I've been looking at the International Open University in the Gambia, and I think it suits a certain type of student perfectly. 

https://iou.edu.gm/

They charged tuition fees tied to the country you are from and how economically strong it is. If the country has generally low income, you pay less, and vice versa. Even then, for $8000 at the highest pricing tier, the degree comes quite cheap and is probably cheaper than the non-CBE universities usually recommended here: TESU, Excelsior and COSC. They are particularly keen on recruiting African students and have scholarships on offer for students from certain African countries. 

Most of their programs have an element of Islamic education embedded into them, which is not necessarily a weakness. If you are a Muslim growing up in the West, you might be interested in that type of knowledge. Or if you want to work in diplomacy or in the Middle East, it could provide an added bonus to have knowledge about Islamic banking and finance. 

It's fully accredited in its home country (The Gambia) so it should easily convert over to other countries for recognition of education, transfer and admission into further education.

The official school website has published an article announcing the new degree. Wondering if it will be heavily transfer credit friendly from prior colleges or only accept  ACE credit. There is no information about when the new degree goes live for now.

Official website article:

https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/general-st...ive%20look.

[Note from moderator: This thread has been split from the thread Doctorates (QUICK) CHEAP). The post that follows was not written as the first post in a new thread, but rather as a post within that existing thread. The original context of the post that follows was discussing transferring credit into a doctorate at Capitol Technology University.]

I appear to have missed the word "fewer". But I believe the Wiki says they're now capped at 21.

So you can no longer do the classic path of, say, taking 42 coursework credit hours at Liberty University and avoiding the shame of having a Liberty PhD by speedrunning (by graduate standards) your 18-credit dissertation at Cap Tech.

I'm seeing a lot of "too good to be true" red flags such as full transfer of a Master's degree and fast-track completion claims; accreditation status seems to be based on IAO and EAHEA, and this program does use the European ECTS system; that said, it appears nowhere in the Anabin database, which I've lately been using as the benchmark to evaluate a degree's usability/validity. 

Also going to add that the address listed on the website is giving another potential red flag, as it's listed as a single floor of an office building rather than a proper campus. 

https://kimtuniversity.com/phd-in-intern...l-affairs/

Did I confabulate this, or did they float this idea at some point in the recent-ish past?

This institution gets discussed a lot here; it is accredited in Malta but I can't help notice that there is no "H+" indicator on the Anabin database. Does that mean anything in particular for the valid use of this institution's degrees in Germany? (or, for that matter, in Europe writ large outside of Malta?)

Dakota State University and South Dakota State University each offer a PhD in Computer Science in separate programs that collaborate. Each student is enrolled at and will receive a diploma from only one of the schools, but there’s a collaboration behind the scenes in which the schools can share courses. This collaboration launched on-campus circa 2020.

Recently, the schools’ application to offer each program online has been successful. In their application, DSU anticipates admitting 8 online students in FY 2026, 10 more in 2027, 15 more in 2028, and 20 more in 2029. SDSU anticipates admitting far fewer students online: 1 in 2027, 2 more in 2028, and 4 more in 2029.

Dakota State University has offered online PhDs in Information Systems, Cyber Defense, and Cyber Operations for years, and before that an online DSc in Information Systems.

Dakota State University PhD in Computer Science (landing page)
South Dakota State University PhD in Computer Science (landing page)

We are looking for four classes before enrolling at his end point school.  
English Comp 2
American Govt 
US History 2
Speech 

Yes we know the EPC will accept Straighterline and Sophia courses. 

Would you suggest one platform over another for those 4 courses? 

Strongly considering SDC over the others.  

It looks like Straughterline has added written assignments for US History 2 and US Govt.  the last time we had a student use Straighterline there were not written papers/projects for those courses - only the multiple choice quizzes and final exam.   


On SDC - Trying to make sure I understand - is the college saver pro unlimited courses and final exams per month or is it limited to 3 exams and then there is an additional fee for more exams?  Help please 

Potentially could add 2 upper level courses if using SDC also but not a requirement 

Thanks for any insight

It certainly seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur. Are there any known holdovers?

One of the things I notice perusing the websites of the OG (UK) Open University, the Open University of Catalonia that someone posted here earlier, is that their social sciences programs tend heavily to be aimed at producing Critical Theorists. There are some fields (eg Psychology, some forms of Historiography) where I recognize the utility of Critical Theory but it seems in general difficult to avoid encountering faculties dominated by that approach at the doctoral level, especially in UK-based and EU-based open universities. 

If one wishes to do something that is decidedly not grounded in this school of thought via an Open University-type educational model, what are the options? Without veering into something like Liberty University, whose doctrinaire "Natural Law" approach to the social sciences (as I've experienced from earning 9 credit hours there) brings its own unique set of problems.