Country Preview: Poland - Inexpensive European Education

[bjcheung77]

Jagiellonian College: Non-research DBA/DSc, fully online/self paced, 90 ECTS, 1 year, 2.5K Euro
They also have on offer an MBA, fully online/self paced, 90 ECTS, 1 year, 2K Euro
Skip the Honorary Dr. and their BBA that is 1 year, 1.5K Euro as ECTS are not awarded

While searching for inexpensive graduate degrees, an acquaintance from Germany notified me of an interesting offering from Poland. A particular college has a simple English website targeting students who can complete the degree either in English or German.  I reviewed the links and original Polish college website and what is being told seems to check out!

The college website is very simple, somewhat repetitive with information provided, the school is accredited by the country and also shows properly with the H+ designation in the German Anabin database!  I was so surprised to notice that the institution only has business programs available at the moment in English/German.  I wonder if they're going to expand on that...

From my observation, this will appeal very much to individuals who have gone the ENEB/UC1 way to obtain a dual Masters. You can use this college to obtain a dual DBA, DSC, similarly to the dual degree I mentioned about previous in another country preview link for the PI, each of those doctorates could be had for under 5K, and be done in 3 years total. 

Just to be on the safe side, I am sending an email/contacting the Jagiellonian College directly using their Polish site and inquiring about the program as I don't see the DBA/DSC anywhere, it may be hidden or this is done through some partnership, I will find out more before I partake in their programs.

The Polish website of the university is available here: https://akademiajagiellonska.pl/
Please note that German-language counselling and study registration is only possible via the website you are currently on (http://www.dba-mba.com)

Yesterday, I sent an inquiry about their Doctorate Programs (DBA, DSC)

Hi, I have just one simple question for the DBA and DSC, the scripts are in English. Can the dissertation be in English instead of in German? I only know English and don't know German. Thank you for your time.

And Today, I got this reply.

Dear Bryan,

Thanks for your interest in the DBA/DSc. program.
Of course you can write your dissertation in Enlish as well.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen 

Diplom-Kfm. Univ.
Doctor of Business Administration

Student Service Jagiellonian College 
http://www.dba-mba.com (deutsche Informationsseite der Hochschule)
Tel.: 0049 152 18401962

[BigBird]

Interesting find! I just checked ANABIN myself and can confirm that they are there, however, with a comment from April 2023; It is "a private, state-accredited college without the right to award doctoral degrees" (Orig. in German: Akademia Jagiellonska w Toruniu ist eine private, staatlich anerkannte Hochschule ohne Promotionsrecht).

Edit 1: I just checked the German site https://www.dba-mba.com/ and saw that the email to contact is a Gmail address, and the given phone number is of a German mobile phone.. Looks fishy to me!

Edit 2: They even offer the degrees on Germany's Craigslist: https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-bestandsl...d=77835162. At this point, I would be surprised if they are affiliated with the college Akademia Jagiellonska w Toruniu.

[Messdiener]

Edit 2: They even offer the degrees on Germany's Craigslist: https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-bestandsl...d=77835162.

Thanks for the link to the German Craigslist! Now, simply out of curiosity, I can look for other degrees too!

At this point, I would be surprised if they are affiliated with the college Akademia Jagiellonska w Toruniu.

After reading the parallel thread on the other board, this thought did cross my mind as well. Could this be a rogue faculty (department) or group of faculty members doing a side project in Czechia and Germany to earn a bit more money? Beyond a number of other red flags I mentioned on the other site, I thought it particularly odd that the Faculty of Administration and Economic Studies is offering a 150-hour TESOL certificate: https://www.fves.eu/en/TESOL.html

[bjcheung77]

Basically, this DBA/DSC has a fine print on their webpage, it's not a research doctorate, it will not pass the third cycle/stage of the Bologna Process. I would compare this to a slightly better, cheaper, easier, and faster version of European International University or the Paris University of International Education. Even though I'm not going for any evaluation services, I might take this program for learning purposes and improving my research/written work (or the other $1500 Spanish offering, but I don't like using DeepL/Google Translate). If my guess is correct, I think Validential will evaluate this the same why they did for EIU & PUIE, it'll be RA equivalent at the doctorate level. For sure, they'll pass the CUCFE as they're the bottom of the barrel option that most people will skip.

ENEB has a partnership with MCA, it seems they're not aware that MCA isn't even accredited. I am thinking for this partnership that Jagiellonian College is working along side with, neither parties know AAHEA is an unknown accreditation agency (legit international institutions may have been fooled, just like Universidad Azteca as per the posts above discussing the same institution). I also believe that this degree is more of a Spanish propio but at the doctoral level. There are red flags, but I am using their platform to prepare me for doctoral studies... just like ENEB, I am not going to be using Validential or anyone else for evaluation purposes, I don't need to have them on my CV/resume at all. Again, I'm thinking of using them for filling pockets of experience/knowledge I am missing...

Edit to Add: I think this will work well with the CMI Level 8 Strategic Direction and Leadership offerings in the UK, even though these Level 8 are not DBA, they're similar to Doctoral studies without the dissertation. It can be an affordable addition or supplement, maybe even just doing the CMI Level 8 would be sufficient enough as these can be had for about the same price...

[BigBird]

Basically, this DBA/DSC has a fine print on their webpage, it's not a research doctorate, it will not pass the third cycle/stage of the Bologna Process. I would compare this to a slightly better, cheaper, easier, and faster version of European International University or the Paris University of International Education. Even though I'm not going for any evaluation services, I might take this program for learning purposes and improving my research/written work (or the other $1500 Spanish offering, but I don't like using DeepL/Google Translate). If my guess is correct, I think Validential will evaluate this the same why they did for EIU & PUIE, it'll be RA equivalent at the doctorate level. For sure, they'll pass the CUCFE as they're the bottom of the barrel option that most people will skip.

ENEB has a partnership with MCA, it seems they're not aware that MCA isn't even accredited. I am thinking for this partnership that Jagiellonian College is working along side with, neither parties know AAHEA is an unknown accreditation agency (legit international institutions may have been fooled, just like Universidad Azteca as per the posts above discussing the same institution). I also believe that this degree is more of a Spanish propio but at the doctoral level. There are red flags, but I am using their platform to prepare me for doctoral studies... just like ENEB, I am not going to be using Validential or anyone else for evaluation purposes, I don't need to have them on my CV/resume at all. Again, I'm thinking of using them for filling pockets of experience/knowledge I am missing...

Edit to Add: I think this will work well with the CMI Level 8 Strategic Direction and Leadership offerings in the UK, even though these Level 8 are not DBA, they're similar to Doctoral studies without the dissertation. It can be an affordable addition or supplement, maybe even just doing the CMI Level 8 would be sufficient enough as these can be had for about the same price...

I agree it may be a good way to prepare for doctoral studies, but due to the inconsistencies with the German site (maybe they are just another intermediary in this structure), I would only go with the official international site https://www.fves.eu/en to contact faculty (or enroll). Also, would most definitely wait for the college's reply to see if there is a proper affiliation with them?

---

At this point, I would be surprised if they are affiliated with the college Akademia Jagiellonska w Toruniu.

After reading the parallel thread on the other board, this thought did cross my mind as well. Could this be a rogue faculty (department) or group of faculty members doing a side project in Czechia and Germany to earn a bit more money? Beyond a number of other red flags I mentioned on the other site, I thought it particularly odd that the Faculty of Administration and Economic Studies is offering a 150-hour TESOL certificate: https://www.fves.eu/en/TESOL.html

From my research, I would say that fves.eu may actually have some sort of partnership with the Polish college, similar to what we know from ENEB/UI1. However, it is the German site that throws me off.. Too many red flags, and I cannot see any reason to believe they are part of this structure. Why would there be a German site in the first place? None of the Czech faculty is German (or has studied there), nor are the official programs offered in German.

[bjcheung77]

There's much more traction on the sister board, very interesting indeed: https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?thr...tion.62080

[Kab]

Check the elective charge of credits and the recognition of the diploma. Whatever the name is does not fulfill the requirements to be considered a degree under Bologna Process law as far as I know. I could be wrong, so please I urge to check it. Poland officials titles are licencjat, inżynier, magister and doktorat that I'm aware of. Remember that the degree has to follow the rules of the country (with the correspondent allowed name for superior education) and have the adequate charge of credits to be valid.
The studies/products that appear in the page:
Some of the programs have value in credits others directly have 0 value in credits (BBA).
They specify that all are postgraduate studies come with a lot papers and supplements. They do not belong to any category of Bachelor, Master or PhD under Bologna process law, they are postgraduate studies under polish law for my limited understanding of that countries law.
They specify that all the doctorates offered does not fulfill the third step of education in Europe because they are not a research doctorate.

I think the law they talk about is in this page:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...QZImtRORfM

The cited article which is the basis for the studies can be this one? Please confirm.

Art. 164. The minister competent for higher education and science shall specify,
by way of a regulation:
1) the necessary components of a certificate of completion of post-graduate studies,
certificate of a qualified specialist and certificate of a qualified technology specia-
list,
2) the method of certification of the documents referred to in Art. 163 sec. 3, inten-
ded for legal exchange with foreign countries,
3) the amount and method of charging of fees for the certification of documents in-
tended for legal exchange with foreign countries
– bearing in mind the need to ensure the completeness of the information contained in
these documents, the particular importance of documents intended for legal exchan-
ge with foreign countries, as well as the adequacy of the fees to the costs.

To me sounds as a course or specialty. Which has no subjects or minimum time require, just a final paper. The transcript specifies that the studies lasted a year.

A page with very general information about polish studies https://wellcome-home.com/guide/higher-e...in-poland/
It sounds to me that the offered products is a postgraduate course with the value to you want to give to the granting organization.

[JPN]

The MA in Political Science at the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz was a program I was looking at sometime back. I didn't really look too much into it but it seemed like the cheapest online MA in Political Science program I could find in Europe (about $6k USD).

https://www.ahe.lodz.pl/en/study-in-engl...al-science

[Tomas]

I agree it may be a good way to prepare for doctoral studies, but due to the inconsistencies with the German site (maybe they are just another intermediary in this structure), I would only go with the official international site https://www.fves.eu/en to contact faculty (or enroll). Also, would most definitely wait for the college's reply to see if there is a proper affiliation with them?

FVES is a faculty of Polish uni in Czech republic. As such, bachelor and masters degrees look legit (ie accredited in Poland and thus recognized in Czech r.). 
Not the other degrees. DBA title for example, is completely outside of academic system in Czech republic. I believe it's very similar in Poland where the mother university resides. 
There's quite tough accreditation process for bachelors/masters/phd degrees here. None for MBA/DBA and such (somoe might have some ministry-level approval, but that doesn't really mean anything - nothing rigorous and outside of academic system).
Unless it's accredited by some respected international accreditation institution, it has little academic value (of course might still be fine for non-academic purposes).

[tallis]

This year, the Jagiellonian Academy was featured in 8th place among non-public universities in Perspektywy ranking, the most popular and prestigious academic ranking in Poland.

https://2023.ranking.perspektywy.org/ran...ty-ranking

I guess it confirms its legitimacy, although I have to admit I heard nothing about it before, but perhaps it's because the non-public universities are mostly targeting the foreigners. High schoolers in Poland mostly choose to go to a public university, as it's tuition-free.