RE: Which is best unaccredited institution?

I would like to know which is best unaccredited institution in U.S.A or in any other country. Also tell us why you think its the best unaccredited institution.

Migara

 

I'm sure Bill Dayson can come up with some good answers.

Keck Graduate School is one candidate. Why? World-renowned faculty, strong industry connections, member of prestigious Claremont Colleges group, emphasis on a growing field (biotechnology). Its professional (terminal) Master's degree is also a valuable development -- in science, we have a surfeit of PhDs (many of them ending up indefinitely in postdoc purgatory) and too few highly-qualified graduates from programs that focus on the needs of industry. There's an interesting web site that explores this concept (based on an initiative by the Sloan Foundation) - http://www.sciencemasters.com/index.html.

 

Isn't it Keck Graduate Institute?

 

Yes, you're right.

 

SRU

St. Regis University, for several reasons...

1. No other university allows you to become a faculty member by just buying into the big lie
2. As a faculty member, no other university allows you to paste your head onto a more appealing body
3. No other university lives as much in "the ivory tower" of fantasy as does SRU, so if denial of reality is your thing, this is your institution!
4. No other university has such loose operational processes that they might actually give you degrees, and forget to bill you (as happened to a friend of mine who made a simple inquiry, only to have an entire package "awarded" and sent to him - with no charge or followup)
5. No other university allows you to share space with such distinguished liars as the guy from CompTIA and that Ron Archer guy http://www.aeispeakers.com/Archer-Ron.htm

I mean, what more do you want? A legitimate degree?

 

It's Bob Jones University ( http://www.bju.edu ). It is reputable and has been around for several decades.

 

RE: Which is best unaccredited institution?

Sorry folks I am interested in DL best unaccredited institution?

 

Keck accreditation statement from their web site:
"Accreditation
Western Association of Schools and Colleges, through a term affiliation with Claremont Graduate University."

 

The best unaccredited DL institution today is one that will become Regionally Accredited in the future. If there isn't one existing today that eventually becomes RA then I'd go with the unaccredited institution today that will become DETC accredited in the future.

 

Which is best unaccredited institution?

This thread keeps staring at me, day after day.

Okay, I'll answer the question. The best unaccredited degree is the one that will be regionally accredited by the time you graduate.

You can flush the rest.

 

They entertained a WASC site visit on Oct 15-17, 2003, and their Candidacy will probably be announced soon.

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12055

 

So is the real question is, "Of the unaccredited universities that are unlikely ever to get recognized accreditation, which is the best," then this seems like asking, "Of the 100 worst dentists in Chicago, which one is the best?"

 

Expanding our attention from DL in particular to higher education in general, there's this unaccredited degree mill:

http://www.ucmerced.edu

Of course, being a UC, there's serious doubt if it could ever qualify for RA.

And there's this:

http://www.csuci.edu

California Graduate Institute entertained a WASC site visit Oct 16-18, 2003 and has another one scheduled Mar 11-19, 2004. They are the oldest and largest of the CA-approved psych schools.

http://www.cgi.edu

Intercultural Institute of California entertained another site visit on Oct 1-3, 2003

http://www.iic.edu

Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences entertained WASC on Oct 15-17, 2003. Their two-headed singing clones are cool, especially when they wave their tentacles in time to the music.

http://www.kgi.edu

National Test Pilot School will be hosting their WASC site visit on Mar 3-5, 2004. I think that these guys can probably put on an exciting mach-2 show. Plus, they could always ask their next door neighbor Burt Rutan to fire up his rocket ship.

http://www.ntps.edu

Soka U. of America will be receiving their visit from WASC on Mar 17-19, 2004. They have the most elegant big-bucks campus (though that crowd up there in Merced are sure to challenge that.) Soka is already accredited by AALE, but they are going for RA as well.

http://www.soka.edu

Hsi Lai has been a WASC Candidate since 2002.

http://www.hlu.edu

 

But if there were only 101 dentists in a city, wouldn't there have to be a '100 worst' even though the difference between #1 (the best) and #2 (the best of the worst) might be slight?

 

In higher education, there isn't a continuum between accredited and unaccredited schools, especially in the DL market, where most unaccredited DL schools could be termed "diploma mills."

The number of credible, unaccredited, DL schools can be counted on one or two hands. And even those have questionable aspects to them. That's why they're unaccredited.

Meeting the standard to become accredited is huge. It used to be even more so, but DETC provides an alternative for some schools. The gap between DETC and regional accreditation is huge, but one school (American Public University) is making the leap. Others might follow. (Some non-doctorate-granting DL schools bypassed DETC, like Jones International. Others did both DETC and RA--a longer process--simultaneously.)

Schools like CCU and Century, like others before them, had to drop their doctoral programs to apply for DETC accreditation. Does anyone seriously think those two schools could be accredited by a regional? Century is in the North Central Association's jurisdiction. But instead of pursuing regional accreditation--and retaining its doctoral programs--it chose instead to go after DETC accreditation, even if it meant dropping the doctorates. To me, that says a lot.

 

Hi Mouse.

I think that John's point is that lack of accreditation is a bad thing. Asking for the "best" non-accredited school is kind of like inquiring about the most charming child molestor. What you end up with is the best of a sorry lot. It was a comment about the premise of this thread. Seeking out non-accredited schools simply because they are non-accredited is a foolish thing to do.

Personally, I'm friendlier to a few non-accredited schools than some of the others on this board appear to be. I think that a small number of them are truly excellent. But as my post above illustrates, the credible ones have a way of seeking recognized accreditation at the first opportunity, so good non-accredited schools are often a short-lived transitory phenomenon.

They shouldn't be used as evidence that all the rest of the non-accredited schools are somehow sound by association. Each non-accredited school has to make its own case. Few of them can. And even the few that can demonstrate credibility grant degrees with significantly lower general utility. That's one reason why they seek accreditation.

Bottom line: It's difficult to understand or to justify why a credible academically sound university would avoid having that quality recognized by the academic and professional worlds, which is what the accreditors represent.

 

Yes folks, he has lost it.

In California 412,000 students annually attend about 2,000 different schools that he considers diploma mills.

I have never seen anyone else say that there is a significant difference in accreditation between R/A and DETC. With the recent high rejection rates of applicants, I suspect DETC may be a little tougher.

 

I didn't call them diploma mills. I said others might consider them that. I said it that way purposely. I prefer to judge each school individually, while at the same time acknowledging the inferiority of California Approval as both a process and a form of institutional recognition.

I'm certainly not the only saying there's a significant difference between RA and DETC. Many regionally accredited schools make this distinction. Admissions officers do, too. So do employers. Even DETC acknowledges it. In fact, it is difficult to find anyone who says the opposite. (Not with some policy statement, but with measuring the actual differences. CHEA, for example, might say there is no difference, but RA schools still continue to reject credits and degrees from nationally accredited schools, employers see them in a lesser light, etc.)

This is the last opinion I'll offer for quite awhile. I've taken a full-time position with an RA university as a department head. (Yes, as a direct result of my Union Ph.D.) I've left AT&T. As a result, I feel a little unfomfortable commenting on matters of judgment and opinion about schools. (Besides, all it adds up to is refuting, over and over, the same, tired BS offered by people like Dennis, connected with unaccredited DL schools and diploma mills. That never seems to change.) So, for the foreseeable future, I'll be posting a lot, lot less, and sticking just to matters of fact.

Rich

 

Here is one,

Is there a litmus test? Dr Bear has alluded to there not being one, really. For example, I am attending Nations University. It is unaccredited,but for my purposes, the schooling will help me become a better historian. (If a school asks me to teach Western Civ or World Civ...I am better equipped). Will I use it on my resume? Certainly not. If it ever becomes accredited..sure. There are flaming diploma mills and then there are schools that actually make you work for the degree. As I go on further, I dont think it will ever be black or white. For example, some RA schools are easier than others. It will be that way for unaccredited schools as well. Fortunately, we have experts like Dr Bear who know and understand this arena much better than I do.

 

About 90% of the CA-approved schools are non-degree-granting post-secondary vocational schools. They are your barber colleges and your cosmetology, bartending and truck driving schools. Many offer courses in office and computer skills. There are many ESL schools.

Of the roughly 250 that grant degrees, many are the kind of schools that offer associates degrees in stuff like dental assisting. Many more are out-of-state RA schools that operate a California satellite. Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon are CA-approved. Many more have recognized accreditation from non-WASC accreditors like ACICS, NASAD, NASM, ACAOM, CCE, DETC or ACCSCT.

The fact is that most Californians don't even know that CA-approval exists. They have a vague idea that vocational schools need a license, but they don't know the details.

In most cases they couldn't name a single CA-approved university, though in the Bay Area UC Berkeley, San Jose State, USF and so on are household names. People here on the peninsula are familiar with Notre Dame de Namur and the community colleges like CSM, but haven't a clue that Northern California Graduate University is only a mile away.

So rather than CA-approved universities being a major force in the state, the truth is that they are obscure, familiar only within small circles. Most Californians are blissfuly unaware that they even exist.