Open University courses?

[mudskipper]

Years ago I did the post-grad project management module. It was well presented, but probably fairly basic for anyone with a lot of experience in the field (I hadn't at the time).

Didn't do anything for a long time, then did a couple of the 10 point short courses in the Arts - for interest really, my education was all maths/science. Really enjoyed them, and am now half way through my second full length course, again in the arts, which has been challenging and frustrating but enjoyable. Not sure whether I'll continue to get a degree (at least three years away), but have felt a sense of personal achievement doing something new outside my comfort zone. It does take quite a lot of time commitment though.

As far as cost goes, it's well worth saving up your Tesco vouchers. You can trade them for 4x face value OU vouchers - so a full (60 point) OU course will cost you around £160 of Tesco vouchers.

[Tingles]

A good exit strategy to get out of IT IMHO.

[norrahe]

Most of the Exec MBAs will set you back between £28 to £50k at the decent schools. You're looking at 3 years and will have to have an understanding clientco as some of them require 2 weeks a year and 1 long weekend a month.

It is the easier way of studying.

[AtW]

There a quite a few UK places that are internationally recognised I should know, a friend of mine is a director at cranfield business school and bores me to death on rankings.

Do you really think that getting MBA outside of top schools is worth that much? It's actually not (that's my conclusion after time I researched it in 1999).

LBS, U of Cam, U of Ox (weak MBA actually, but brand name is good), a few more and you are out of top 50 global ones.

It won't be cheap - and it's likely to be waste of money unless you get into top schools, that's IMHO.

[norrahe]

Recognised (in the UK) does not mean reputable (internationally).

In the UK there are maybe two places that do proper recogniseable MBAs, in reality you really need to to to USA for it - if you get into top 10 Unis known for their MBAs, then it might worth the money.

There a quite a few UK places that are internationally recognised I should know, a friend of mine is a director at cranfield business school and bores me to death on rankings.

[Tingles]

Do an Exec MBA - Supposed to be populated with more senior delegates...

There's loads of Universities with distance / online / part-time modules.

I chose my local University as it's contractor friendly (distance / on-line plus 3 days lectures every 5 weeks) - also, they allow 2nd year's modules to be taken in some european universities.

I'm off to the Helisinki School of Economics in the Autumn for International Business - long weekend.



T

[AtW]

The OU MBA is actually one of the more recognised

Recognised (in the UK) does not mean reputable (internationally).

In the UK there are maybe two places that do proper recogniseable MBAs, in reality you really need to to to USA for it - if you get into top 10 Unis known for their MBAs, then it might worth the money.

Personally I am pleased my MBA apps were rejected 10 years ago, now I just need to find where those rejection letters are and put them in a place where I can see them a few times a day... now THAT is worth more than any MBA could have possibly given me

[norrahe]

If you do an MBA either do it from a very reputable place or don't do it at all

HTH

AtW

(MBA'99 reject of Stanford, Harvard.)

The OU MBA is actually one of the more recognised, (was looking at it yesterday, you're looking at 12k and 3 years. you can do the Cranfield exec which is 2 years part time and will set you back 28k, but you do have to commit to time off a gig to attend lectures.

The OU has a lot of choice Mr Norr is currently doing a physics degree, some of the third year courses will set you back £500 and some less. It does vary. Best to check out the website.

As for an MBA I'm trying work out the if it will benefit me at all as a contractor.

[DieScum]

I signed up for an MBA module a few years back but I just found it impossibly boring and impractical. Maybe I just need to knuckle done.

[AtW]

If you do an MBA either do it from a very reputable place or don't do it at all

HTH

AtW

(MBA'99 reject of Stanford, Harvard.)

[Paddy]

MBA

It's easy too

[DieScum]

Has anybody done any open university courses? I did some a few years back and enjoyed them. Looking for any recommendations probably in the computing/technology field but I'm open to other suggestions.

One issue I have is the cost. Nowadays there are a lot of open source uni classes online (Stanford, MIT, etc) so wondering if it is worth dropping 400-1k to be part of an official class, have tutorial, assignments and exams.

Any personal recommendations?