Uni of Derby and uni of Essex online

[Cluelessmillennial]

Hi, can I have some thoughts on these two unis please? I've only been in England for 5 years so I don't know how they are viewed here and if they are recognised by employers. I have an FDA in Business Management from my home country and I want to transfer my credits and complete the programme. I'm working ft and have a baby so a brick and mortar uni would be hard for me to attend. Is any of these two good or is OU better?

Essex
online.essex.ac.uk

Derby
www.derby.ac.uk/online

To add, if you have experience or knowledge of other unis offering online courses please let me know, I've seen lse as well

I don't know anything about those Unis but just wondering if you've considered the Open University @Cluelessmillennial?

You may find that the fees are cheaper.

OP, both Essex and Derby are certainly genuine universities which would be recognised by employers as awarding genuine degrees. For some careers there is an unofficial "pecking order" in terms of how much prestige individual universities have. I think it's fair to say that neither Essex or Derby are top of the pecking order as regards UK universities, but that certainly doesn't mean they're not good universities. You also mention LSE. I think LSE would be seen by some (rightly or wrongly) as ranking higher.

Derby has had appalling organisation during the pandemic. Make sure they're organised.

I’m doing business management with UofEssex. I find the support quite good, we have a student advisor we can contact for help. The course is delivered by Kaplan. Weekly q&a that are also recorded if you miss it. Modules are 9’weeks with a 1
Week break before the next one starts. There are 2 weeks off at Xmas but you can apply for breaks through the year, I always take off the summer with 3 kids at home for 10 weeks it’s needed. I’ve been off with an injury this year and they’ve kept in touch and helping me plan my return next month.

Cost is £4,400 per year but £4K if you pay for the year upfront, it’s 4 years part time so £16k. I’ve taken 5 so far and have 6 modules to go. You have to compete in 9 years.

I can’t offer comparison to other uni’s or the quality of the course as this is my first degree. It is a lot of writing, basically broken down as

First 2 weeks discussion on question total approx 2k words over 10 entries
2 weeks Mid module assignment 2k words
2 Weeks discussion as above
3 weeks end of module assignment 2k words
At each end of the above you have a journal entry to complete, and a summary at the end of the 9 weeks. About another 1500-2000 words

It very much relates your learning back to the workplace and how you can apply it to your work

@HerRoyalNotness so helpful thank you!

@DominicRaabsTravelAgent how do employers view OU?

@LilyPond2 I can't find any other universities that offer distance learning unfortunately