American Management University
Before anything else: this is not American Military University or American Public University (amu.apus.edu), which are separate and unrelated institutions.
If you arrived here after a search for AMU, check which one you meant.
American Management University operates at least two websites — amu.education, presenting a US operation, and amu.edu.eu, presenting a Paris operation. A third domain, amu-edu.org, carries its own doctoral pages and was not part of our review. The two sites we did review contradict each other on accreditation, legal basis, programme range and assessment method. That is the central fact of this page. CareerSkale works with American Management University to support applications. American Management University does not publish a partner listing for CareerSkale. To be precise about what we checked: the Paris route amu.edu.eu/careerskale/ returns a 404, and amu.education/careerskale/ could not be retrieved because the site's robots file blocked it — so absence on the US site is neither confirmed nor excluded.
Checked 28 August 2026.
What we could not establish
Neither site publishes a legal entity name or a registration number.
This is the most serious gap on any institution page on this site. It means we cannot tell you which organisation would enter the contract with you, which one would receive your money, which one would issue the award, or where you would pursue a complaint or a refund claim if something went wrong.
You should not pay anything to an institution whose legal identity you cannot establish. Ask for the registered company or association name, its jurisdiction and its registration number, in writing, before anything else.
Where the two sites disagree
QAHE
amu.education (US)
not mentioned
"Accredited Institution"
IARC
amu.education (US)
not mentioned
"Accredited Institution"
APME of London
amu.education (US)
"accredited by"
not mentioned
ACBSP
amu.education (US)
not mentioned
"Educational Member"
IACBE
amu.education (US)
"Educational Member"
"Educational Member"
Legal basis
amu.education (US)
California exemption from licensing, CEC §94874(b)(1), sponsored by IABP
French private-establishment declaration to the Paris rectorate
Doctoral range
amu.education (US)
Executive DBA only
Eight offerings, including PhD, Advanced Standing, Honorary and Post-Doctorate
Doctoral assessment
amu.education (US)
"Coursework and project paper" — no dissertation
Dissertation required
Tuition published
amu.education (US)
Yes
No — the fee page returns a 404
amu.education (US)
not mentioned
"Accredited Institution"
amu.education (US)
not mentioned
"Accredited Institution"
amu.education (US)
"accredited by"
not mentioned
amu.education (US)
not mentioned
"Educational Member"
amu.education (US)
"Educational Member"
"Educational Member"
amu.education (US)
California exemption from licensing, CEC §94874(b)(1), sponsored by IABP
French private-establishment declaration to the Paris rectorate
amu.education (US)
Executive DBA only
Eight offerings, including PhD, Advanced Standing, Honorary and Post-Doctorate
amu.education (US)
"Coursework and project paper" — no dissertation
Dissertation required
amu.education (US)
Yes
No — the fee page returns a 404
Establish which of these two operations you would actually be enrolling with, and treat the other site's claims as irrelevant to your decision.
What it awards
| Site | Programme | Duration | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | Executive DBA | 18–36 months | $5,550 |
| US | MBA | Not published | $3,600 |
| US | Master's in Management | Not published | $3,000 |
| Paris | DBA, PhD, PhD Advanced Standing, MBA | Not published | Not published |
Executive DBA
SiteUS
18–36 months
$5,550
MBA
SiteUS
Not published
$3,600
Master's in Management
SiteUS
Not published
$3,000
DBA, PhD, PhD Advanced Standing, MBA
SiteParis
Not published
Not published
US
18–36 months
$5,550
US
Not published
$3,600
US
Not published
$3,000
Paris
Not published
Not published
The US Executive DBA is assessed by coursework and a project paper, with no dissertation. That is a materially different qualification from a dissertation-based doctorate, and it is worth understanding before comparing its $5,550 price with anything else.
What it costs
$5,550 is the lowest doctoral fee across all six institutions we cover. It comes with no published legal awarder, no dissertation, no institutional accreditation and a professional-membership condition. Price is not the variable to optimise here.
The Paris fee page returns a 404, so no cost can be established for any Paris route.
We have a commercial arrangement with this institution and may be paid if you enrol. How CareerSkale works and is paid.
What it requires
US Executive DBA
membership of the International Alliance of Business Professionals (IABP), plus a master's degree in a related field
Paris DBA
a master's degree plus professional experience
Paris PhD
a master's degree, research readiness and a proposed topic
Paris PhD Advanced Standing
an incomplete prior doctorate, ABD status, or "Published academic or professional research"
membership of the International Alliance of Business Professionals (IABP), plus a master's degree in a related field
a master's degree plus professional experience
a master's degree, research readiness and a proposed topic
an incomplete prior doctorate, ABD status, or "Published academic or professional research"
The IABP membership requirement is not incidental — see below.
How recognition works
American Management University states that it is accredited by QAHE and IARC on its Paris site, and by APME of London on its US site. None of those three bodies appears on the CHEA directories, the US Department of Education database or EQAR, which are the registers used to verify higher education providers in the United States and Europe.
Its ACBSP and IACBE relationships are described as educational membership. IACBE states this itself: educational membership does not imply accreditation.
The two legal bases, and what each actually is
United States. AMU is not licensed in California. It holds an exemption from licensing under California Education Code §94874(b)(1) — the carve-out for institutions serving members of a bona fide professional association. That explains the IABP membership requirement: the association that sponsors the exemption is the association applicants must join. An exemption is a decision that a body need not be licensed. It is not a licence, and it is certainly not accreditation.
France. The Paris "approved distance learning establishment" claim rests on a declaration of opening. The French education authority states plainly:
"La déclaration d'ouverture ne signifie pas que l'établissement est reconnu par l'État."
(The declaration of opening does not mean the establishment is recognised by the State.)
The same source confirms the declaration is not subject to any check of teaching quality, and that state recognition is an entirely separate process.
Disclaimers AMU does publish, and gets right
On its honorary PhD: awards of this kind "do not represent the completion of an academic program or course of study and are not equivalent to earned academic degrees."
On Advanced Standing: it is "not a validation degree, honorary degree, or automatic degree based on experience", and "Advanced standing is not automatic."
Both statements are correct and creditable. They should be read alongside everything above rather than as reassurance.
Questions to ask before you pay
- What is the legal entity name, jurisdiction and registration number? Do not proceed without this.
- Which operation — US or Paris — would you enrol with, and which issues the award?
- Is the doctorate assessed by dissertation or by project paper?
- What does IABP membership cost, and is it required for the whole programme?
- What are the Paris fees, given the fee page does not load?
Who this may suit
On the evidence available, we cannot describe a group of applicants for whom this is a sound choice, because the threshold question — who awards the qualification — is unanswered on both public websites.
If AMU supplies a legal entity name, a registration number and a single consistent account of its accreditation and assessment, this page will be updated. Until then, treat the low fee as a reason for more scrutiny rather than less.
Sources checked 28 August 2026: amu.education · amu.edu.eu · French private higher education guidance
Compare AMU in our institution comparison, and read how to check an institution's accreditation.