Hey Everyone,

I need to ask about the MBA program that is provided by Edinburgh business school in partnership with AUC as when I searched for it I found that it's accredited by ACCET, which is not one of the globally 3 well-known accreditations. However, it's fees are less than the normal MBA in AUC, So any reviews about it?

Try searching the Board for Heriot-Watt or "Edinburgh Business School". Remember that "Edinburgh Business School" is not the University of Edinburgh Business School.

It's not a great programme.

As far as I know it's just the Heriot-Watt online program with AUC as a partner. Doing AUC's stand-alone program - or an internationally-accredited online program from another school - would be two much better options.

Try searching the Board for Heriot-Watt or "Edinburgh Business School". Remember that "Edinburgh Business School" is not the University of Edinburgh Business School.

It's not a great programme.

[Edited by Mister Wiggy on Apr 03, 2019]

This undergraduate accounting ranking would be relevant of the applicant wanted an undergraduate degree in accounting. Honestly, your AACSB school would not hire tenure track faculty from HW: a talented friend of mine has a PhD from EBS and was rejected by AACSB schools since they prefer to recruit from each other. Basic criteria, like listed faculty being alive, do not apply to the EBS MBA.

[Edited by Duncan on Apr 04, 2019]

AUC charges $29000 ($610 per credit) while HW should cost around £5,500(?) for Egyptians. Salaries in Egypt make the AUC cost very forbidding. So for the vast majority of the country, HW (online or face-to-face) is the absolute best they can afford.

The only other option at that price range is online, and it is UoL, with 60% higher price, £9,165, also without accreditation, and it is too new to know how good it is (although we can make an educated guess that it will be better)

Sadly there are not many options available/affordable for most Egyptians

Note: As always, those that can afford it, should go for better programs!

Well, if the options are HW or nothing, then maybe nothing is the better option (at least for some students).

If you are looking for business knowledge, there are a ton of free resources out there, coursera, MITx, etc.

For networking purposes, that UoL program would probably be ok. In this case I wouldn't worry so much about accreditations, since UoL is, well, UoL, and has been in the distance learning space for such a long time.

Well, if the options are HW or nothing, then maybe nothing is the better option (at least for some students).

If you are looking for business knowledge, there are a ton of free resources out there, coursera, MITx, etc.

Duncan has been trashing the H-W program for years without sound evidence to support his opinions. Check it out on the search tool here. It's his modus operandi. As soon as someone mentions Heriot-Watt, he swoops in to libel the program. He never provides any solid evidence, it's always anecdotal or sheer unsupported opinion. His rants on this subject should be regarded for the rubbish they are. Again, I am a U.S. faculty member at an AACSB-accredited university who has participated in the hiring process for professors for years. If Duncan thinks he has a friend from H-W with a PhD in business from the program who was turned down for faculty positions in the U.S., then he is either mistaken or a liar, because the H-W PhD in business program has only been in existence for a year, ergo, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE that he has such a friend (the DBA has been around for years, the PhD is a new program).

There are some U.S. universities that require AACSB doctorates for tenure track positions in business, there are others that require "AACSB or foreign equivalent", and H-W undeniably falls within the latter category. U.S. universities are all over the board on this issue, and smaller colleges would probably fall all over themselves to hire a PhD or DBA from H-W considering they generally have no such restrictions. Assuming Duncan is interested in pursuing the truth rather than perpetuating his biases (doubtful) he might want to speak with Dr. Bruce Bellner, a faculty member at Ohio State, a very good institution that is ahead of almost every UK institution in the World Rankings, who has a DBA from H-W and probably does not consider it a detriment to his U.S. academic career. It very much depends on the university, but they do not act like a monolith. I know this, because unlike Duncan, I am on the inside and have experience in such matters.

The essential problem here is that Duncan has an ax to grind.He is a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and is obviously bristling with indignation that Heriot-Watt has surpassed his once-elite institution in most b-school rankings. Duncan, we are all quite impressed that you became a PhD student at the second-best university for business and management in Edinburgh, but I dare say that does not make you anything but an ignoramus with regard to U.S. business schools and their hiring policies. One thing I've noticed on social media, discussion forums and the like is that U of E professors and students are downright hateful towards H-W--it's a phenomenon I haven't noticed with other universities. It's odd and disturbing, not indicative of a healthy environment at U of E; it's almost unique. My suggestion would be that they just come to terms with the fact that H-W is in ascendancy and has by many independent measures surpassed them. Your bitterness and delusions will go away, Duncan, once you reach the acceptance stage of grief.

By the way, folks, Duncan will be glad to take your $240 for his sage advice (check out his profile page), but I think if you want some notion of what your chances are landing at a U.S. business school, you'd be better served asking someone who's on the faculty of a U.S. business school. Call me crazy!

[Edited by Mister Wiggy on Apr 23, 2019]

You are mistaken. Let's pick up on my claims about EBS.
- My friend graduated from one of the school's PhD programmes in 2015. The programme certainly existed, and you can use LinkedIn or archive.org to verify that the program existed. He was turned down by the AACSB schools he applied to but, sure, I am sure there could be a school that would take him. That wasn't his experience.
- Dead and long retired "faculty" on the EBS MBA. That was absolutely the case when I checked the list (I used to date someone who worked at the school, and checked it myself).
- not accredited by AACSB. Certainly true.
- The HW business school has dropped the EBS brand on its on-campus programmes.
So, these are my claims. Engage with them.

PS I have no idea who the unnamed people are who are trashing HW, but I am not responsible for them. I am not claiming that HW is educationally worse than UEBS for its on-campus, pre-experience programmes. My friend had an excellent doctoral experience, and could not have found better supervision at UEBS for his topic. However, I must admit that I am unaware of any respected MBA ranking that *includes* HW, let alone has it ascendant over UEBS.

[Edited by Duncan on Apr 24, 2019]

Here is a 2011 page from the HW website outlining the PhD and DBA. https://web.archive.org/web/20111129073211/http://www.hw.ac.uk/research/research-degrees.htm here is a page from 2011 where the business school invites applications for the PhD: http://www.postgraduate.hw.ac.uk/sml/management/index/