Glaswegian

I'd agree, provided you exclude IT ... we still haven't recovered from the dot-com bubble bursting ... new technology also requires less bodies to support it than in the 80's/90's.

sandyback

Having just finished an Open University degree, I must agree with both of these points. Distance learning qualifications are seen by some as 'inferior' qualifications, even though the amount of work that goes into them is accredited as being equivalent to a 'full time' degree.

I would also like to raise the point that not everyone is in a position to be able to go to university full time. Alot of people who undertake their qualifications through distance learning do so because they have no other choice. I have put alot of hard work into my degree for the last five years, whilst working full time shifts and looking after a family. It is somewhat frustrating, then, to be told that my degree is not worth as much as if I had been able to attend university full time, which, IMHO, would have been a breeze by comparison!

Sandy.

Airseir

I beg to differ.
As a B.Sc Open University Graduate with relevant experience I have never had a problem moving from job to job - often beating graduates with 1:1 honours degrees from prestigious Universities. It often depends on the employer and the rest of your C.V.

When I worked at Nottingham University several professors admitted that a correspondance degree is a lot harder because the student has to learn the subject which is very different to being taught the subject.

Also in response to the original question - how hard you find a subject is directly relvant to how much you like the subject. I failed to obtian my Science qualifications - but spent to much time playing with computers. When I transfered to a computer course I couldnt believe how easy the course was and what simple questions came on the exam - but there again my own interest in the subject meant that I read more than the course offered and if I came across something new on the course the course materials were not sufficient to satisfy my curiosity so I had to go on line and find out more.

Jonny

I agree... But I was directly comparing degree courses and not including experience, personalities and the rest of your CV, which can be equally if not more important when applying for a job. I guess it depends on the subject matter and whether just learning about something and submitting essays/coursework is all that is needed in a degree course.

JAJ

The point I was making is that an OU or similar degree might not be viewed in quite the same league as a degree from Oxford or Cambridge - but is probably considered better than many of the degrees from the ex-polytechnics.

Jeremy

Smokey

Jeremy, I'm interested to know exactly what the difference is between an 'online' and a distance learning degree....can you expand a bit??

I wasn't thinking about accreditation for anything other than it's own sake as anything I might choose to study will not lead to a career change that needs a regulatory body...just to a degree. The question was born out of looking at online USA providers who don't seem to have one main regulatory body and none of them have any govt responsibility so it begs the question as to its real relevance.
Thanks for the link...I'll have a look when the headache subsides

Budgie1

We need to be careful with the terms we are throwing around here.

The thing you need to be aware of is the existance of what are called 'degree mills'. These are typically small (sometimes even 1 man!) 'organisations' who if you pay the fee and ususally submit some assignments etc will issue you a 'degree'. However it really isn't worth the paper it is written on, and will most likely result in you getting the sack for including it on your resume if discovered.

For US degrees the best way to ensure you avoid such an organisation is to make certain the university is "Regionally Accredited" which is the basic government quality control in the US.

In most cases there is no difference between 'online' vs 'distance learning' vs 'distance teaching' degrees.

For more information on this topic the following forum is the place to go: www.degreeinfo.com and click on the discussion forum link.

If you do not need the degree to get a job then just go for the program you can afford and looks interesting to you. If you need it to gain employment I would definately try to lean towards a Canadian one if at all possible and if you want to enter a completely new field I would be trying to go to a face to face traditional university.

I love distance learning and it is great if you are wanting to deepen you knowledge in your existing field of employment but it isn't really the best option to break into a new field with IMHO.

Goodluck

CalgaryAMC

Two *real* distance universities in Canada are Athabasca University and British Columbia Open University.

My wife took two courses (by which I mean individual university courses, not full degrees) from Athabasca that were no longer offered at the University of Calgary. They involved some assignments and a final exam taken at Athabasca's office in downtown Calgary. The courses were graded by a professor who was also available throughout the courses for questions. The material was covered properly, and knowledge learned was properly assessed. Only thing missing was the classroom experience. You would have to be highly self-motivated to get through a whole degree -- I don't think I could do it.

Every university in Canada will transfer courses from Athabasca; so you could do a year there, say, and then move into a traditional university and transfer your courses over. Very helpful if you don't meet a traditional faculty's entrance requirements right away: do a year at Athabasca, do well, and apply to a traditional university as a transfer student.

On the more general question of the quality of Canadian schools vs. British schools. I've said it before: if Canadian schools are no good, then it is a modern miracle that Canada functions. It does, obviously. So their schooling can't be all bad.

liftman

But Britain functions also, and everyone seems to think our education system is up the spout.

Are we all doing the usual "Brit bashing", even if we still live here, and our system is as good/bad as everyone elses?

Glaswegian

It's all down to expectations ... dumbed down education works as long as everyone has gone through the same dumbed down system ... everybody thinks the system in their country has gone donwhill, but is still superior to the system in other countries.

In the end, the people who lead the world will continue to do so irrespective of how the system works for the mass of the population ... neither Einstein or Bill Gates completed high school

Any education system falls apart if your kid gets the worst teacher in the worst school in the system

liftman

Could this be why I pay out £750 per month in school fees, so my two are in classes of twelve or thirteen?

dingbat

You will end up doing the same here, but you won't pay quite as much for the privilege....

liftman

Apparently, where I want to live has a High School with a REALLY good reputation.

Please Note: I say Apparently....................

Glaswegian

At our local private school charges about $4K per kid ... when I was working for the tight fisted arsehole who laid me off for asking for a pay rise (I'm not bitter about that), I couldn't even afford to think about it.

Trouble is that it's catch 22 ... bundle them into the public system, hope for the best and invest the money in an RESP ... or ... pay the money now and hope they get a scholarship later.

Our situation is further complicated because both my little darlings carry gifted ratings ... I'm going to get hit for some very expensive university education later in life ... the oldest one talks like a lawyer already and the youngest has leanings towards being a vet.

dingbat

I got round it by putting mine in Catholic School. I pay a low fee but they get the benefit of a private style education. I did have RESP's, but they got emptied by the ex during a nasty divorce. All but one of mine are classed as "gifted" here. Only one is, I think actually "gifted". They have just been taught to use their brains, that is all.