Hi all

I am starting the Durham Global MBA this April (26th). I found the amount of information available online from current students rather limited, so if you have any questions once I start the programme, please just let me know :)

Good luck to everyone who's trying to choose a path in this jungle of MBA's. Hope I've chosen the right one (my gut tells me I have, but will have to wait and see)!

Cheers everyone

I also applied to join Durham this April. I'm still waiting for their reply. I hope it turns out great, if they do take me..

Let me know how it works out :)

do you know how long it takes for them to process it? it says 4 to 6 weeks on their website :(

Did you just apply now?

I know that the deadline for registration, payment, etc. is March 16, so you must hear something very soon.

Where in the world are you located?

I am a lebanese working in Kuwait. I applied Feb 13th to their global MBA. I previously got accepted in their MA marketing programme but joined leicester's DL programme last November. Joining Leicester was a bad choice. Their agent is after the money and the programme is NOT challenging. That is why I applied to Durham now after paying 2 installments.

Leicester is almost close in fees to durham but you feel it's for profit university. I'm trying to get a partial refund and hoping I get the acceptance to Durham soon. But in either way, I decided to withdraw from Leicester as I prefer to spend my money on a more accredited and reputable university.

Wish me luck,
All the best

Ah okay. I'm sure they'll accept you.

Best of luck, I'm sure it'll all work out!

MimoDL,
I am doing my MBA at DBS, finished one term and passed 2 modules (don't ask my grade!). Since you have already had bad experience with DL MBA, I advise to you to do thorough research before committing another.

* DBS won't pester you for your money. You choose how many modules you could do per term and pay only for that before starting it. No one will force you to buy modules.
* All modules run twice a year. You can mix & match
* You can have breaks for 3 -6 months if you would like. You need to write to the director, if you want more than 6 months.
* If you are ambitious you could to up to 4 modules.
* Once you buy a module, it is automatically enabled in your online learning system with all online support/media/chat board/schedule/etc associated with that module.

1. You need lot of self-discipline to do a DL MBA whatever be the tutor/cohort support.
2. DBS MBA is not an easy course. If you are NOT used to research based study, referring to multiple books, Journals, periodical and NOT interested in learning management/business theory/models. etc, and interested only in the applied business/management, you will be disappointed. Reading the handouts alone is not going to help. That said, you don't have to buy/subscribe any or run to local libraries. Everything needed is completely available/searchable at DBS learning system.
3. DBS assessment is high standard - expect repetitions, re-doing work, disappointing grades/fail, etc.
4. Case study based learning is about 50%, more focus on academic stuff and depends on the module.
5. The cohort is all over the world and majority of them are in full time job. Do not expect too much from cohort.

Dear George,

Thanks for your feedback. That is very helpful. I just got the acceptance letter from durham. As you know, I already withdrew from Leicester. Its not bad but I did not feel its challenging. They have one assessment at the end of each module, the workshop is useless and you feel their agent is after your money.
I know that Durham is more focused on academics rather than case studies and group work, but I can't join universities offering such things like Manchester and Warwick being a mother with a full-time job. So I am stuck with a programme that is more academic.
With Durham's reputation as t he third oldest school and its triple accreditation, it sounds as a great choice. But being in the programme urself, do you recommend it? It is challenging? Do you feel it is adding to your job and worth the effort and the money?

Mimo, if you don't have the time for the two sessions a year that the MBS MBA has in Dubai, then Durham is a great choice if it meets your educational needs.

But as George says, it's an academic programme rather than a management development programme. Be clear that you know what the experience and outcome will be like.

Hi,
If you look at other threads on DBS in this board, I have already covered answers to your question. I am happy to recommend DBS, after all it is a respectable degree from a top 100 school in a respectable university at an affordable price with the flexibility and the academic rigor/quality I need.
As you are a full time working mother, you would appreciate the level of flexibility, choice, options and support you get. Many mums from Germany, USA, Canada are currently on the program. One lady from UK who is near to thesis submission - she scored distinction in every single module !!!.
It is more geared towards an academic qualification and that's what I need. I probably would go further to do a DBA/PhD as Durham builds solid research skills as part of my MBA.
But for anyone here would like to do management development program to build soft skills, practical management skills and network, etc, I would recommend Ashridge AMP.

Hi Christian, Thanks for offering to post your experience on the Durham Global MBA program. Please continue to post your experience on it as your progress with your course. I have seen reviews by George who has also contributed on this thread, but would be keen to hear a second perspective. As I outline elsewhere, I am seriously considering the Durham MBA as opposed to the Warwick one, because of the cost, and the limited times required to travel. Plus Durham impressed me as an equally top university, perhaps not quite in the same breath as Oxbridge, but not far off. If you have been in contact with past Durham Global MBA alumni, it would be good to hear their perspective too. I am planning to start in October, or early next year. I haven?t ruled out Warwick completely yet, because every endorsement says it?s the best programme to be on. And my heart says Warwick too, but Durham impresses me and really don't want to waste the extra 6 grand in tuition plus more in travel from Down Under here when there is a suitable alternative which isnt too bad.

There was some somewhat bad reviews on the DBS here though, regarding a dean who plagiarised. When I read the story I didn?t see what the fuss was about; it was in 2007, and apparently the dean committed the academic crime in the late eighties. How much of this is an issue over there though. I don?t suppose it is, but just need to know. Thanks, Hudson

I don't think there's any impact outside academia. DBS has a solid but unspectacular reputation. What holds that school back is the limited investment in careers services and more interactive learning approaches like case studies, projects and team working, which are useful for developing managers.

Like Duncan says, I don't think that the plagiarism event was particularly harmful to Durham's reputation; it was just one bad apple and there's no evidence that it was systemic.

When deciding between the Warwick and Durham programs, be sure to connect with the schools themselves and ask them about student career arcs: these can give you a general sense of what you can expect. The capacity of their respective career services departments will probably make a difference. I know Warwick has been working to make its student intranet, my.wbs, a hub for networking with alumni - this might help with landing a job post-graduation.

Also, even though Warwick is more expensive, don't let the sticker price fool you: they usually offer quite a few scholarships that cover about half of the first year's tuition, in addition to other financial aid options.

Nonetheless, both are good programs. Maybe some current students like georgep will weigh in with their experiences.

Hi Christian, Thanks for offering to post your experience on the Durham Global MBA program. Please continue to post your experience on it as your progress with your course. I have seen reviews by George who has also contributed on this thread, but would be keen to hear a second perspective. As I outline elsewhere, I am seriously considering the Durham MBA as opposed to the Warwick one, because of the cost, and the limited times required to travel. Plus Durham impressed me as an equally top university, perhaps not quite in the same breath as Oxbridge, but not far off. If you have been in contact with past Durham Global MBA alumni, it would be good to hear their perspective too. I am planning to start in October, or early next year. I haven?t ruled out Warwick completely yet, because every endorsement says it?s the best programme to be on. And my heart says Warwick too, but Durham impresses me and really don't want to waste the extra 6 grand in tuition plus more in travel from Down Under here when there is a suitable alternative which isnt too bad.

There was some somewhat bad reviews on the DBS here though, regarding a dean who plagiarised. When I read the story I didn?t see what the fuss was about; it was in 2007, and apparently the dean committed the academic crime in the late eighties. How much of this is an issue over there though. I don?t suppose it is, but just need to know. Thanks, Hudson

I would put this even more strongly than Duncan: more interactive learning approaches like case studies, projects and team working ... are essential for developing managers.

DBS has a solid but unspectacular reputation. What holds that school back is the limited investment in careers services and more interactive learning approaches like case studies, projects and team working, which are useful for developing managers.

Dear all,

I have already started my global MBA at durham last April. I would like to share with you my experience so far. I myself had a hard time when making my MBA programme selection. As I started in April, my advisor registered me for two core modules: strategy and decision making.

In advance of starting the modules, I had two weeks induction to get me acquainted with research and general MBA study skills. That was very helpful. Each module spans two terms i.e. 6 months which is not much as you can add more modules as much as your work/life commitments allow. Each module has two webinars through the 6 months period using Illuminate.

I already attended one per each module and it is very helpful and interactive. Each module has a formative (creditless) assignment around half way and a summative one at the end. Three of the core modules have exams as well. What I love most about the study is it provides a study schedule per week that helps me keep organized and advises what you should read this week along with extra articles, blogs, case studies, etc.
The programme offers a fast track so if you can wish you can travel to one of the centers and attend residency modules. So Durham is not actually purely academic without any interaction. Even the induction is offered as an induction week at Durham with games and such. Compared to Leicester I totally think I made a good choice. Warwick is not comparable i think, the programme itself is much richer. I ruled it out as I cannot attend the face to face interactions it requires as I am a full-time mother. Wishing you all luck in your selection.

Regards,
Samar

Hi Samar. Thats for posting this: it's very helpful.

What interaction is there with other students outside of the residential weeks? Are there group assignments or projects? How many case studies are discussed in the modules you've taken so far?

Dear Duncan,

Well aside from the residency modules, the online environment of durham (DUO) is my day-to-day interaction where all video lectures, schedules, articles, and posted assignments. Part of DUO is a discussion forum for each module where we all interact by posting questions or discussing case studies for instance.
The strategy course handbook which I received by post is "Exploring Strategy Cases and Text" and it is full of case studies which we already discussed several of. The handbook also comes with a code to access "mystrategylab" website (based on pearsoncmg.com) that works as a simulation environment for strategy building skills and identifies points of weakness.

Aside from this there is like a cafe site where students can mingle and many students have already created study groups on google or so and some even are meeting outside if they happen to live in the same country. The same i guess holds true for all online DL programmes.

If any body wishes to sample the DUO of global Durham MBA, you can check this demo web page (which is posted on Durham website):
https://duo.dur.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_39640_1&content_id=_1531974_1

I found that demo site very helpful and it gives a flavor of what to expect in a module.

I hope that helps,
Samar

Thanks. I can imagine that the sort of reading schedule you described could make the discussion forum very useful.

Are there any group projects or assignments?