Open University: The Digital Economy

[eriehiker]

I was looking at futurelearn, the EU version of edX/Coursera and I came across a graduate level program that was interesting:

Program Page

This is a program of four courses.  Each course is free, but requires an upgraded $84 certificate.  Once all certificates are earned, there is a culminating assessment course that costs 499 pounds.  If completed successfully, the student earns 15 graduate credits from the Open University.

This has some potential.

[dfrecore]

Interesting - except that it's a fairly expensive (for this forum) MBA degree - about $21k.

Their MBA program is 180cr, so this gets you less than 10% of the way through the program. The other 15cr courses you can take through them directly are ~ $2000 each. This portion only saves you about $1000. So not a GREAT deal.

I would say that if you're interested in seeing how you do with an MBA-level course, that this might be a good and inexpensive start. But, you could also do this through APU or ENMU or another school at just a bit more (~ $1000/course) and have a US course that is transferable to other programs, and a less expensive overall degree.

[chorizo]

Interesting - except that it's a fairly expensive (for this forum) MBA degree - about $21k.

Their MBA program is 180cr, so this gets you less than 10% of the way through the program.  The other 15cr courses you can take through them directly are ~ $2000 each.  This portion only saves you about $1000.  So not a GREAT deal.

I would say that if you're interested in seeing how you do with an MBA-level course, that this might be a good and inexpensive start.  But, you could also do this through APU or ENMU or another school at just a bit more (~ $1000/course) and have a US course that is transferable to other programs, and a less expensive overall degree.

Just of note- the Open University has full regional accreditation through Middle States
http://www.msche.org/institutions_view.a...tution=560

[Yenisei]

Open University is great, and, depending on your goals and circumstances, their alumni network may be better than what you'd get at many US schools, plus it never hurts to have a degree from a respected international university on your resume (note that the program is also AACSB).

[eriehiker]

I was kind of looking at this a little bit differently. I don't think that this is the best option for an actual MBA. It would be interesting to see how this 15 credits is transcripted. Basically, it is 15 graduate credits for $1,000. That is a pretty competitive price. My math puts it at $67 per credit. If the 15 could be used to get 18 graduate credits, then this could be a nice value without the MBA for someone with a masters hoping to teach. Maybe. Of course, maybe not. It is interesting.

[jsd]

Interesting - except that it's a fairly expensive (for this forum) MBA degree - about $21k.

Their MBA program is 180cr, so this gets you less than 10% of the way through the program.  The other 15cr courses you can take through them directly are ~ $2000 each.  This portion only saves you about $1000.  So not a GREAT deal.

I would say that if you're interested in seeing how you do with an MBA-level course, that this might be a good and inexpensive start.  But, you could also do this through APU or ENMU or another school at just a bit more (~ $1000/course) and have a US course that is transferable to other programs, and a less expensive overall degree.

Just of note- the Open University has full regional accreditation through Middle States
http://www.msche.org/institutions_view.a...tution=560

Not that it's a bad thing, but since when are the regional accreditors reviewing foreign programs? That doesn't seem very regional.

[Yenisei]

Canada's Athabasca University is also regionally accredited.

[dfrecore]

I was kind of looking at this a little bit differently.  I don't think that this is the best option for an actual MBA.  It would be interesting to see how this 15 credits is transcripted.  Basically, it is 15 graduate credits for $1,000.  That is a pretty competitive price.  My math puts it at $67 per credit.  If the 15 could be used to get 18 graduate credits, then this could be a nice value without the MBA for someone with a masters hoping to teach.  Maybe.  Of course, maybe not.  It is interesting.

Since the credits for this MBA program are 180, and a US program would be closer to 30, I'm guessing they're not coming over as 15cr - they would come over as something closer to 2.5cr (30/180 = 2.5/15).  So closer to $400/cr.

[eriehiker]

You are the best dfrecore. Always great insight.

[dfrecore]

You are the best dfrecore.  Always great insight.

It's kind of like trying to compare a semester-based system to a quarter-based system.  The credits don't come over on a 1:1 basis.  It's proportional.