Woolf University - Educational Partnership & Institutions

[Tomas]

I found some certificate courses (“Awards” in Malta) that consist of only one module – but you still get credits for them. Some of these courses are free, like this philosophy class with 3 ECTS for 0 USD / EUR: https://woolf.university/degrees/gcas-aw...hilosopher

It can't be found on GCAS website. While I can't exclude the possibility of it actually being free, on the old website (it was recently revamped) they had wrong prices for some programs, or listed programs that were not opened.

[Tomas]

Just watched the open hours video from Udacity ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm6NzhGijpI , Woolf founder participated too, not overly informative though), it seems very likely they will be opening other master programs as college of Woolf (no details mentioned, but from their current course offerings it is very likely it will be in computer science/software engineering/cybersecurity/cloud/data science).

It seems to be mostly revolving around practical projects, including one large final capstone project. It is possible to go at own pace, many courses to choose from, and they offer discounts for their subscription (up to 50%) frequently - so the final price for some might be significantly lower than the estimated 5000$.

Important for some, on CV, one can write "Udacity Institute of AI & Technology, Woolf", which is a bit better than some of their other college names like Neovarsity or Scaler. (Woolf itself is not a university.)

Woolf is still somewhat risky option IMHO (due to MFHEA problems within EU and Woolf's with MFHEA audits https://mfhea.mt/wp-content/uploads/2025...port-2.pdf) but they don't seem to take accreditation matters lightly.

[Maltus]

One more question: Does Woolf send out paperdiplomas or do you get your degree just as a pdf?
Because I'm a bit oldschool: A real Diploma with a nice seal on it makes my day.

[Tomas]

I didn't think about that yet. It seems paperwork can be purchased through their store: https://shop.woolf.university/.
Some modern aluminium version, not sure if that will satisfy fans of nice seals .
Intrigued to find they also offer Letters of recommendation, but on closer look it is useless for standard use (like admission on another university).

[Maltus]

Holy moly... they send you a degree on an aluminumplatter - and they charge you 44€ for a transcript? Seems like you can't even order a degree on paper. But they offer it apostilled with wet-ink-signature and stamp - for 262 €.
What is really sick is a "letter of enrollment" for more than 60€ - they make money out of everything, I guess.

[bjcheung77]

Yes, most institutions, if not all, will be doing the same thing... A charge for any product or service they provide...

[Maltus]

Well I guess most legit schools would give you a certificate of enrollment for free, since you need it to claim benefits like getting an ISIC or getting a student's healthinsurance. At my distancelearining university it is free of charge each semester.
I understand that woolf is for-profit - but 60 bucks for a sheet of paper sounds like a rip-off.

I was also asking myself another question: Since you get your diploma as a pdf together with a link to their database to proof that your degree is legit, what happens, when they lose their maltese license and go out of business? How can I proof that my wool-degree is legitimate after that?
Only way to make sure is getting a apostilled version for more money.
I mean: woolf-colleges charge a lot of money (about 10k for an MBA) and what the hell: No wet-ink diploma included? Maybe I'm a bit oldschool, but this just screams "future problems" to me.

[Tomas]

Our EU country has archives for cases when schools go down or are dissolved. I don't know anything about Malta, but it is in EU so would expect the same.

These prices seem high to me as well. Maybe except transcript, the only other place I have comparison with, Metropolia, public uni in Finland, also seems to prefer digital and paper copy of transcript is EUR 45. Also apostille I guess is a dispensable service that one can get (much) cheaper elsewhere. But the rest (standard generic paperwork) is overpriced.

It could be some of their colleges provide paperwork on their own at different prices. Eg. GCAS offers own (different) diploma. And most students of Woolf are likely in Asia, there it would definitely make sense.

Pricing is interesting. Founder's own college used to be most expensive, but now there are some that charge tens of thousands. Most business is in Asia though, well under $10.000.

[Kalas]

Serious question - why do anything through Woolf in the first place? Looking at the doctoral options that are still up the only ones worth considering for the price are GCAS and Deep Science Ventures, both of which can be done directly without dealing with Woolf at all. There's no reason to go for those DBAs over the much cheaper SMC or Walsh College UpGrad program for similar money. I don't remember any of the master's degrees being competitively priced. It's not like AlmaBetter or Neoversity have more name value than a cheapo Indian open university that charges half as much.

Maybe you're misunderstanding what Woolf does? Woolf does not actually provide the education. Woolf is a middleman that sends you to a few different schools and makes its money on the fees you describe. When Woolf listed tuition costs on the website before the recent redesign they were the same as going through the school directly. If a school needs Woolf to legally issue a degree you probably shouldn't be doing a degree there in the first place. There is a cheaper and better option somewhere else.

[Maltus]

Serious question - why do anything through Woolf in the first place? Looking at the doctoral options that are still up the only ones worth considering for the price are GCAS and Deep Science Ventures, both of which can be done directly without dealing with Woolf at all. There's no reason to go for those DBAs over the much cheaper SMC or Walsh College UpGrad program for similar money. I don't remember any of the master's degrees being competitively priced. It's not like AlmaBetter or Neoversity have more name value than a cheapo Indian open university that charges half as much.

Maybe you're misunderstanding what Woolf does? Woolf does not actually provide the education. Woolf is a middleman that sends you to a few different schools and makes its money on the fees you describe. When Woolf listed tuition costs on the website before the recent redesign they were the same as going through the school directly. If a school needs Woolf to legally issue a degree you probably shouldn't be doing a degree there in the first place. There is a cheaper and better option somewhere else.

Oh I do understand very well what woolf does ;-) - that is also why they have problems with the maltese ministry of education: They "help" some small "colleges" giving out legitimate degrees, but they are not providing any courses by themselfs. Of course that wasn't the idea of "higher education institutes" by Malta. Technically Woolf is "sublicensing" it's maltese license to "colleges"in the whole world.
And that is the point of doing it via woolf:
If you're, like me, based in the EU it has one big advantage: No nostrification or credential evaluation necessary, since malteses degrees are fully recognized in the EU. So that Master would also open doors to Doctoral Programms on the continent. You may simply call yourself John Doe, M.sc. - nothing else needed. No extra paperwork.