Robert Kennedy College / University of Cumbria
Why I Cancelled My MBA at Robert Kennedy College: A Warning From a Former Student
I enrolled at Robert Kennedy College (RKC) expecting the rigorous, professionally delivered online MBA the marketing promised. What I got instead was an experience so frustrating that I ultimately cancelled my degree — and months later, I'm still fighting to get the refund they agreed to. Here's my story, so you can make a more informed decision than I did.
Lecture and teaching quality
The lectures I sat through were, frankly, poor. Content felt thin and under-prepared, and in my experience the professors did not demonstrate the calibre or academic merit you'd expect from a programme charging premium fees. Online delivery is no excuse for low standards — plenty of institutions do it well. RKC, in my experience, does not.
Grading with no accountability
The breaking point for me was the grading. Feedback on my work was unclear and inadequate, and when I pushed for explanations, I got nowhere. When I asked to have my work independently evaluated by an external professor — a perfectly reasonable request when a student disputes an assessment — the college refused to allow it. An institution confident in its own grading standards should welcome external scrutiny, not forbid it.
Customer service and the refund that never came
The back office was, in my experience, useless, inefficient and incompetent. Emails went unanswered or resolved nothing. When I cancelled, the college agreed to refund me. That agreement was made over a month ago. I am still waiting.
I even emailed the Dean personally. He never had the basic respect to reply. When the head of an institution won't respond to a paying student with a legitimate grievance, that tells you everything about the culture of accountability there — or the lack of it.
The Cumbria question
RKC's programmes are validated through the University of Cumbria in the UK, and honestly, it shocks me that a UK university associates its name with this operation. As far as I have been able to determine, RKC holds no Swiss institutional accreditation of its own — it trades almost entirely on its UK partnership. Prospective students should look very carefully at exactly what is accredited, by whom, and what that means for their degree.
The bottom line
What RKC sells and what it delivers are, in my experience, two very different things. Slick marketing, prestigious-sounding partnerships — and behind it, poor teaching, opaque grading, no accountability, and a refund process that drags on with no end in sight.
If you're considering an online MBA, do your homework. Ask hard questions about accreditation, grading appeals, and refund policies — in writing — before you pay a cent. I wish I had.