Thursday, June 24, 2004

Unaccredited Universities

I agree with those who are currently fighting to make it illegal for someone to get a job or a promotion by listing an unaccredited university on their resume. As someone who struggled through 4 years of college, and 8 years of graduate school/dissertation writing, I am offended that someone can call themselves a Ph.D. or doctor just because they bought the title.

This is not to say that I believe that everyone needs a college education or that all jobs/promotions should be based one's degree. But if an employer requires a college degree for an applicant, then I think that degree should come from an accredited institution.

For a list of unaccredited universities and why they aren't accrediated click here.

The names of these unaccrediated institutions include:

Academy for Contemporary Research
Academy of Healing Arts
Academy of Natural Therapies
Academy of Religious & Spiritual Studies
Adam Smith University
Adams and Washington University, King College of Professional Studies
Addison State University
Advanced Education Trust
Advanced Learning Network
Akamai University
Albert University
Alexandria University
All Saints American University
Almeda College
American Capital University
American Coastline University
American Columbus University
American Independent International University
American International University of Management and Technology
American Pacific University
American State University
American University of Asturias
American University of Hawaii
American World University
Americana University
Americus University
Ameritech University
Amstead University
Anacrusis Institute
Anglo American University
Ashford University
Ashington University
Ashwood University
Atlantic International University
Azaliah
Bangalore Inst of Science, Tech. and Mgt
Barrington University
Belford University
Beloved Community Seminary
Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global Education
Berne University
Bienville University
Bircham International University
Blackstone University
Brantridge University
Breyer State University
Bridgewater University
Brighton University
Britain College of Management and Science
British American Business Institute
Bronte International University
Business and Computer University College
C & E American University Institute
Cal Southern University
Calamus International University
California Pacific University
Cambridge International University
Cambridge State University
Canyon College
Capital American University
Carrington University
Center College of Executive & Professional Development
Center State University of Executive & Professional Development
Central Pacific University
Central State University
Century University
Chelsea University
Christian Leadership University
City University of L.A.
Clayton College of Natural Health
Clayton University
Clermont College of Business
College of Medical & Health Sciences
Colorado University of Naturopathic Medicine
Columbia Commonwealth University
Columbia Pacific U.
Columbia State University
Columbus University
Commonwealth Open University
Communion of Saints Seminary
Concordia University
Cornerstone University
Cosmopolitan Univ
Cranston University
Crown Church College & University
Donsbach University
Earlscroft University
East Point University
Edison University
Ellington University
European Graduate School
Fairfax University
Farington University
Fort Young University
Frederick Taylor International University
Glencullen University
Glenford University
Golden State University
Greenleaf University
Greenwich University
Hamilton University
Hampton Bay University
Hampton College
Harrington University
Hartford University
Hartland University
Hartley University
Hawaii American University
Heed University
Holos
Holos University
Hong Bang University
Honolulu University
Honolulu University of the Arts Sciences & Humanities
Honolulu USA
Illawarra College
Institute for Creative Process
Institute for Human Dynamics
Institute for Science in Mind
Institute of Executive & Professional Development
Institute of New Media & Technology
InTech University
International Graduate Center
International MBS
International Mid Pac College
International Theological University
International University for Graduate Studies
James Monroe University
John Thomas
Kennedy-Western University
Kensington University
Kent College
Kingdom College of Natural Health
Kingsfield University
Knightsbridge University
Lacrosse University
Lambert University
LaSalle University
Laureate University
Leibniz
Lexington University
Lincoln International University, Inc.
Lincoln University
London College of Technology
Madison University
Manhattan University
Marlborough University
Medical College of London
Medical University of the Americas
Midwestern University
Monterrey Institute for Graduate Studies
Monticello University/Thomas Jefferson University
Nation State University
Nation University
New Manhattan University
Newport Asia Pacific University
Newport University
Newton University
Nobel University
North United University
Northwestern International University, Ltd.
Novus University
Open University of America
Oxford International University
Pacific Basin University
Pacific Coast University
Pacific Southern University
Pacific Western University
Pacific Western University
Pacific Western University
PanAmerican University
Parkwood University
Personal Therapy Institute
Pickering University
Port Rhode University
Prescott College of Business and Leadership Studies
Preston University
Richardson University
Robert Kennedy University
Robertstown University
Rochville University
Romano Byzantine
Ross University
Rushmore University
Scarsdale University
Shaftsbury University
Shelbourne University
Shepperton University
Solsbury University
South Atlantic University
Southern Graduate Institute
Southern Pacific University
Southwest International University
St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants
St. Augustine University
St. Christopher's College of Medicine
St. George University International
St. John's University College of Medicine
St. Lourdes University
St. Lucia College of Medicine
St. Luke School of Medicine
St. Mary's College of Medicine
St. Regis University
St. Renoir University
St. Thomas Institute
Stanley State University
Stanton University
Stefan International University, Inc.
Stensan International Univ
Strassford University
Success Seminary
Suffield University
Synergystics
Tecana International Universita
Templeton University
The Dream Institute
The Thornwood University
Thornewood University
Trident University of Technology
Trinity College and University
U. Francophone R. de Sorbon
United Pacific University
University of Honolulu
University College for Advanced Studies
University de la Romande
University of Advanced Research
University of Devonshire
University of Doncaster
University of Dorchester
University of Dunham
University of Ecoforum for Peace
University of Health Science
University of Honolulu USA
University of Metaphysics
University of Northern Washington
University of NorthWest
University of Palmers Green
University of Ravenhurst
University of San Moritz
University of Santa Barbara
University of Santa Monica
University of the Holy Land
University of Wexford
Van Ives University
Vancouver University Worldwide
Vernell University
Virginia International University
Wakefield International University
Warnborough College
Warnborough University
Washington International University
Washington School of Theology
Westbourne University
Westbrook University
Western States University for Professional Studies
Westhampton University
Wilson State University, Inc.
Wittfield University
YUIN/American University
Zenith University

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a note... Ashford University in Clinton-Iowa, is regionally accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

http://www.ashford.edu/info/accreditation.php?width=800

Please do not confuse the legitimate Ashford University in Iowa with the one in Europe.

Unknown said...

It appears this list is not correct at all. I teach at Farington University in the UK. We have been accredited since 1948 (the date of organization) in the UK, and added accreditation in Ireland, Germany and the USA as campuses have been added. Farington University has a long list of international accreditations as well. See the website www.faringtonuniversity.eu for full details.

Also, stating that it should be illegal because the university is not accredited is not a fair statement to those universities that have chosen not to be accredited due to the bizarre restrictions put on them by the accreditation councils such as a focus on Peer-Reviewed Journals in order to be hired as staff, vs. the complete refusal to review a Professors patents, books, and most importantly, teaching experience. From my discussions with other Professors around the world, there is a significant revolt growing against the councils for their lack of vision.

Anonymous said...

Note the misspelling of the word "accredited" in this sentence: "For a list of unaccredited universities and why they aren't accrediated"

Anonymous said...

California Pacific University has full-institutional approval by the State of California, so to imply that degrees are purchased from the school is incorrect. In general, additional research could improve the quality of the information on this page.

Anonymous said...

How about American university of London?..is it accredited.

Anonymous said...

Columbia Pacific University (1978-1997) was a California State accredited (approved) pioneer of distance education, highly recommended to students by education expert Dr. John Bear and US government officials. CPU degrees are legally valid in California. Accreditation is a voluntary process in the US and regional accreditation is not the only legitimate form of school authorization.

www.cpuniv.us,
www.columbia-pacific-university.net

Anonymous said...

Only those that studied from these universities/colleges can criticise/appreciate them. Accrediting bodies are corrupt and too much demanding. The private sector appreciate the graduants from these universities. TO US, THEIR DEGREES ARE VALID.

Unknown said...

I agree - it is offensive that people who bought their degrees compete with people who really worked for them. However, it is equally offensive to assume that every unaccredited institution automatically is a degree mill.

I keep having a strange feeling about the educational accreditation practice in the US. The state does not charter institutions (which I would consider the most normal thing in the world). Establishing private Universities is relatively easy in many states. When a private University is established, it is in fact a private organization - a company, basically. And then the state de-facto forces this private entity to seek licensing from another private entity, which ultimately is under the control of the new company's main competitors - that is the large Universities - and which establishes criteria that are not entirely academic in nature but - like in all quality assurance processes, e.g. ISO 9000 - mainly consist of forbiddingly complicated and expensive formal and bureaucratic requirements. Imagine you have a small startup software company that wants to bring a new and innovative computer operating system onto the market - and you need to get a permission from an "accreditor" that is operated by Microsoft, Apple and IBM. I am not sure if this is a system in accordance with American ideas of freedom and innovation. I am even less sure if it is constitutional in the first place.

I myself have gone through accredited University Programmes in Germany, the UK and the US, but I got also involved with the former Greenwich University in Hawaii, where I did work in Marine Biology under the supervision of one of Americas leading marine biology Professors.

Given the witchhunt against unaccredited institutions at large, I would never recommend getting involved with one to anyone. Their degrees have become worthless, no matter how solid the programme or respectable their faculty. From my point of view the approach should be balanced - operators of diploma mills should be rigorously hunted down and punished, while serious and legitimate schools ought to be subjected to some sort of licensing scheme. One should not forget that accreditations standards vastly differ between the accreditation bodies in the US: While in the East innovative schools like Excelsior College, Empire State and Thomas Edison State are possible, non-traditional approaches are heavily torpedoed in the West.

The topic is not so simple...accreditation is not only quality assurance - there is a heavy cartel aspect to it. Why not have a national accrediting bodies for individual degrees that focuses on the actual work done? Everyone with legitimate academic achievements and background then could get an evaluation. This would sort out both: accredited and unaccredited nincompoops.

Anonymous said...

It looks like very little research has been done by Dr History. Not every unaccredited institution is a degree mill. I myslef studied online for Ph.D degree in Business Administration with Preston University. It took me almost 9 (nine) years of study and research to get a PhD. I had to submit all my past certificates and transcripts before being accepted as a student (I was not accepted just because I agreed to pay some Dollars). I had to master "Modern Language of America (MLA) before starting my course, because that's the language that is used for Preston's dissertations. I had to complete 5 (five) bulky subjects - 3 core and 2 electives and write a fully detailed dissertation, on a subject never researched, before I was finally awarded my degree (I obtained transfer credit for only one subject based on my past qualifications- and I was already heavily qualified at the time of application as student)). I was never charged a penny more than what I had initially paid as full fee. Nonetheless, all my queries and questions were promptly answered by my tutors and my work was always closely followed up and fully "marked" and mailed back to me with recommendations. I had all possible guidance that should have been available to a PhD student. Now, if all this holds good for me, a student living in a very small country, I don't see why all this should not hold good for students living in bigger countries like certain strong Asian and European countries. How do you then expect me to believe that all Unaccredited Universities sell degrees, as alleged in some "respected newspapers. Such allegations are totally unfounded. Furthermore, and most important of all, I had in the past, inquired about Preston from the Wyoming department of Education and they had assured me that the University's programs were "excellent" to quote their own words. Also, please refer to a very interesting and genuine article- Can College Accreditation Live Up to its Promise? by George C. Leef and Roxana D. Burris - an investigation that was commissioned by American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA)- which clearly shows the failure of the American Accreditation System to the extent that some graduates that come from certain accredited schools can't even perform simple calculations.
Dr History - Please make sure to do adequate research before making dubious comments as it is an offense to those who have not "bought" degrees but "earned" them through years of hard work.

Virginia International University said...

Recently, it was discovered that our institution, Virginia International University, is listed among unaccredited schools. Nonetheless, since 2008 Virginia International University has been licensed by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), a national accrediting organization recognized by CHEA. Consequently, we seek to request the modification of this information on your website in order to maintain the integrity of our institution's reputation. Legal procedures will be undertaken in case of dismissal of this note.

Virginia International University said...

Please accept our apologies regarding the note that was posted earlier. We mean no legal threats at all. We only want recognition of our accreditation. We realize you probably were not aware of this when our institution was listed. Thank you for your understanding.

Anonymous said...

Is Global College of Natural Health accredited?

Thanks

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Anonymous said...

George Gollin Gay Pornography Link—“I was going to fuck them.”

A University of Illinois science teacher has been linked to a notorious internet pedophile-pandering pornographer.

George Gollin (George D. Gollin, George Dana Gollin) has been a frequent poster on one of pornographer Thomas ‘Chip’ White’s websites. Hiding behind the alias ‘galanga,’ George Gollin has made over 1,280 posts on the gay boy pornographer’s discussion forums.

In a recent interview George Gollin stated, ‘I was going to fuck them.’

George Gollin, who claims to be an expert in college accreditation issues despite having no education, experience or apparent knowledge in the topic, has a history of lawless, anti-social behavior. George Gollin has been caught impersonating federal agents, posting other peoples’ social security numbers on his website, and even made death threats against people who exposed his scurrilous activities.

George Gollin recently was sued in federal court for slander and extortion for his role in an alleged Liberian shakedown scheme, forcing Illinois taxpayers to pay lawyers over $58,000 in legal fees in his defense.

When his employer ordered George Gollin to remove offensive materials from his website, Gollin immediately arranged for his partner, gay Oregon bureaucrat Alan Contreras to re-post it. A court has ruled that Contreras is a civil rights violator and anti-Christian bigot, a ruling Contreras did not challenge on appeal.

George Gollin’s lesbian daughter exposed her family’s sordid private activities in her public blogs. She listens to what she describes as ‘the suck my dick fuck my ass song’ with her father George Gollin. She also revealed that she shares chocolate vaginas with her mother, college administrator Melanie Loots, who refers to Catholics as 'dirty Papists.' Loots was cited by the FDA for illegally selling 386 mutant lab pigs to the public for food.

George Gollin also admitted that the dissertation he submitted to receive his college degree was in fact an improper collaboration authored by 15 other people, in apparent contravention of school policy expressly requiring such projects to be a student’s individual work.

Anonymous said...

Point 4: Employers, it seems to me, ought to be able to determine their own requirements. If they employ someone who has purchased a credential from a degree mill, then it's on their heads. If the employee does not have the requisite knowledge or if the incident becomes public, the employer is damaged, which is why most employers require accredited degrees. Moreover, with an accredited Ph.D. in history, the poster does not have to worry about this problem for the most part. I have never applied for a teaching position at an institution that didn't require an accredited degree, although I suspect that there are exceptions. It is easy enough for the employer to determine online whether or not the school meets its requirements.

Point 5: Most states already have laws that make it illegal (for public safety purposes) to use a fraudulent credential to obtain a state license and/or to use such a credential to represent oneself to the public in some professions (e.g., medical, dental, psychology, teacher certification, etc.). In all cases, the state defines what is "fraudulent." Sometimes this involves accreditation; sometimes not.

The poster is miffed that there are people out there with fraudulent degrees. Well, welcome to the modern world, Geraldine! This has been going on for the better part of 150 years. Passing a law is not going to stop it. The FBI made a concerted effort to cut the heads off the biggest snakes in the 1980s. They sent a few people to jail but that's all. Many states have since tightened up their regulations about authority to grant degrees, but the Internet has turned "degree porn" into a thriving industry. The best we can do, in my view, is to be vigilant regarding the problem and manage it, employers taking the point.

The sloppiness with which this poster has approached this topic certainly does not speak well for the institution that granted his or her "Ph.D.," and the lack of rigor exhibited has done nothing but sow further confusion on the topic, if some of the replies are any judge.

Anonymous said...

The European Graduate School is a university licensed by both the Government of Malta and a Swiss canton. Your inclusion of it on this list is libellous to those of us who have graduated from there. You should remove it.

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Anonymous said...

http://www.illinois.gov/oeig/investigations/Documents/14EEC011_Gollin.pdf

George Gollin has been convicted of violating the Illinois State Employees and Officials Ethics Act and fined $5,000. George Gollin "knowingly and intentionally used his state-provided email account to engage in prohibited political activity...." George Gollin admitted he knew he was misappropriating state resources when he sent "dozens" of campaign emails with his university email. The Executive Ethics Commission levied a $5,000 fine against George Gollin, the maximum allowed under the statute.

Anonymous said...

http://www.illinois.gov/oeig/investigations/Documents/14EEC011_Gollin.pdf