Pennypincher,
I completed this course in 2005. When I did it, the first year was tutorial-based, onsite in DCU. Then in 2nd year, they introduced the web-based thing & there was war among the 2nd year students. My view was that collaborating with other students & gaining insights into varioius issues from experienced lecturers was where the value in doing the course was. When they made it web-based, they removed 90% of that value IMO.
What to expect from web-based stuff:
- reading phone-book sized A4 folders of course notes
- sitting for hours online, going through online versions of same
- emailing your co-students (don't expect too much phoning around)
- don't expect any tutorials or face-to-face contact (we fought tooth and nail to get 2 tutorials in the 2nd year!)
- you can email lecturers, but try and explain why you don't understand something in an email ... believe me it gets tiresome!
I wasn't going to complete it after the 2nd year, but opted for doing the thesis over 2 years, so it took 4 years altogether. The only reason I completed it was so that I could say I had completed an MSc.
To answer your questions:
Is it better than an MBA? NO. They don't compare, having been to a couple of MBA introductory lectures in Smurfit school, I don't even know why people make this comparison.
Does it provide a respected qualification for a career in Management? Yes - I would say so. I've used some of the stuff in work, and it gives a good grounding for understanding whats going on in the typical management environment.
I've described it to people as a Masters in how a business works.
It counts as an MSc in its own right, and it proves that you have the self-motivation to complete an MSc.
DCU is also well respected, so those are two strong positives it has in its favour. (Whether these are fully justified is another question!)
If you're paying for the course yourself, its relatively inexpensive and you'll get value out of it. If your employer is willing to put you through a more expensive course, you might get better value for money going that route...
To sum up:
Would I do it again? Probably not - I'd go for a similar course, with more lecture-based material, and collobaration etc. (you can guess I'm not a fan of the web-based stuff!)
Am I glad I did it? Yes, I did learn some stuff which has been useful in the workplace, but the single biggest benefit has been "Oh I see you have completed a Masters" in interviews ...
PS I've changed jobs since I finished it ... it may have helped me get the job I'm in now (in as much as any MSc in Science/Engineering/Business would have). It certainly did not open any flood-gates for employers looking to head-hunt me - also Oscail don't even have a Careers Officer!