SRU gets high rating...

Is this for real?????

www.thedegree.com

Note that SRU is rated "number three" by this seemingly independent web site that helps students locate suitable distance learning programs, most of which look quite legitimate to me.

Maybe galanga and/or some of our technical experts would like to take a look at the underlying "who is" information, etc...

 

Possibly, but who could tell from the gibberish in the domain registration? If real, they certainly have a problem distinguishing the real from the phony.

Domain Name: THEDEGREE.COM

Registrant:
TheDegree.com
Thedegree ([email protected])
TheDegree.com
TheDegree.com
null,99999
US
Tel. +555.5555555

Creation Date: 08-Mar-2000
Expiration Date: 08-Mar-2006

Domain servers in listed order:
ns.accordweb.com
ns2.accordweb.com


Administrative Contact:
TheDegree.com
TheDegree ([email protected])
Thedegree.com
Thedegree.com
null,99999
US
Tel. +555.5555555

*** And were I an official of one of the schools ranked below number three, I'd take my advertising dollars elsewhere.

 

The first interesting thing to point out is St. Regis's new ".ac" link. Before it was saintregis.edu.lr (just one of the many they've used). Anyway, .LR refers to Liberia which St. Regis claims is it's home country. .AC refers to Ascension Island which is located just south of the equator in the South Atlantic Ocean.
http://www.ascension-island.gov.ac/
Wonder why the sudden change?

As I was just about to point out before I saw bgossett's post, the website doesn't even appear to be registered to anyone. Haha.. I'm not sure what to make of all that.

 

.ac domains are popular with mill operators because of the potential confusion factor with .ac.uk domains.

Whois lookups for .ac domains can be run at http://www.nic.ac/ .

Domain Information
Domain Handle : DOM-60070
Domain Name : SAINTREGISUNIVERSITY.AC
Organization Name : SRU
Street : 80 Broad St,
City : Monrovia
State :
Postal Code : na
Country : LR
Created : February 12 2003.
Last Updated : February 27 2003.
Expires : February 12 2004.
Admin Contact
User ID : NIC-60079
Contact Name : Lorhan, H
Organization Name : SRU
Street : 80 Broad St,
City : Monrovia
State :
Postal Code : na
Country: LR
Technical Contact
User ID : NIC-1001
Contact Name : Sales
Organization Name : Alldomains.com
Street : 1800 Sutter Street
City : Concord
State : California
Postal Code : 94520
Country: US
Phone : +1 925-685-9600
Fax : +1 925-685-9620
E-Mail : [email protected]
Billing Contact
User ID : NIC-1001
Primary Nameserver

Nameserver : SVR1.MARKETRENDS.NET
IP Address :
Secondary Nameserver
Nameserver : SVR2.MARKETRENDS.NET
IP Address :

 

.AC domain for SRU...

I remember seeing this discussed somewhere else. As I recall, SRU ".ac" address is a mirror site. They are still going with the liberian thing as their primary. But possibly hedging their bets for jurisdiction should the heat come down??

 

Business Week Online

Has Rushmore listed on their online MBA site.

 

SRU, and other "life experience" degrees...

Just a note here, for those who are interested, including those who come here with SRU and similar "life experience" degrees wondering how and whether they can ever use them....

A word of caution - EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE in higher education is well aware of these institutions, and their meaningless worth in terms of gaining access to legitimate institutions of higher learning either in terms of becoming a student or employment. The Liberian accreditation means nothing, since AACRAO has pointed out the circumstances under which it was "earned".

More words of caution - higher ed types look down their noses at ANY degree that is less than regionally accredited, unless it comes from a very prestigious and well-known foreign (to the US) institution - I'm thinking Oxford, Cambridge, and the Sorbonne here folks. Even DETC does not cut it. It is all a matter of "being in the club", and trust me - after 20+ years in higher education you just can't fight city hall!

Should this change? Probably, yes. Will it change? Not soon, and the change will be even longer in coming with the abuses we are seeing in the distance learning market space exploding all around us. If anything, traditionalist viewpoints are becoming more entrenched. This does not bode well for pure distance learners, even though we all know that technology enabled education is here to stay.

 

BGossett,

The address of St. Regis is 80 Broad St. in Monrovia.

Now, go to: http://www.minervatank.com/particulars2.asp and look at numbers "2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 15, 16, 18". They ALL have "80 Broad St. Monrovia" as their street address. Quite perplexing really.

It appears as though "80 Broad St." is a water vessel dock. Could St. Regis's next advertising claim be "St. Regis University-The World's First Totally Aquatic Institute of Higher Learning"?

 

Saint Regis pigeons

When confronted with a web site which claims that Saint Regis University is #3 in a list of The World's Top 20 Distance Learning Degree Programs I might ask myself "should I call them on the phone to ask how the institutions were judged?"

But if I were to try to do this, I'd not find a phone number on their site and would also find that their domain registration information was entirely fake.

That might make me suspicious, and I wouldn't want to become suspicious, since it might curdle my cheery outlook and make me less willing to believe everything I find on the web.

Instead, I will think of all those pigeons flying around in their little Branford Academy beanies, clutching AA diplomas (awarded by "a division of internationally renowned Saint Regis University") in their little clawed feet, content in the knowledge of their high standing, thanks to a credential from the third-best distance learning program in the ENTIRE world.

G

 

On Aug. 24 on this board, responding to a query of mine, SRU professor Leonard van der Walt admitted, "SRU owns the site".
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?postid=86020#post86020

How did you all manage to miss this?

 

oops!

Well, umm... a search of the boards for "www.thedegree.com" doesn't come up with any hits except to this thread. But that's just an excuse.

G

 

Duh!

How quickly we forget...... !