Learning online has seemed to be a natural solution to borderless education for many years, but the path has not been smooth and many course providers and students have foundered in trying to achieve their goals this way. The University of Phoenix, however, has overcome the major obstacles and is now the world's largest online education provider with 110,000 degree students studying online throughout the world. We look at students’ experience of one of its leading programs.
Not many people can say they have traveled to over 40 countries in a lifetime – much less before the age of 30. Anna Soukatch Spyrou can.
She can also tell you that exposure to all of those 40 countries was not enough to prepare her for the move to Doha, Qatar, and a position with Moody International, the leading inspection and certification provider with offices worldwide in 70 countries.
“As the environment of Moody is very culturally diverse, at the beginning coping with it was difficult,” says Anna, currently serving as Administration Manager, of what prompted her to look for the online courses that offered masters degrees in international studies and management. Ultimately she chose University of Phoenix Online’s Masters of Management International.
LARGEST US-ACCREDITED, PRIVATE UNIVERSITY
Attracted to the reach and respect of a US-accredited degree, today thousands of students from over 130 countries are realizing their academic goals through University of Phoenix (UOP) Online. Freed from time zones and national borders, its international students are seamlessly integrated into highly interactive and demanding US degree programs. The resulting multi-national interaction transcends cultural and social boundaries creating a uniquely rich learning environment.
Founded in 1989, UOP's Online campus is among the oldest in the industry offering internationally respected degree programs based on the same US-accredited curriculum used for nearly 30 years on our campuses throughout North America. Taught by a practitioner faculty and endorsed by corporate giants, UOP advanced degree programs can be completed in less than two years, offering real potential for fast promotion.With over 200,000 students enrolled, 110,000 fully online, University of Phoenix is America’s largest private university.
“When I moved to Doha, Qatar, I had to deal with a culture shock which I wasn’t ready for,” says Kiev-born Anna, resident of Cyprus, Greece, and graduate of Coventry University, UK. “After just four courses at University of Phoenix Online, I find it much easier. I gained some necessary skills and knowledge of working with, and managing, people of different cultures. I learned new ways of problem solving from my classmates, who also come from all over the world and who have their own ways of dealing with conflicts at work."
Fluent in English, Greek and her native Russian, Anna moved to Cyprus with her family from the Ukraine at the tender age of 17. There she attended Cyprus Intercollegiate, later transferring to Coventry University in the United Kingdom, where she earned her associate's degree in law and a bachelors degree in law and humanities.
“I am not afraid of diversity anymore, and I will be even better equipped for dealing with different people after I graduate,” she says.
INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
University of Phoenix Online is dedicated to meeting the unique needs of its international students – virtually anywhere. Specialized in both regional and national education issues, UOP international counselors collectively speak more than 20 languages and work business hours appropriate to each international time zone, providing voice-tovoice support from the admission’s interview through graduation for all international students – the same support offered to domestic students.
“This program (MMI) covers all aspects of international management, and is indispensable,” says Anna. “I really liked the informal way in which the instructors facilitate the program, encouraging students to share experience and learn from each other. I learned a lot about international business just from my classmates.”
Paradoxical as it may seem, for this world traveler it is the online experience itself that holds a lot of the appeal. Anna finds it so flexible, engaging and yet far more interactive (both with professors and classmates) than her experience in classrooms at Coventry.
“I now consider standard education a total waste of time,” says Anna. “The school is here for me 24 hours a day, and I can study day or night, as I wish. I also believe that with online education everyone has a chance to participateand speak freely. People are not judged by their appearance and this really helps. Everyone is treated equally, without discrimination.”
EXCLUSIVE PROGRAM, HAND-PICKED FACULTY
The MMI remains the university’s leading program for at the global business community. Exclusively for international students, the MMI is offered only to those individuals in multicultural environments outside the US, and is taught by a faculty hand picked by the Dean of the Graduate School of Business.
“The MMI classroom is a totally safe environment in that no one judges another based on stereotypes that some may have acquired in their own culture about other cultures,” says Ethel R Vesper, PhD, Lead Faculty, Area Chair – MMI, Graduate Business and Management. “Every culture is looked upon as an equal to any others and is valued. All courses in the Program stress that each culture needs to be evaluated in terms of its own norms, through the eyes of those in the culture, and not through eyes that look into the culture.”
All work place experience is valued, that is, students and facilitators alike share their knowledge and experiences from the workplace in the classroom. The MMI classroom provides opportunities to learn about business processes in other cultures. Students in the classroom find that their ideas are valued by everyone, regardless of the culture they come from. These ideas are posted in the classroom.
Working together, the students give input on global business issues. Students who have never talked to, or worked with, some cultures because of political differences sometimes find themselves on the same teams, and learn about each other and from each other, thus fostering respect for one another regardless of their political differences at home.
“Since I am in the middle of a very interesting mix of cultures (my company has Chinese origins, but North American influence and I am managing the Central American group), this program has been of a great help understanding these different cultures,” says Jesus Reyes Duarte, system engineer manager for Mexico and Central America.
PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING
A continuous theme runs through all MMI courses: Ethical Behavior and Business and Personal Accountability, with an emphasis on understanding and eliminating ethnocentric attitudes.
“Most students are surprised at how much such an open environment allows them to learn about themselves, their countries, the way the world envisions them and the mistakes we all make in not seeing the complete picture of any given culture,” says Vespers.
All MMI courses incorporate a methodology, problembased learning format, which emphasizes and utilizes critical thinking skills to prepare students for the role managers play in defining business problems, assessing the information, considering alternatives, and choosing the best solution.
“The MMI is by far the most comprehensive international business postgraduate program that I know of,” says Gerald Lopez, Attorney at Law, Venezuela. “By completing the MMI, I expect to be prepared to advise my clients on other important issues beyond Law, like sales and marketing, supply chain, import/export policies, country risk analysis, human resources, labor issues and others.”
The six-week courses within the 30-credit hour MMI program have been designed in trios. The first trio of courses addresses how organizations succeed by recognizing cultural diversity and the challenges of communication and management. The second trio sets up the context (e.g. political, economic, and legal) for doing business across borders. The third trio prepares students for the decision-making role by introducing problems or issues in each course.
ASYNCHRONOUS MODEL
All classrooms are asynchronous, which means that the time zone differences have little bearing on students. In these asynchronous newsgroups, students and faculty can be online any of the 24 hours of the day or night regardless of their working schedules in their culture. Students in MMI classes, regardless of how far away they live, have immediate access to their faculty person who will respond promptly to questions posted in the classroom or sent to the faculty member.
Students have around the clock access to UOP Online Library and 68+ outstanding databases for their classroom assignments, many of which have links to other research tools. Not to mention their around the clock Technical Support from for any kind of technical problem. Even when they do not have a telephone, UOP provides students with a service called Click to Talk which allows students to use their computer to talk to Technical Support in Phoenix.
“Due to the characteristics of my job, it requires constant traveling and a great deal of attention,” says Duarte. “This (constant travel) limits my opportunities to attend classes on a regular basis. Online education has allowed me to continue my education without leaving my daily activities. I still remember my first day in the program. I was in China . . . It was an exciting experience.”
Program courses include Managerial Communication and Ethics; Cross-Cultural Considerations for International Managers; International Organizational Behavior; International Human Resources Management; International Law and Politics; International Economics, Trade, and Finance; Country Analysis; Accounting and Finance Problem Solving; Strategy, Project Management, and Marketing Problem Solving; and Supply Chain Management Problem Solving. For more information visit www.uopxworld.com.