These tips are used for objective quality assessment (but not for personal suitability) from the outside and are only guidelines.
- Act-Test-Centers.com: List and profile of 4-year colleges in U.S. state of Alabama, i.e. private colleges and public universities of Alabama.
- AnyCountyPrivateSchools.com: List and profile of top-ranked business and management colleges in U.S. state of Alabama, i.e. BBA, MBA, PHD programs of Alabama.
- Provider location / title allocation
Who actually awards the degree? You will often find local marketing offices from internationally active schools. Sometimes there are also collaborations in which the domestic organization is only responsible for marketing the participants. If the MBA or master’s degree is awarded outside the EU, caution should be exercised. The title can then only be used with the approval of the respective Ministry of Culture, which carries out equality according to its own criteria. If the foreign master’s degree is not a course of study in the sense of the authority, the title is usually refused.
- Accreditation
Has the respective study program been checked by a recognized accreditation agency? Has the accreditation already been completed or is it still valid? If in doubt, take a look at the website of the respective accreditation agency.
- How long has the provider been on the market?
New providers don’t have to be bad. But it is mostly optimized in the first few years. Are there graduates you can interview? What about the reputation?
- Who are the partners in a business school?
- Public partner
Universities, the federal government, the federal states or municipalities usually stand for compliance with all education-related topics with such a provider: Great security, but often pragmatic procedures.
- Private-public partnership
A model that has often proven itself in practice: the public sector and companies together form the shareholder structure, which combines security and dynamism as well as possible. However, you should ask yourself the question who is involved to what extent, ie: Which forces make up the majority?
- Private shareholders
Private shareholders can stand for highly dynamic, market-oriented educational organizations. It is often possible to adapt the content to customer needs. This is where the risk of “title smithing” is greatest. In any case, organizations with such a shareholder structure need to be carefully examined.
- ECTS points
ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System and represents the workload of a training program. ECTS points say little about the quality of the respective offer. The workload is calculated from factors such as attendance hours, e-learning modules, self-learning phases and effort for the final thesis.
Attention: Although it would actually be the purpose of the ECTS workload points to establish a clear comparability across Europe, practice does not look like this.
Example:
Austria calculates differently and awards higher ECTS points for the respective achievement. It may now be the case, for example, that an equivalent MBA program prizes 150 ECTS points in Austria – but only 75 points are awarded in Germany. In Germany, however, this Austrian MBA would also be “only” worth 75 points and not 150 points.
Curious: As soon as an accreditation agency such as FIBAA accredits such an Austrian program, the points are set to “German level”. Ie the providers to be compared would be equivalent if both have an accreditation from FIBAA.
- What is the reputation or reputation?
How is a training organization perceived by HR decision-makers? The following generally applies: the better known, the better. In practice, however, this is difficult to determine. Clue: University rankings – but mostly only make a statement for the “World Top 20 Schools”.
- Are there external references? How safe is the continuation?
For example: graduates who can be interviewed or companies that work closely with the provider? How many recent graduates has a program already had? The more, the more likely it is to continue after your year. The termination of a study program can have a negative impact on the job market for the previous graduates.
- Pricing
Beware of “abnormal” pricing. Part-time MBA programs that cost less than 10,000 and more than 40,000 euros should be taken under special focus.
- Alumni / network
The alumni organization is almost as important as the course itself. This should ensure that you can still benefit from it years after graduation. Targeted inquiries from the provider can often shed light on this: How many graduates does this alumni organization include? How is the network idea lived? Alumni websites often also provide information about size and activities.
- Illuminate the participant structure
The fellow students are an important factor in an MBA program. Not only does a lot of work in teams, your fellow students form the network with you and form the outside opinion about the respective provider. A high percentage of international students would be desirable. The admission requirements (degree, professional experience, managerial experience) etc. can also be an indication of the “other” participants.
- Get expert advice
If you are unsure of what to make of the program of your choice, consult an expert.