Hello Everybody,

I need your help. I am currently Financial Manager and my background is in Finance having 4 years of junior level postion experience.

I would like to do DL MBA as I can't move to UK and I am considering these two: First Warwick and the second Aston.

Could you help me to decide which one will be best for me? As I am looking forward to change my carrier life and going to higher postion after graduation and my aim is to have good MBA and internationally recognized diploma.

THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR HELP AND RECOMMENDATIONS!

Search the distance learning board for Warwick and Aston

There's a lot of discussion on them. Both are very strong.

Why not take a part-time MBA in your own country, to build a stronger network? Where are you?

Thanks Duncan for your reply. Because of nature of my work and personality I can't be in one country stably and that's why I am changing countries very often I would say once a year and also I have already finished 3 universities and now I would like to do MBA even I am just 26 y.o.

And main reason why in UK? Because the best opportunities for me is in UK so I would like to move finally and spend some years of my life in UK and I hope UK degree will help me on it.

So what you think where I can achieve more that at Aston or at Warwick? Btw I am very practical guy and I don't like too much theory and that's why I decided to do MBA and also I would like to have internationally recognized diploma but I would like it to be from UK as for me UK education is the best.

Thanks.

They are both very strong. Read the comments on the discussion board about them and pick the one that best fits you.

And by recognition both have same kind of image? Because as I see in FT Top 100 Warwick is on 40th place and Aston on 86th so I think it means something no? And also in UK Warwik is #4 and Aston #11.

Could you tell me exactly if there is comparison of these 2 schools somewhere? I didn''t find exactly where is good comparison most of them are very general and not very specific about main differences.

Thanks in advance Duncan for your help.

I think you'll have to go through the posts to see what's in them. I can't point you to one post in particular.

Warwick is generally seen as a better school than Aston, but you need to look at your own needs, and the electives they offer.

OK thanks a lot Duncan for your replies. Appreciated. :)

And main reason why in UK? Because the best opportunities for me is in UK so I would like to move finally and spend some years of my life in UK and I hope UK degree will help me on it.

I totally agree. If you want to work in the UK, either save up and study full-time in the UK or find out what sort of people firms in your own country send to the UK, and become one of those.

Thanks guys for such kind of interesting advice and I really appreciate it a lot.

And what about Europe? Do you think UK distance learning degrees are highly appreciated in Europe? As unfortunately I am not from EU so in UK I need work permission and for EU I am having it but unfortunately with my EU Blue Card I can work everywhere Except of UK, Ireland and Denmark but my target locations are: France and Switzerland and I did actually masters degrees there but I think to do MBA in UK would be better and more appreciated. Because as you know UK education level is much higher.

Do you have any recommendations?

I think it's an absolute myth that the education level is better in the UK than in France or Switzerland. The opposite is true. What the UK has is a bigger higher education sector with high awareness in the Commonwealth countries.

Swiss and French businesses have no sense that their respected business schools are in any way interior to their peers in Britain. I don't think managers there will see a DL MBA from Warwick, Henley or Manchester, for example, as better than an MBA from one of the top grande ecoles, from HSG etc.

I agree with Duncan. There are a lot of good MBA programs in France and Switzerland - and these would generally have more value than a a distance learning MBA program from the UK.

A few schools to consider:

France:
HEC Paris
EMLYON
ESSEC

Switzerland:
IMD
HEC Genève
St. Gallen

Ye but they never know if it was DL MBA or not because you have exactly the same diploma. :) And I think UK diploma still in countries like a France is very valuable. I know it from Recruiters point of view.

Tell me more about these French recruiters who value British degrees more highly than Grande Ecole diplomas.... I think you'll find that British MBAs are held by less than 1% of MBAs in France. There are probably fewer British MBAs in France than there are people with the German Diplom Kaufmann. I don't think those qualifications are disrespected but, other than the handful of top schools, I don't a French employers will put a premium on a British MBA (especially from a university like Aston or Bradford, with no alumni organisation in France).

Aston and Bradford have alumni networks primarily in the UK and in Asia. Don't assume their brands are better than the average state university in France.

I agree Duncan but when I asked some recturets about Warwick they told me that this university is really "shick" in compare to many other universities in France and that what I am saying. I don't know anything about Aston but I am talking about Warwick now. Because you know they don't take into consideration seriously French diplomas if it's not INSEAD or HEC but for International Companies as they told me UK education is much appreciated than French normal or average university.

Of course, but the way you present it misses out the big fact of French higher education. The grande ecole system is the elite layer of schools above the state universities in France. They are much selective than any British university, and the entrance standards are much higher into the core, French-language programmes at those schools than they are into somewhere like Warwick.

Warwick doesn't have a notable alumni base in France, neither the whole university nor the MBA programme. It's much stronger, for example, in Singapore, Hong Kong or Australia than in France.

Are there even a handful of companies in France with more than one Warwick MBA alumnus? Certainly IBM and Airbus but are there more than a couple of others? Don't underestimate the weakness of the brand there compared to the grande ecoles.

Warwick may be chic, but it's not well known in France. It's certainly much less well known in France than a French school of corresponding standing (like EDHEC or ESSEC) would be in Britain. I think this gives you a good idea of where Warwick is well known: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/alumni/networks/professional/

If you want to work in France, you'll be better off taking the ESCEM DL MBA, which is also AACSB.

Thanks a lot for your useful reply. But do you know any university or Business School in France which is having Triple accreditation? (AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB) and where studying i provided by DL? Would be nice if you can help me find one which is having triple accreditation and you can study Distance learning and where GMAT is not required as well.

Thanks in advance.

There's isn't one in France. ESCEM is a respected school, easily in the top 10% of grade ecoles. It has double accreditation from AACSB and EQUIS.

Thanks a lot for your useful reply. But do you know any university or Business School in France which is having Triple accreditation? (AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB) and where studying i provided by DL? Would be nice if you can help me find one which is having triple accreditation and you can study Distance learning and where GMAT is not required as well.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks Duncan once again for your reply but still I can't understand when I saw ESCEM is 70th @ FT Rankings as an European School and Warwick is on 20th. And it' does not matters? I really would like to make good choice and as I told you for me my aim is to work in France because as you know nowadays working in UK is almost impossible for 3rd country members.

Thanks,