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sisyphus
Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 170
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 Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:56 pm Post subject: MA question |
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Im considering doing an MA probably either the Univ of Leicester or the St Marys College University..the latter has a part time 2 yr course with intensive weekends in Berlin.
The question is if this would be classified more as a face to face MA rather than the Leicester one which is pure distance?
The point is im nervous that many people say distance MAs are no use in the ME?
Also there is a v cheap MA at Sunderland but not sure if this is one of the 'accredited' MAs, and how do we know which MAs are accredited?
Yours
Confused |
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Englishish
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:33 am Post subject: |
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I got info from the Uni of Leicester sent out to me re doing the MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, which is for people with at least 2 years experience. The other one is the MA TESOL for people who are starting out/have very limited experience. (Have no intentions of doing the MA at the moment but I like to be prepared!) According to the FAQs there is 'absolutely no difference in the qualification that you receive, whether it is by full-time or part-time study, campus-based or distance learning.'
I guess that means there's no way of telling from the certificate whether it has been done by distance or not (though I recall someone on one of these posts saying that the employers could cross reference it to when and where you were working if they were fussy. The consensus seems to be that this would be unlikely - and certainly, I've never seen posts advertised that suggest an online MA is not accepted/acceptable. From what I gathered from another poster, the distance MA is only considered dodgy if it is a place which does not offer an on-campus MA e.g. is not a proper university. It seems a lot of (most?) people do distance MAs and it's not a problem but I'm sure some others will fill you in on this better than I can.
By the way, the reason I was looking at Leicester was because it was listed as one of the places where you can transfer credits from a DELTA (which I should be starting soon!) Some info here on unis in the UK that do credit transfer if you're/anyone's interested:
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/delta-exemptions.html |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:43 am Post subject: |
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At the uni in the Netherlands where I teach, our building is also a base for the on-site components of the St. Mary's program.
Some of my colleagues who know more about the course don't hold it in very high repute. They're seriously disparaging, in fact.
I don't know anything about the program personally and I don't know if it's generally looked down upon, or if it's just my colleagues, but you might want to check around a bit... |
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Englishish
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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Just seen question about accreditation for the MA now. Uni of Sunderland is a recognised university in the UK so I can't see them giving dodgy MAs but it's always a good idea to check out any place you're thinking of going to.
You might find this link useful. It lists accredited unis in the UK for degrees (which confirms the Uni of Sunderland is accredited) but I don't really know if the accreditation system for Masters degrees works differently from undergraduate degrees. (Can a Uni be accredited for one but not the other?) There's an enquiry form so that might be your best bet to ask about MAs.
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/UKHESECTOR/FAQS/Pages/Quality-Accreditation-and-Recognition.aspx#Q5 |
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sisyphus
Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 170
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| Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Another question is if it is better to do am MA Applied Linguistics or an MA Tesol etc....im probably looking at the Gulf region for future... |
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Chris_Crossley
Joined: 26 Jun 2004
Posts: 1797
Location: Still in the centre of Furnace City, PRC, after eight years!!!
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:34 am Post subject: In the UK, Royal Charters mean "accreditation" |
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| Englishish wrote: |
| Just seen (a) question about accreditation for the MA now. Uni of Sunderland is a recognised university in the UK so I can't see them giving dodgy MAs but it's always a good idea to check out any place you're thinking of going to. |
Universities in the UK have to be awarded what is called a Royal Charter on behalf of the monarch in order to allow themselves to operate as institutions of higher education with their own powers to award their own qualifications, such as degrees. All universities in the UK, aside from the University of Buckingham and any branches of foreign universities (e.g., Schiller University from the U.S. has - or at least "had" when I last looked - a branch in Waterloo, London), are publicly-funded.
Over the past 17 or so years, after the two-tier polytechnic/university system was brought to an end in 1992, Queen Elizabeth has attached her name to quite a number of Royal Charters that have resulted in the creation of "new" universities which had been either polytechnics or else colleges/institutes of higher education. Until that time, they would either have had qualifications "accredited" by the now-defunct Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) or else by already-existing universities to which colleges (or else specific courses) would have been somehow affiliated.
(Note: The colleges at Oxford, Cambridge and London have always been an integral part of those universities and operate under different systems; in the case of London, each college is autonomous, devising their own programmes and examinations, while Imperial College went completely independent a while back.)
Hence, places like Derby, Luton, Portsmouth, Chichester, Wolverhampton (in England) and even Wrexham (in Wales) now have the right to call themselves university towns. The issue of a Royal Charter is by itself considered to be the equivalent of "accreditation" in other countries like Canada and the United States. |
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X-Bar Theory
Joined: 07 Jan 2009
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:20 am Post subject: Re: MA question |
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| sisyphus wrote: |
Also there is a v cheap MA at Sunderland but not sure if this is one of the 'accredited' MAs, and how do we know which MAs are accredited? |
To see which universities are recognised throughout the world, you may go to UNESCO's universities list at the link below and select the country where the university is located.
http://www.unesco.org/iau/onlinedatabases/list.html |
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norwalkesl
Joined: 22 Oct 2009
Posts: 366
Location: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-China
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:25 am Post subject: |
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| Englishish wrote: |
| I got info from the Uni of Leicester sent out to me re doing the MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, which is for people with at least 2 years experience. The other one is the MA TESOL for people who are starting out/have very limited experience. (Have no intentions of doing the MA at the moment but I like to be prepared!) According to the FAQs there is 'absolutely no difference in the qualification that you receive, whether it is by full-time or part-time study, campus-based or distance learning.' |
The issue is not whether the UNI claims the program is the same (who would admit otherwise?), but what your future employers might think. In the ME online degrees are viewed with suspicion, and they must be vetted by the nation's Dept of Education or similar. If they have not gotten certified then your blended MA will not be accepted.
Some countries accept them and some do not and there are no hard and fast rules for who accepts which degree. |
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