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Hi,

I would like some thoughts about continuing education while working. I have come across one such program at Manipal University

manipalcorp

Would this be a good program to pursue?

Alternatively, I have come across BITS Pilani Distance Education for working professionals. This MS program is very generic, whereas the Manipal MS program has specialization which I like.

Thanks in advance

TracerBullet

P.S: I have started a new thread since I could not find any related thread.

I don't know about this program but I have done Online MS from PACE University, NY which is considered as a full-time program and not correspondence like the ones in India. This is because even local students don't attend classes and entire program is online. Unfortunately, in India, that program is only offered to certain company employees and not to the general public cause even the exams are conducted online, which can be taken from home and there is a trust factor involved. I suggest you look for similar offerings from foreign universities as well before making up your mind. Not that the Indian ones are bad, but the complete online ones don't require you to attend regular lectures which is a plus point for working professionals.

IIM, Calcutta is offering correspondence PG Diploma programs for working professionals and I heard it's quite good.

ICFAI too offers many PG Diploma courses for working professionals and they are all online courses including exams. But, I personally do not like ICFAI courses.

Better stay away from ICFAI since it does not have recognition from AICTE or DEC.

EDIT: Some courses in some states are approved as per the ICFAI site. So you have to watch out!!

If its PG Diploma then the IIM course you suggested or the Symbiosis PGD course would be better option. Symbiosis is fully online including the assignments etc. Not sure of the IIM course though.

@Jaguar,

Good one mate.. Very rare to find such offerings in India!

Thank you all for the responses.

I gather from another thread(work or MBA) that MBA should to be done as a full-time program and at this point I cannot afford to take a break and pursue a full-time program. In that case, I feel chasing a PGDxx doesn't make sense.

To be honest, I am at a state (call it mid-life crisis) where I feel that I should have "some thing" additional to what I have right now to move to the next level. Since the Manipal Program seems to have some specialization, which I feel might help technically; hence the inclination towards that.

Or let me twist it in another way, is a PGDxx better than MS or vice versa?

@Jaguar: I did try out that option, most of foreign programmes are tied-up with some or the other company, which doesn't favour me.

If anyone has more information on Manipal Programs or any other similar program (better of course), please pass it on.

Bumping up an old thread, I am interested in joining Mainpal's MS in Computer Science purely for learning (not too interested in how much it would enhance my career opportunities, if at all).

Does anyone have any feedback on the faculty, course content?

If you are only interested in learning, then why join some course? Invariably some subjects will be irrelavant or not of your interest. My suggestion would be learn what interests you, from books and internet. Doing certifications in the field of interest would also be another option.

Yes, what you say is true, but having an instructor is always better than self learning. Plus attending classes would also enforce some discipline :)

I think the current term started last week. One of my friend has joined the course. Even I feel joining a course brings in some structure in the learning. All the best ajayr :)

Hey TracerBullet, so what did you finally decide on? Did you go ahead with the MS course from Manipal?

@Gooney: Unfortunately I didn't join. I didn't really make up my mind whether to do MS or Executive MBA. Still sitting on the fence :(

I am also the in same boat, undecided about whether to join or not. Does your friend who has joined, already have any feedback about the program? Specifically about the faculty profile and the teaching?

Over phone they told that they accept enrolments till this Saturday.

My friend has joined the course. Last week they had an induction programme and actual classes starts this Sunday.

I have no feedback about the program or the teaching at this point.

If you are interested in doing part time courses MSRSAS Bangalore is another option. They offer full time/part time/collaborative MS/MBA programs. Full time batch starts in Sept and Part time in April every year. All courses are in collaboration with Coventry University, UK

Full time program - 1.5 years
Part time - 3 years, you need to attend classes on weekends (Sat and sunday 2 years) and 1 year industry project

If you are working for Bosch you can attend their collaborative program inside your office.

Visit www.msrsas.org for more details

Symbiosis courses do not have any screening process, so technically anyone can pursue them. They are very cheap too and you do not have to attend any classes. Seems very convinient for working folks. However, I heard that, because of such liberties, the value proposition of Symbi distance courses are greatly reduced.

I am quite interested for the IIMC distance MBA. However, its pretty expensive ~3.5 lacs.

Any other affordable distance courses from reputed colleges? (preferably without the requirement to attend classes)