Legal authority to confer degrees - which model?

Dear all,

I post this question as a genuine, interested individual on the topic and am in no way trying to cause grief. I was challenged on the Knightsbridge University thread (posted on Collegehints.com), but really did not get a firm response, so I will try again.

All mainstream universities (and, note, I emphasise the word 'university' for this scenario, and am not interested in Colleges etc) in the world have some form of legal authority to grant degrees. This authority ranges from:

1) Royal Charter
2) Act of Parliament
3) Accreditation (National & RA)
4) Ministry of Education Accreditation
5) State Licensing/ Authority
6) Any other international forms I have missed, I apologise but please add in.

All of the above involves some form of review/ assessment by an external body. This external body and process is designed to assess the capacity of the applicant and ensure that it has the minimum requirements in a range of areas ranging from physical to human resources in order to confer the range of degrees it is seeking to deliver.

If the entity meets the requisite standards, set at that particular point in time, then it is conferred authority, whether it be perpetual autonomy, or a set period of time, to confer degrees. At the same time, the entity can also be conferred the authority to use the word 'University', which is the approach in the Commonwealth, Europe etc but not in the USA, where the word is not controlled in legislation. This is called, in a broad sense, accreditation and not quality assurance. Quality assurance is the ongoing maintenance of standards, which the entity promises to comply with, and even improving and refining these standards, as it operates as a higher education institution.

It is now suggested that there is another form of legal authority to grant degrees. This allegedly comes in the form of Company Incorporation whereby an organisation incorporates itself as a legal entity using the word 'university' in its business name. The authority to grant degrees is derived from the company’s articles of incorporation, spelling out its own empowerment to confer degrees. The Directors of the company generally draft these articles. This form of incorporation generally occurs in jurisdictions where the word 'university' is not controlled under the Business Names Act, or similar legislation. If it were controlled under legislation, then the above 'accreditation' steps would have to be followed.

So, we now have organisations referring to themselves as 'self-validating' or 'autonomous institutions', essentially claiming the same level of legal authority to grant degrees as those that have gone through the above mainstream processes. Examples of institutions using this legal structure are Knightsbridge University, Warnborough University, Earlscroft University etc. etc.

I would be interested in the members view as to this legal position re-approval to grant degrees. Is it acceptable for a university to incorporate itself, empower itself to confer degrees, and undergo no external assessment/benchmarking etc? I emphasise again - I am not interested in the quality assurance frameworks - I am interested in the legal authority to grant degrees.

Cheers,


George

 

In a dwindling number of states within the USA, there's no legal restriction on anyone starting up a university. Essentially having the ability to grant degrees simply because they say they want to. Henrik claimed that within his country (Denmark?) it was a similar situation. Gus Sainz tried to check on the veracity of this claim and IIRC concluded that it appeared to be the truth.

Of course in these unfortunate situations (unfortunate at least in my own personal opinion), the ability to grant a degree does not mean that the institution is a real university or that the diplomas are worth the paper that they're printed on, only that they can't be arrested for granting degrees. The bottom line being that to close the place down it is required that other laws catch the degree mill in other violations (e.g., Hawaii) or the prosecution might be forced to prove a case of fraud.

 

Actually....

in some states there are laws governing the term University and College. New York is one. Touro College cannot call itself Touro University in New York because its NY campus offers too few graduate degrees. Schools may be incorporated as a business but not have their programs accredited. Business licensing and educational accreditation are not the same thing and to assert that they are is naive and, possibly, fraudulent. Mcdonalds has Big Mac University at its corporate headquarters and I am sure they have copyrighted the name. However, it does not mean that its graduates are graduates of an accredited college.

One can use any legal mumbo jumbo in an attempt to see things their way. In the USA we have a large group of people who firmly believe the income tax is unconstitutional. Some of them are in jail for that belief. Ditto for the mill believers. I was told by a guy I arrested one time that I was "a tool of the system". Self justification is a very human trait.

 

Hi, George. Let me take a shot at this.

In the United States, the basic philosophy is that anyone can do anything they like, unless the law prohibits, restricts or regulates it. That extends to operating universities. In this case, all 50 states have various laws that seek to regulate postsecondary education in the public interest, normally spelling out that nobody can operate a postsecondary degree granting institution unless it meets statutory requirements. These range from strict to virtually nothing at all.

So I'd say that your #5 above isn't really where an American school's degree granting authority comes from. The school simply creates degree granting authority for itself by the simple act of being a school, then the law (theoretically) regulates that in the public interest.

We see this point best illustrated in state religious exemptions. The federal courts have ruled that the government has to keep its hands off the practice of religion. Religious education is part of the practice of religion, so the government is prohibited from regulating seminaries and the like. That doesn't mean that no seminaries have degree granting authority, it means that they all do.

I'll also say that in the United States, your #3, 'accreditation', is a quality assurance mechanism that does not confer authority to grant degrees. A number of states have passed their own laws that require that all higher institutions permitted to grant degrees in that particular state must acquire recognized accreditation, but the accreditation itself doesn't imply degree granting powers.

That's very close to the American situation.

Part of the problem is that in most places, the right to operate as a university and to grant degrees is something that a government must bestow on an institution. This is done only after the institution meets the necessary requrements. In the United States there are far fewer requirements necessary for legal operation (that's why we have so many schools of so many different kinds), and then the accreditors look at what results and tell us which ones meet the expected standards.

I think that the "universities" you speak of kind of exploit the difference between the models. They incorporate in places that don't restrict operation as a university and simply give themselves degree-granting powers. Then they call themselves 'self-validating', trying to collapse the difference between American-style accreditation and European-style degree granting authority, hoping to convince people that their degrees must be academically valid simply because they are legally granted.

I suspect that Americans are less apt to fall for that ploy because we don't equate degree granting authority with academic quality and demand to see accreditation as well. We are familiar with legal-but-worthless degrees, since we generate so many of that squalid species domestically. But a legal-but-worthless degree is almost a self-contradiction in many places. It's hard for some people to get their minds around the concept.

But we need to be interested in quality assurance frameworks because that's precisely where the problem is located.

If degree mills are to be avoided, then the QA framework has to either be part of the conditions originally required for legal operation or else applied subsequently to legal schools of unknown provenance to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

In the UK any body that offers degrees that appear to be, or may be taken to be UK degrees (including using a UK address without qualification) must be recognised by the goverment department for education and science.

In Eire, it is apoparently illegal for any company formed after 1996 to use the word university in their name without government approval.

 

University

I thought that a university in the UK had to have Royal Charter in order to grant degrees.

In the US the words "college" and a "university" are used interchangably. After all Dartmouth College, The College of William and Mary and Boston College are actually universities but retain the title "college". Some colleges grant doctorates and a few universities only grant bachelors' degrees. It's confusing but you're used to that in the UK.

 

Hi George, sorry about my English.

Like my ex- criminal justice professor says, in USA only the Constitution, the Laws and the Jurisprudences give you the power and the authority to do the things. The Accreditation Companies not have the power of Law to grant degrees. Only the States and the Territories have that exclusive power. Yet


PhD Pacific Western University
MA Caribbean University
BA American University

 

But the reality is far different from the simple letter of the law. And the reality is that, in the world of higher education, U.S. universities not accredited by a recognized agency are simply not recognized as universities. There seems to be a few exceptions, but that's it.

Clinging to the notion that simple legal authority (from the states) to award degrees is naive and misses the point. Ask the people who've gone to prison running degree mills with legal (state) authority, or their customers who've gotten into trouble using such degrees.

What differentiates between a legitimate, state-authorized school and a degree mill with state authorization? It is far more likely that a legitimately earned degree from an unaccredited school will be deemed a fake than it will be deemed legitimate. Again, ignoring this reality is naive or worse.

 

Going back to the UK situtation, the legisaltion operates in an odd way that is sometimes used here.

In effect it completely bans the issuing of anything that is or might be taken to be a UK degree or similar award.

It then goes on to say that this part of the Act does not apply to ... and refers to some regulations (Statutory Instruments or SIs) that list permitted bodies and awards.

An Act of Parliament has to go three rounds of debate (readings) and be voted on before going to Her Maj. for the Royal Assent. SIs merely have to be 'laid before the House' and go into effect automatically unless they are objected to. (However the power to make such regs is always contained in some Act or other).

Without naming names, we have been dealing with a local college that claimed to offer degrees from an American University that turned out to be a company they themselves had set up. We are prepared to argue that this was a false trade description ref a service and therefore illegal under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. What the Courts think of that argument we will have to see.

Ref Ireland, I am in contact with someone from one of the Government departments there and have been told they are looking at a number of what they term 'unknown universities' and may be taking some action against them. Obviously I cannot give a list in what is an ongoing investigation, but it does include some familiar names!

 

It is the government of appropriate jurisdiction that grants the legal authority to award degrees. This is true internationally and here. Very few exceptions exist on this planet. In the U.S., authority is explicit or by exemption as in the case of religious degrees. Even in the U.S, each State is sovereign in its regulation of schools within its jurisdiction and therefore standards vary. Some States have high standards, some not, some outsource judgment to recognized accreditors. Accreditors do not have authority to grant degrees however. They establish standards that schools may seek for validation and recognition. Some States have similar procedures as part of licensing/approval. The U.S. Dept. of Education recognizes certain accreditors, however the US DOE does not grant the right to award degrees; this is reserved to the States. In the U.S. recognized accreditation is the norm but it is not authority to award a degree. Conversely, it should also be noted that Federal law prohibits the U.S. DOE from recognizing States as accreditors, other than NY, regardless of the standards they invoke.

 

Hi friends, sorry about my english.

quote:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Dr. Rich Douglas

"Universities not accredited by a recognized agency are simply not recognized as universities".

I can belief what you saying Dr. Douglas. If I go to interpreted what you saying, you said that:

1. You teach (in the past) in an institution not recognized as university? The Virginia International University. So, if The Virginia International University is an institution not recognized as university. What is that?

2. You said that all the lawyer of California (No ABA Schools) not study in a university? How this people get their J.D. and their licenses?

PhD Pacific Western University
MA Caribbean University
BA American University

 

Hello friends, sorry about my English.

To summarize, in USA the degree granting authorities comes from the States of the Union.

The Central Government, The Federal Power, says that “The States assume varying degrees of control over education, but, in general, institutions of higher education are permitted to operate with considerable independence and autonomy” http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg2.html#U.S.

If the Federal Government says that, that mean that affiliation in a regional or national private association is entirely voluntary.

If the Central Power of the Union says that, the regional accreditator says that:

Middle States Commission on Higher Education said, “Accreditation is a voluntary process. Institutions choose to apply for accredited status” http://www.msache.org/

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities said that “Regional accreditation of postsecondary institutions is a … voluntary process” http://www.nwccu.org/

In addition, the regional and national private associations recognize that the degree granting authority of the institutions of higher education comes from the States. They says

To the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association a degree granting institution is an institution that “it has legal authorization to grant its degrees, and it meets all the legal requirements to operate as an institution of higher education wherever it conducts its activities”. http://www.higherlearningcommission.org/overview/#Evaluation

To the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, to be a degree granting institution “the institution is authorized to operate as an educational institution and award postsecondary degrees by an appropriate governmental organization … and other agencies as required by each of the jurisdictions or regions in which it operates.” http://www.msache.org/

To The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, an institution of higher education is an institution that “is authorized to operate and award degrees as a higher education institution by the appropriate governmental organization, agency, or controlling board as required by the jurisdiction or state in which it operates” http://www.nwccu.org/Standards%20and%20Policies/Eligibility%20Requirements/Eligibility%20Requirements.htm

In a few words, an institution may need state authorization to operate legally in the USA like a degree granting institution.

PhD Pacific Western University (Criminal Justice)
MA Caribbean University (Criminal Justice)
BA American University of Puerto Rico (Criminal Justice)

 

US Govt universities

In the US the federal government operates several universities including those ran by Dept of Defense and Dept of Transportation. They are all regionally accredited and grant degrees ranging from asociates to doctorates. Perhaps someone can answer which came first: degrees or RA.

 

Re: University

I might add that, in the USA, the words "school" and "institute" are also sometimes used interchangeably with "university" as in Colorado School of Mines or California Institute of Technology.

 

Hello friends, sorry about my English.

I forget these words from the Federal Government and the USA Department of Education:

“Accrediting agencies that are recognized by the Secretary have no legal control over educational institutions or programs”.http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg3.html


PhD Pacific Western University (Criminal Justice)
MA Caribbean University (Criminal Justice)
BA American University of Puerto Rico (Criminal Justice)
Certificate University College of Criminal Justice
Certificate Universidad Metropolitana (Paralegal Investigator)

 

Re: US Govt universities

I was looking at the CHEA database and discovered that the federal government operates a horde of non-degree-granting schools accredited by an accreditor called the Council on Occupational Education (COE). They include:

Army Academy of Health Sciences - Branch Campus (Fort Rucker AL)
Army Academy of Health Sciences (San Antonio TX)
Army Management Staff College - Branch Campus (Ft. Leavenworth KS)
Army Management Staff College (Ft. Belvoir VA
Army Quartermaster Center and School (Ft. Lee VA)
Army Transportation and Aviation Logistics School ( 36)
Atlanta Job Corps Center (Atlanta GA)
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (Bethesda MD) (This has 11 separate campuses)
Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center (Prestonsburg KY
Cass Civilian Conservation Job Corps Center (Ozark AR)
Center for Naval Cryptology - Corry Station (Pensacola FL)
Defense Acquisition University - (this has 5 separate campuses)
Defense Commissary Agency (Ft. Lee VA)
Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (Patrick Air Force Base FL)
Defense Information School (Ft. George G. Meade MD)
Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management (Wright-Patterson AFB OH)
Defense Security Service Academy (Linthicum MD)
FAA Center for Management Development (Palm Coast FL)
Federal Correctional Institution Education Department of F.C.I. (Tallahassee FL)
Federal Medical Center - Lexington (Lexington KY)
Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center (San Diego CA)
Fleet Intelligence Training Center, Pacific (San Diego CA)

Etc., etc.