Canadian Institute of English CIE

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by lawrenceH, Aug 9, 2004.

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  1. lawrenceH

    lawrenceH New Member

    "Canadian Institute of English offers Cheap & Fast St Petersburg University Degrees

    Hello folks,
    I'm new here. I cannot find much verification or experiences on the web about the said institution; Canadian Institute of English

    http://cie.ca/

    It claims to have Tesol (Teaching English as a Second Language)certs and BA,MA,Phd in Education/Tesol degrees recognized internationally.

    Is there any way to verify if it is recognized by the Canadian government? Is there someone who can comment on its
    legitmacy?

    It also claims to offer its degrees thru St Petersburg State University which I understand is an accredited Russian university. But the BA MA Phd degrees appear rather easy to obtain.

    http://www.cie.ca/otherpro.htm

    Is there any way to check whether the affiliation is authentic??
    I've checked the St Petersburg sites with a translator:

    http://babelfish.altavista.com/
    (paste russian URL & select Russion->English then click translate)

    http://www.spbu.ru/Structure/Administration/Uprav/InterRel/partners.html

    Under Canadian Partners: theres no CIE.

    then I checked their list of graduates...for 2004
    http://www.spbumag.nw.ru/2004/18/2.shtml

    Probably all russian names, but take note of the departments, would BA,MA,Phd Education/Tesol come under any of these?

    I've sent an email to the St Petersburg website but have not
    gotten any reply.

    By the way I'm asking on behalf of a friend though it beats me why anyone would want an English degree from a Russian university, so pls don't raise that point...I have no answer :).

    Lastly, it has a japanese web advertisement showing some of its
    other affiliations:
    http://www.geocities.jp/tesolcie/

    Sorry for such a long post...was trying to be thorough.
    Thanks in advance for any help. :)
     
  2. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

  3. lawrenceH

    lawrenceH New Member

    Thanks for posting that thread. While quite a few recommended the CIE, note some comments I extracted from that thread:

    "1. They call themselves the CANADIAN institute of English, but as you say, they are based in Spain.
    2. The courses they offer are not accredited with any Canadian university, but one in Russia.
    3. The government body overseasing English language in Canada is TESL, not TESOL. In order to actually teach in Canada, you almost always need to take something recognized by TESLCanada.
    4. They themselves put the word 'education' with quotations around it and train you in five days. "

    "Actually, I have been teaching using the Bachelor of Education degree I studies for through the CIE. I received full resident / working visa status working in Taiwan, and now in China. I am in the process of going for the Master's degree.

    Yes, sounds too good but all it does is recognize practical teaching hours and experience to help you achieve your degree more quickly. The requirement is you prove what you have learned and that you deserve that degree by the degree work you do, including a comprehensive thesis."

    One comment vouching for it says:
    "They are based in Canada and are accredited to offer TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certificates. "

    However no Canadian accrediting agency was cited.
     
  4. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    As I said elsewhere, SPbSU is certainly not bogus. But I beleive they do not offer degrees in Education (they offer degrees in everything else including English). And the Canadian offer just feels bogus overall. Nothing solid, just small things. Starting with the fact that you need to pay them before you receive any information. And you're right, by their description degrees does not sound like Russian university degrees. I would be extremely cautious.
     
  5. lawrenceH

    lawrenceH New Member

    Thanks for your input Stanislav. I also found your comments along with others in the thread "Accredited Degree for $5000.00 USD ". In case anyone would like to check it out, here's the thread:
    http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=15477

    I've found some comments by an online news columnist
    in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, Saipan, casting doubts about this program too:

    http://data.worldwar2.info/cftemplates/omm/index.cfm?view=yes&RefNo=431

    http://data.worldwarii.info/cftemplates/omm/index.cfm?view=yes&RefNo=439

    CIE seems to get publicity in CNMI unlike in most countries.
     
  6. lawrenceH

    lawrenceH New Member

    Hi,
    Just want to share some updates:
    The CIE was once affiliated to Bircham International University until this recent notice:

    http://www.bircham.edu/newsletter/

    Here's some comments about Bircham:
    http://www.degreeinfo.com/static/forum_archive/6/6039/thread_6039_page_1.html
    http://www.citylinkmagazine.com/archives/101503coverstory.html

    I've seen a year 2001 newsletter from warnborough university showing that the CIE is their close affiliate and one of their study centres. I'm not sure about now.
    download http://www.warnborough.edu/Mmedia/pioneer/gaz102.pdf

    In case anyone hasn't heard of warnborough:
    http://www.ed-oha.org/cases/1995-146-ea.html
    http://www.ed-oha.org/cases/1995-164st.html
    http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1996-7/weekly/071196/news/list.htm
    http://www.highered.nsw.gov.au/reports/notapproved.htm
    http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/s6037.pdf

    As far as I know, the following agencies represent the recognized post-secondary institutions in Canada, and I have written to them. None of them recognize the CIE and it's courses

    http://www.c-l-c.ca/approvedprograms/approvedprogramsincanada.html
    http://www.aucc.ca/index_e.html
    http://www.cicic.ca/indexe.stm
    http://www.teslcanada.ca/
    http://tesl.ca/HTML/ApprovedTTInst04.html
    http://www.teslontario.org/new/cert/cert_recoginst.htm

    I am still awaiting more news from queries made to staff from Spbsu who are Tesol qualified and members of "Spelta"
    http://spelta.spb.ru/
    As far as I know, the English teaching staff members are involved in translating english to russian and vice-versa.
    A few who did reply have never heard of the CIE, but that's as far as they would go with comments.

    What puzzles me is that when I checked up Spbsu courses for foreign students, it's definitely not a quick and easy path and not exactly cheap; see this Spbsu site:

    http://www.dip.pu.ru/russian/abitur/foreign_intro.htm

    Bachelor course (4 years)______________ 3500 USD PER YEAR
    Master course (2 years)________________ 3600 USD PER YEAR
    Postgraduate course (3 years)___________4000 USD PER YEAR

    compare Spbsu degree thru CIE:

    Bachelor in Education: $5000 USD ($2800 when all grants apply)
    Master's Degree: $5500 USD ($3300 when all grants apply)
    Doctorate: $6000 USD ($3800 when all grants apply)

    Why such a vast difference in price and timeframe?

    I hope someone with authority from Spbsu can come forward and explain the cheap fasttrack degrees from CIE if they are indeed legitimate.

    Lastly a correction to an earlier statement about Tesol;
    "Tesol" stands for "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages"
    whereas "Tesl" stands for "Teaching English as a Second Language"
     
  7. adamsmith

    adamsmith member

    If I am not mistaken, this institution was also associated with Berne University at one stage.

    But I do know that it has been a constant seeker of schools to link up with. In my experience, they gave the impression that they were a legitimately 'accredtied' school, however,from the information supplied, you could never really put your finger on just where their legitimacy originated, if at all.

    One to be very careful of!
     
  8. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Exactly, Why would you want a russian degree for teaching english as a second language?

    You can try the liberian deal with St. Regis. At least Liberia is an english speaking country.
     
  9. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Canadian Institute of English CIE

    While this offer is most probably bogus, comparing SPbSU to SRU is hugely unfair. SPbSU is a great university with long and glorious history, having Russian ex-KGB spy President Mr. Putin as one of its alumni ;) (well I can imagine someone seeing this as a negativity ;))
     
  10. lawrenceH

    lawrenceH New Member


    Hi, I have just received confirmation that the
    CIE was indeed offering Berne University degrees in 2000.
    It's stated in their old flyer.

    Another university they claimed affiliation with is Central University of Ecuador.

    So to sum up their past affiliations:
    1) Central University of Ecuador
    2) Berne University
    3) Warnborough University
    4) Bircham International University
     
  11. George Brown

    George Brown Active Member

    They are a strange lot at CIE. I recall some years back the CEO (based in Spain if I recall correctly) contacted me, asking about certain universities, their accreditation status and what I would recommend. Clearly they did not heed my advice.

    Cheers,

    George
     
  12. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Re: Canadian Institute of English CIE

    No disrespect to russian universities. Many of them are great in the fields of engineering and science. There are many professors graduated from russian universities teaching at top note schools around the globe. However, TESL is not exactly a field that you want to learn in Russia, Do you agree?
     
  13. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Canadian Institute of English CIE

    For an American?

    Probably not. But this offer is bad not because of this, but because it is probably bogus and have nothing to do with SPbSU.
     

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