its students and teaching them something. That might be what your friend wants/needs.
If on the other hand your friends wants something a bit more serious, he should rather look at more established academic institutions, places like IMD or HEC for example. This will however require a bit more in terms of commitment (fees, presence ...)
List_of_business_schools_in_Europe - especially the ones in bold are reputable.
Were your friend to glean through the internet, you'll find some questions raised about accreditation for SMC especially within Switzerland itself, and of course there are some who defend the institution citing it is accredited in the US.
I never heard of them and I actually looked around for an MBA a lot. Their "accreditation" is with a widely unknown association. I would be very careful and check with your local academic councils weather or not you are allowed to use their doctorate titles in your country. In my home country the usage of a academic title that does not meet the govermental standards is a crime, so your friend better checks twice.
I find it amazing that people judge an institution because it is private or it is online. I have two traditional degrees from the University of Alberta (BComm, M.Ed) . I also am a student at SMC. I find the content challenging and when it comes to the doctorate level, it is personal. You can write a dissertation that will blow the socks off the world or write a safe boring traditional dissertation that no one will read. The institution makes no difference.
Give SMC a chance. They are in their infancy stage and I am impressed with the rigor and the Faculty. Have you checked who the Dean of the School of Business is?
While I agree with you that an unknown university can offer challenging and rigorous education, I think it is important to know the potential impact of the choice of an educational institution on employment/career prospects.
SMC is accredited with ACBSP and not with AACSB and it is the latter that is often considered a 'gold standard' for MBA programmes. So for someone who does not have any experience and is hoping to become more competitive at the entry-level job market by earning this degree, the difference may be very important. You can be less picky about school reputation if you already have good experience and are entering a programme only to improve your skills and knowledge in a particular area.
Either way, ACBSP is still an accreditation, which is better than no accreditation at all.
I disagree with some of the respondents here since they are obviously not familiar at all with SMC. I feel it is an innovative online international program with many top global corporations being represented -- that should tell you a lot about SMC. See link below:
http://www.swissmc.ch/Competence/Our...al_Experience/
Its programs are accredited by ACBSP in the US. So, which one is a better accreditation body, ACBSP or AACSB?
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish by getting your MBA. I got mine from Michigan State University (Broad) ranked in top 30 and #2 in Supply chain/logistics. If you are looking for recruitment from firms visiting campus, you should try to go to a top 30 program that is full time. An advantage of full time is that you are assigned to a study group for the two years you are in the program and you get to learn a lot from others' strengths and previous experiences in different business functions -- key to understanding business. Another perk may be that during the summer between your year one and year two, your entire class may attend the Global Management course in a place like Japan and Singapore or Europe, providing you a very close look at international business and its impact on the economy, your country, and your company.
If your expectation is to learn business, but don't have the money or time to spend in school for two years without a paycheck; part-time or online programs can do very nicely. For one part, you keep collecting your pay check, for another, your employer is probably reimbursing your studies, and lastly, you may be using your newly acquired skills in your current job to make an impact on the organization and earn that promotion, or get a headhunter to recruit you. U.S. News & World Report and Business Week magazines publish ratings of MBA programs each year. One area they look at is the salaries before and after the program. If the potential salaries of a particular school won't improve your earnings, why go into debt, forego a pay check and potential annual increases over two years? Two extra years at work can also result in a promotion, especially if you are applying what you learn on a part-time or online program.
If gaining new skills is your expectation, then there should be very little difference between accreditation bodies. For instance, take the University of Dallas online MBA. Do you think that employers will ask you to provide the accreditation body for UoD? University of Dallas has a strong educational reputation and the school's reputation will be more important than the accreditation body.
So, what is the importance of accreditation? ACBSP follows the educational quality processes under the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Quality. AACSB does the similar but places a lot of importance in research and publication. The point of the accreditation should be that quality standards are most likely followed in order to gain and retain accreditation. AACSB accreditation is not likely for smaller schools like the University of Dallas because they do not have the resources and will not be doing a lot of research or publishing.
I have talked to many MBA grads from top programs who did not feel they got all they should have gotten from their programs. In many cases, teaching assistants delivered classes while the tenured professor was doing research (e.g., publish or perish). I feel that the pressure academia has put on business education produces a lot of professors that have no real business experience except what they have read in books.
On the other side, I have seen retired business executives teaching; they really bring a lot of experience to the class. Would you rather be taught by Lee Iacocca, former CEO at Chrysler, or by some tenure professor who never ran a business? The sad thing is that Iacocca would never be made a tenured professor because he lacked time in academia and didn't have a doctorate degree. Folks like Iacocca are more likely to teach at ACBSP schools than AACSB.
Bottom-line, the difference between the two bodies comes down to the size & resources of the institution and its research scope. By the way, we need both; what should be important to you is what you want to accomplish and how to best accomplish it. One thing that impresses me about ACBSP is that it is becoming the more innovative body on how to deliver education and that follows the same pattern of business as e-commerce "killer apps" disrupt brick and mortar organizations and create acceleration in the delivery of goods and services.
Concerning accreditation in Switzerland; some accrediting requirements include having 100 teaching positions making it virtually impossible for a smaller business school to receive it. Sounds familiar? Anyway, wouldn't having a business accreditation body like ACBSP in the US providing accreditation sufficient? Please do your research....
Hi huys.
I am also really interested in the SMC's MBA. It can be done online, so this is just what I need to keep working in my actual company.
But... any experience with this MBA?? Regarding tuiton fees in Switzerland SMC is pretty cheap. Let's see the cuality and recognition in Europe...
Hey guys any more useful info on SMC? I'm also planning to enrol in their online DBA program (as soon as I'm there in Ch , mainly because of low costs and because I can't afford to be a full-time studnet, but can't make up my mind.
I did my own due diligence and contacted Swiss Management Center University regarding their accreditation. They are accredited both in Europe and in the USA.
I have just commenced my DBA studies and find the Professors knowledgeable and the course content challenging.
Please google "Jim Kayalar" and you will come across my numerous publications and case studies published by Harvard Business Review, Ivey Publishing Canada, CCMP Publishing France etc...
I chose to study at SMC because they are accredited, they give you great value for your investment and you may use your degree to teach in the US.
Please visit my website at www.biztuneup.biz if you have further questions.
I have been teaching a doctoral course at Swiss Management Centre since 2007 and there can be no finer on-line learning experience than the one they offer. It has been my privilege to work with adults who display amazing self -direction and discipline, read and complete very challenging assignments on time and with enough sophistication to rival what your "accredited" institutions can can offer.
Learning is about personal motivation to acquire knowledge,skills and changed attitudes and transfer these to work environments for effectiveness. I don't see what accreditation got to do with this. Anyone who successfully completes an on-line advanced learning programme is definitely the stuff of leadership and management
Hi everyone,
I would like to give a personal insight about the SMC as a doctorate student myself and a client I guess. I have read quite a lot about its accreditations and to be honest unless one looks at postgraduate studies and beyond, it does not matter much job wise if one does consider already having a masters degree. I also believe the current accreditations are sufficient to attest about the seriousness of the SMC.
However, let's be clear: the SMC is an online institution and as opposed to a resident university student one can take his/her time and prepare work depending on his/her agenda. That's a huge benefit as it removes the stress of typical exams following a specific schedule. The knowledge one needs to acquire are business fundamentals that one can get through books and others and does not vary from what one could learn in a university class room. The difference lies in the fact that one needs to apply the self discpline required to learn and produce the homeworks. Furthermore, the concepts one has to apply are not complex as such and the doctorate curriculum is pretty much centered on on practical matters rather than fundamental research. It does not preempt the fact that one needs to spend lots of hours to research and eventually complete the required thesis work as it would be the case in any other university, accredited or not.
As for the cost involved, it is pretty clear to me that this is a relatively affordable investment for anyone willing to enter in a doctorate programe.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the content of the curriculum and the feedback provided by the professors during my two year 1/2 studies. I believe it is rather a personal satisfaction of achivement one does get at the end. But once again, I am talking here about doctorate programes and that applies to my case which is not about getting further credits in other universities or teach somewhere.
Cheers
Olivez
Hi everyone,
I would like to give a personal insight about the SMC as a doctorate student myself and a client I guess. I have read quite a lot about its accreditations and to be honest unless one looks at postgraduate studies and beyond, it does not matter much job wise if one does consider already having a masters degree. I also believe the current accreditations are sufficient to attest about the seriousness of the SMC.
However, let's be clear: the SMC is an online institution and as opposed to a resident university student one can take his/her time and prepare work depending on his/her agenda. That's a huge benefit as it removes the stress of typical exams following a specific schedule. The knowledge one needs to acquire are business fundamentals that one can get through books and others and does not vary from what one could learn in a university class room. The difference lies in the fact that one needs to apply the self discpline required to learn and produce the homeworks. Furthermore, the concepts one has to apply are not complex as such and the doctorate curriculum is pretty much centered on on practical matters rather than fundamental research. It does not preempt the fact that one needs to spend lots of hours to research and eventually complete the required thesis work as it would be the case in any other university, accredited or not.
As for the cost involved, it is pretty clear to me that this is a relatively affordable investment for anyone willing to enter in a doctorate programe.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the content of the curriculum and the feedback provided by the professors during my two year 1/2 studies. I believe it is rather a personal satisfaction of achievement one does get at the end. But once again, I am talking here about doctorate programes and that applies to my case which is not about getting further credits in other universities or teach somewhere.
Cheers
Olivez