Global Reach & Teach

Meritus University Helps Sierra Leone Accountant Earn 4-year Degree

By Maggie Fairs, Dicomm Media

Imagine the gorgeous terrain of Africa. But, imagine for a moment -- being stranded there without a way to finish your four-year university degree.  A nightmare, right? 

Wrong.  Not for one Meritus University student based in Sierra Leone.

Archibald Shodeke, a resident of Freetown, who is an accountant by profession, finished his two-year university diploma program in Business Administration in 2001 but was not able to return to school to complete his degree.

Archibald explained that “This was owing to the fact that none of the schools in our country are doing online degree programs, coupled with the fact that one cannot abandon a rewarding job to attend an on-campus college. As at the time of enrolment with Meritus University, I was also taking the UK based ACCA (Association of Chartered and Certified Accountant) Examinations.”  With a career “deeply rooted in the finance and accountancy profession,”  basically, Archibald’s ledger was full with deadlines and commitments.
 
What puzzle pieces would you need to finish your degree if you were in Archibald’s situation?  An online university respected and accredited. 

That is why he sought Meritus University as his online educational provider.

“I wanted to have a qualification with a professional outlook related to my finance background,” said Archibald. “During my search for a university, I considered cost, off-campus or on-line programs, quality and type of courses  as key determinants to make a choice. Meritus University got it right.”

With limitations in Sierra Leone for online degree programs, and as many working professionals like Archibald can attest, abandoning a rewarding job to attend an on-campus college was not a realistic option for him.

In January 2009, after much research, Archibald enrolled in Meritus University to begin a Bachelor of Business Administration degree program with a specialization in finance.

Since his enrolment, Archibald said he has experienced tremendous improvements in his career, thanks to Meritus University’s focus on practical teaching and work-related scenarios.

For instance, after completing a paper on ethics and social responsibility, Archibald’s employer, Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT),  believed he was equipped to conduct an entire training on corporate ethics and social responsibility to 50 key personnel. 

He said the training was timely and fundamental to enhancing his company’s work standards. On another instance, Archibald was able to translate knowledge acquired through Meritus University’s systems development program to position himself as the team leader for a proposed change to his company’s existing management information systems software. Archibald’s contribution was being able to provide key inputs to draft the proposal.

Additionally, Archibald credits Meritus University for drastically broadening his skills in other key work areas: critical thinking, communication, management and negotiation. 

As any working student will confirm, balancing study time with work commitments is a constant challenge. “One of the major practices I learned from Meritus University is time management,” said Archibald. “In fact, I would challenge anyone:  if you are a busy employee but  you are not prepared to apply time management techniques, you might have to think critically about enrolling in the Meritus University program. It requires total commitment.”

Archibald’s location also provided a big challenge.  “For a student like me living in a developing country, one of my constant concerns was getting uninterrupted access to electricity and internet service. There were times when my internet connection would be down or when I would have to travel to remote places without internet service. I would have to devise alternatives to submit assignments and attend on-line classes.

Needless to say for Archibald, his experience has been a huge learning curve but one that Meritus University has helped with every step of the way.

Upon completion of his Meritus University degree, Archibald plans to begin an advanced MBA degree.

For Archibald, finding Meritus University and being able to complete his degree has gone from a potential nightmare to having his dreams of acquiring higher education come true.

Ontario Man Overcomes Troubles on Way to University Degree

By Andrew A. Limber

Larry Chivers isn’t your typical student within the large population of students in London—the “Forest City”—a pleasant southwestern Ontario community of some 300,000 that is home to the University of Western Ontario, Fanshawe College, and a number of other institutions of higher learning.

In fact, you won’t find the 32-year-old Chivers on any traditional academic campus, even though he may be as deep in study as any persevering student in London or anywhere else in his native Canada.  His “campus” is a farmhouse on the outskirts of town that he shares with his fiancée, her three children and two dogs, and his “classroom” is a computer screen that displays a wealth of knowledge vital to his aim of becoming a video game designer.   

Less than a year before, Chivers was working at a large sign-making company and had no aspirations of earning a degree.  Then one day at home he was on his computer and by some “fluke,” as he describes it, he found himself on the Meritus University website.  This prompted him to ask some questions, which was later followed by a telephone call from a Meritus enrolment advisor. 

“I had not given any thought to going back to school until I got that call,” said Chivers.  “About a month later, after getting a student loan, I was up and running in the Meritus Information Technology Management program.”   

But no sooner had he started his studies, Chivers was laid off at the sign company.  Although his fiancée was employed at a restaurant, the loss of his income was of concern for someone with a sizable family to support.  Unwilling to abandon the personal investment in his future, he took on two part-time jobs while also moving forward with his online Meritus courses. 

“One of the great things about the way Meritus University is set up is that it’s geared for people who are working,” Chivers said.  “Another thing is that when I was reading and reading and reading and getting into a kind of subject overload, the instructors showed me how to look for key ideas and proceed effectively from there.

This was extremely helpful.”

Going from an electronic novelty in the 1970s to an annual $10 billion industry now employing thousands worldwide, video games have become a 21st century fixture with enormous growth potential.  Modern games are the most demanding applications on Personal Computer resources, and it often takes many months to create a single new or updated game.

“Playing and studying video games, I could see how some of them might be better,” says Chivers.  “I noticed too that some of the good games are just too short.  Mostly, I’ve learned that to design these things takes both know-how and a good imagination.”

Already possessing imagination and now working on the education part of the equation, Chivers also extensively researched video game design companies and discovered there are five in London, which he happily notes that “I won’t have to relocate because it’s all here.”  When he’s about two years into his courses, he intends to start talking to these companies about employment opportunities.  Projecting even further, he’s contemplating the possibility of going for a master’s degree and becoming an instructor, perhaps at Meritus University.

The very directed, very focused and conscientious working student you’ve learned about so far is not the same Larry Chivers you might have known just a few short years ago.

“Before I met my fiancée, I was a different person,” he says.  “I had problems, and would always get myself into trouble.  Now I’ve learned to show responsibility towards myself and others.  When you’re in trouble, it takes a long time to get out of it, and you miss opportunities along the way.” 

Chivers continued, saying, “Because I’ve stayed out of trouble, I’m able to realize what I want to do with my life and not have any restrictive barriers. Now I see myself with a future, and this is why today I’m a student at Meritus University. They’re going to help me get to where I want to go.”

Calgary Man Goes from Fast-Food Cook to Fast Track Business Career

By Andrew A. Limber

Just over a decade ago, Aaron De Souza was a high school student by day and a supervisor by night at an A&W fast food restaurant in Calgary, Alberta. After graduation, he moved up to store general manager, then on to franchise trainer at the chain of 600 retro-1950s styled eateries scattered across Canada.   

“In time, I realized I wasn’t fulfilling my potential,” said De Souza.  “I just wasn’t happy with what I was doing.”

This is when he made his first major career leap to Enbridge, Inc., an oil and gas pipeline and transportation company.  Performing administrative tasks and tasting the corporate environment kindled De Souza’s appetite for business.  About the same time, he earned a two-year degree in social work from Mount Royal College, though he knew by then that, unlike his family of social workers, this was not his forte.

De Souza’s growing passion for the world of commerce was accelerated when he started taking online business courses at the University of Phoenix while working for Canetic Resources Trust. But then his job was eliminated when the company went through a merger acquisition. Taking a two-month hiatus from his studies, De Souza focused on his new leadership position with Long View Systems, an information technology and procurement consulting firm in Calgary.

Resuming his education aspirations, he transferred his course credits to Meritus University, saying that “the fact that I could transfer my credits and stay with the Apollo group of universities was appealing.”  De Souza enrolled in the Bachelor of Business Administration in Management program, which suits him perfectly.

“I have a home and responsibilities, and I’m a business professional, so being a full-time student is not realistic,” he said. “Flexibility is important to me, and Meritus makes it possible for me to earn a degree.”

For the 29-year-old De Souza, it’s the perennial challenge of juggling work time and study time, starting his day at 7 a.m., returning home from his job at 6 p.m., then going to his online university courses for several hours.  But within this demanding structure, De Souza wisely takes a day off for relaxation and recreation.

While the ultimate goal is the degree, the learning process itself produces tangible benefits, as De Souza discovered:

“It’s almost eerie sometimes how accurate my course studies are with respect to what I’m dealing with at work. They coincide with each other; it’s so very practical, so instructive.  I literally practice what I learn every day from the classes I’ve taken to this point.”    

De Souza says he’s “a guy who likes to climb the corporate ladder,” and he has a five-year goal, even a twenty-year plan, which includes the likelihood of going for a master’s.

This is the ambitious Aaron De Souza, the disciplined goal-setting young man who has the roadmap of his career set on autopilot, with almost all work and little play in his success timeline.

Well, not exactly.

There’s that incident in Mexico.

De Souza went on vacation with his girlfriend to Playa del Carmen, a resort city on the Caribbean Sea coastline, about 35 miles south of Cancun.  Taking a ferry to nearby Isla Cozumel, noted for its coral reefs and Jacques Cousteau explorations, De Souza rented a moped to tour the colorful island with his lovely companion.

As night came, a somewhat disoriented De Souza raced through San Miguel, the principal city on the island, anxiously searching for the moped rental shop. Hitting a wet spot on the road, the small motorized bike skidded onto a sidewalk, and De Souza and his female passenger found themselves riding in the midst of startled pedestrians, who began chasing them, yelling, “Policia!  Policia!"

No one was injured as De Souza sped to the moped shop, laughing all the way, with his girlfriend holding on tightly behind him, crying—and angry. 

This excursion might have ended on a totally disagreeable note had not De Souza become seasick on the return ferry ride to Playa del Carmen.  Feeling sorry for him, his girlfriend comforted him and set aside her irritation over the madcap moped ride. 

Apparently, even studious, disciplined up and coming business leaders have their wild side.