I had a quick search for comparison but could not find it.
I'm wondering which one has higher Reputation ? Weiterbildung (Continuing Education) or Master degree (Master of Science) ?
Could you please compare them from both side pros and cos ?
Hi all,
Generally speaking a CAS or DAS or MAS Weiterbildung is like a postgraduate certificate or diploma. It is usually tailored to a specific field. It is not the same level as a Masters degree. With a Masters you can go on to do a PhD.
So you mean Master degree is just better due to continuity of Phd ? Is that all ?
Why not everybody prefer doing master instead of CAS, MAS, DAS ? Are they not eligible to get in master because of lack of bachelor degree ?
I am also wondering why government does not support weiterbildung while supporting Master degree ? Because master degrees seem much cheaper than weiterbildung.
Continuing education is tailored for professionals willing to acquire specific competences, you need a previous bachelor degree but not necessarily if for example you have enough previous work experience in the field, and can often be done parallel to work, your company may ask you to do it for example or you do it for career progression as an investment i guess, it's not for students and that's why the gov't doesn't support it, companies and professionals do it, also smaller classes so higher costs.
The topics are very specific and credit points are between 10-60, maybe parallel to work for a year, while a master is 90/120 ECTS (120 ECTS in EU), full-time, academic and gives you a broader education, so they're not very comparable. Just look at the various advanced studies offered by the fachhochschule and you will see for yourself who they're aimed at.
I assume you're asking because you're considering your options. In this case, "reputation" is jack s--t, the value they will add to YOUR career all completely depends on your experience, education thus far, ambitions and interests. Tell us more about yourself. MA degrees typically have a considerable research/academic aspect as they need to both 1.) specialize BA holders for the job market and/or 2.) prepare students for the perils of a Phd. The value an MA degree will add to your CV depends on your aspirations, the orientation of the program will often depend on the field. Weiterbildung is a universe I have little insight into, but my general impression is that its something you do after gaining working experience in your field, and that often you receive a diploma, not a degree.
I consider the MA or MSc to have a more prestigious reputation than weiterbildung but maybe that's wishful thinking because I just got my MA degree recently ;-) Really, reputation isn't everything. It's what YOU can make of it.
Thank you all. Actually I am not considering my options. My supervisor said that weiterbildung has a bit more than Msc. But that was for a specific weiterbildung I guess. Probably not a day long course but a fully qualified program like executive MBA which is also categorized under weiterbildung.
the point of this post then is to.....?
I was just wondering what differences could be. What my Supervisor said to me has not convinced me. That's the reason I asked in EF.
It sounds to me, that if you travel outside of Switzerland (or German speaking countries), and say you have a 'weiterbildung', people would have no clue what that means.
A masters degree is typically world recognized. Commonly not specialized and in theory not as useful for a specific job as it's weiterbildung, but a general higher level academic title.
What you are specifically interested in comparing is an MA/MSc with an MBA, rather than with the CAS, DAS, MAS courses. One big difference from the learning perspective is that a lot of MSc students are in their early 20s and have come straight from their bachelors (hence the "consecutive" degree that costs very little in Switzerland) while MBA students may be in their 30s and as well as having more money , often have a business network and a lot of work/management experience that others can learn from.