IUFS Legitimacy

Hi all,
I know there is a questionable in term of credibility of IUFS.
However,what aboutthe legality of this university itself?
Recognzed by the Russian governmant so comparable to regionally accredited US universities?ot just scomparable to state approved ones?once again I juast want your all opinion on its legality regardless how it behave in the academic world

Thanks
Ric

 

Hi Eric:

If I recall, there is considerable question of fact regarding just that Russian government recognition, although Mr Jayasekara's enterprise claims it. Perhaps Stanislav or someone else more familiar with the ins and outs of Russian government recognition or Russian accreditation can give you a definitive answer. If you use the search function, you will find lots of discussion of IUFS--most of it fairly skeptical.

It would be nice if someone could, in fact, post a list of properly accredited (or analogously state-endorsed) Russian universities.

If there is a specific program that interests you, Eric, tell us what it is. Likely somebody can suggest an option less fraught with credibility problems.

As a general principle, taking refuge behind sheer legality--absent credibility, legitimate accreditation domestic or foreign, academic "footprint", etc., etc.--is probably a bad idea. Pardon a crude analogy, but it's legal to hit yourself in the head with a brick, yet why would you? Bare legality may mean that one is not a criminal to use or advertise a degree (outside of Oregon, etc.), but no university worth your time or money gets by on bare legality alone, and no credential one flaunts with nothing but scapegrace legality behind it will stand up for long in an increasingly scrutinizing work environment.

Now, if you already have a degree from IUFS, and did real work for it, I am sure that folks more familiar than I with the "Big 3" can give you starter advice on how to convert whatever you may have learned via IUFS into a solid degree which will not let you down or embarrass you. Best of luck to you as you learn more about DL.

 

This is Russian business in the field of education, operating, apparently, under a license from St. Petersbourgh city government (there is a scan of some new docunent, allegedly from Federal government, but it's unreadable). Main sources of income seem to be:
1) ESL courses.
2) Tutoring for University of London degrees.
3) Selling unrecognised research degrees and academic "titles" to gullible but rich burocrates and businessmen.

As to their own accreditation, they surely dance around the issue a lot. The fact that I didn't find the magic words "diplom gosudarstvennogo obrazca" ("a diploma of the state-mandated form"), I think it can be safely assumed they're unaccredited. There would be nothing wrong with that if they stick to their UofL business (analogy: Moscow University Touro - the school without Russian accreditation that award their studens degrees from TC and TUI), but their "doctoral" offerings make it worse.

Their English site seem to be a complete fraud, full with extraordinary claims of excellence, links to fake websites for "State Duma" and "Academy of Science" operated by the same people, etc. They even appear to avard MD degrees to some Asian people.

 

So what is that state st petersburg accreditation mean?does it mean it is recognized nationally by the russian government?
for example many countries public universities have only accepted degree from which it is recognized and accredited by their own respective government.is it the case for IUFS?

and the website link to Duma and all others stuffs are fraud?why don't the authorities takes action then?
Thanks
Eric

 

that state duma stuff...

Last December Steve Orr and Gary Craig wrote a series of article about Richard J. Hoyer's various enterprises. For example, see Hoyer's Internet Enterprises, Steve Orr and Gary Craig, Rochester, NY Democrat and Chronicle, December 5, 2003. (I do not know if it is still available online.) As I recall, the reporters spoke to a press attache at the Russian Embassy in Washington. They asked about Mr. Hoyer's Russian credentials, including his claim to be an "Academician of the Russian Academy of Science."

That last link refers to a domain (www.stateduma.ru) that had been registered to Richard Hoyer. It included a page (web archive is here) to a home-made "Russian Academy of Science" site. This is not the web page for the real Russian Academy of Sciences, of course: Russia has a magnificent scientific tradition, all the more impressive because of the conditions under which the work has been performed. Its members are unlikely to associate themselves with the organizations "Saint Regis" and "American Coastline" and "GKA International Medical Center."

In any event, the Russian official did not confirm the Mr. Hoyer's claim of a pair of Russian MD degrees. About a week after the phone conversation, the State Duma site (and the contained Russian Academy page) disappeared. So perhaps the Russian authorities did contact Mr. Hoyer.

G

 

No. Russian education is fairly centralised, so the only meaningful accreditation comes from the Ministry for Education and Science. St. Petersbourgh license is just that - a business license.
I think Russian authorities just do not treat fake website problems seriously enough, and generally do not have that much experience in Internet (and most of their lies are in English anyway). Moreover, the "Academy of Science" site might be "real" - i. e. they set up yet another organization with the word "academy" in the name and set up a website for it. The wording of the site implies that they can confer the Academician and Correspondent Member titles of the real RAS, wich is clearly a lie (only the Presidium of RAS has this right), but they can always claim inadequate translation if caught. We have a fair number of "academies" in the former USSR, ranging from legitimate efforts to highly suspicious, along with the national academies of science.

Here, take a look - www.akademy.com - The International Academy of Sciences, Education, Industry and Arts, P.O. Box 390015 Mountain View, CA, 94039. This outfit's sole purpose seems to be to confer grandiouse titles onto less polished ex-soviet rulers. Like Ukraine's own Victor Janukovich, Ph. D., D. Sc., Academician IASEIA, prime-minister and presidential candidate. The guy has all this education and still manages to make two mistakes in the word "prime-minister" in Ukrainian, on an official document. And he can actually win the presidential race!
BTW, could anyone in California investigate this outfit? I. e. what is its office like, etc.?

 

Unlikely to happen. I did a search once and came by a portal that listed a couple of dosen schools in St. Petersbourgh alone. Keep in mind that say the Institute of Forestry will most likely be a standalone educational institution in Russia, and might have upgraded to the Universuty title in recent years. In Kiev, we have fairly modest College of Culture that got promoted to the National University of Culture and Arts and gained some fame. Mostly thanks to it's rector, a gifted marketer and the worst pop singer in the world, ever (seriously, worse that you've ever seen on the American Idol ).

 

Hi Stanislav,
I am quite confused because if you see its website,it stated that the IUFS is recognized by the ministry of education,russia.....with gov't registration as well as licence no...so does it mean anything? if they are only recognized by st petersburg,why they dare to state that they are recognized by the ministry of education which mean recognized nationally.
I am sorry but I do not know the Russian educational system

Ric

 

This is a direct lie. Russian-language documents they display say "St. Petersbourgh Chamber of Registration" and "St. Petersbourgh Commitee for Science and Higher Education". The third, presumably federal-level document is unreadable.
For me, this one fact would be enough to stay away from this place (not even lack of recognition, but willingness to lie about it).

 

I downloaded the third document and was able to enlarge it.

Well, folks, it is a certificate of the mandatory registration with the Ministry of Taxes and Levies. This means, precisely, that IUFS does pay taxes in Russia, and nothing else.

 

1. business lincense

2. License - litzenzia as a provider of education - complementary and higher..

3. Russian IRS

In post 1990 russia - new reform of higher education a 3 tier system is in place.

1 License - IUFS has one.

2. State Accreditation - IUFS don't have this one.

Only State accredited institutions can be called University and award degrees - diplomas of the State Format.

3. State atestation.

State external examination of the students - additional level of QA.

So IUFS is licensed to provide educational activities only in the fields specified in the suplement to the license.

They can't award State Diplomas.

So they are some what comparible to State aproved but unaccredited school in USA.

All the acccreditations they disply are unrecognized and accrediting Diploma Mills.

there is a licensed atorney with IUFS, ITU degrees, he is practicing law in State Washington and Idaho.

Proudly in his resume he writes Oxford edu net - what a joke this guy.

 

If they were operating illegally, the police would be all over them. But that apparently isn't the case or they would have been shut down long ago.

 

Do you know ANYTHING about Russia?


Besides, "unrecognised" does not always mean "illegal". Lying isn't really illegal, besides, they lie mostly to foreigners anyway...

 

There is no law in Russia that stops them from awarding their own diplomas as long as the diploma is not of the state format.
The License is more than just business license it's a license from Russian ministry of Education - that can be awarded by local or central authorities and allows them to conduct educational activities of complementary and higher education and such a license is given based on a recommendation of comity following a site visit. It validates that faculty holds proper credentials it stops short of validating the content and quality of the educational programs ofered by the institution.
So they are state licensed school on the level of USA California approved status.
So if they want to prepare students for university of London
exams or other university exams they are allowed to do so as long as they are teaching the subjects listed on their supplement
to the license.
Other accreditations are unrecognized but not illegall in Russia.

Candidate for accreditation by RF DoE .
They failed site visit in 2001, 2003 for the state accreditation and still have a chance at 2006.

So officially they are Candidate for accreditation.

Read new guide lines for US Civil service - there is a provision for such a condition.

Other accreditations are unrecignized and bogus in my opinion but not illegall.

 

How do you know about their accreditation attempts? If the information comes from IUFS, I wouldn't beleive it. They are more than willing to lie about this issue.

 

Stanislav I was researching another school in Moscow and learned about IUFS from a cousin.

http://www.miu.ru/index.phtml?license

There fine schools in Russia that are unaccredited that don't award degrees but provide good education.

One of them is International University of Engineering in Moscow.

They list all they Litzensia - licenses and no accreditation.

http://www.miu.ru/index.phtml?license

So when I was reading posts on this site I felt that IUFS with all this bogus accreditations one thing from my point of view they have is more then just business license - is the License to engage in educational activities.

This is very strong document that is for obvious reasons is downplayed and overlooked because of all the bogus accreditations.

My information is from
1. Correspondence with IUFS
2. A cousin who owns restaurant business in St. Petersburg and Moscow - with BS degree from St. Pete State Univ and Masters from IUFS.
3. Official in municipal government of St Pet who is my cousin’s client.

As I'm told by # 2 and # 3.
Their license wasn’t granted for a bottle of vodka and cash but it was granted by a visiting comity who found this place suitable to be a preparatory educational
Establishment, with real facilities in St Peter and business in some medical clinics.

In my opinion they should have stayed this way just like the other unaccredited school.
Well the rest is all bogus and I would never even consider their degree.

I’m happy that unlike in other countries with hundreds of substandard schools, Russia managed to have one or two at most and they did very good work in reducing the academic fraud in general.
No more Ph.D directly from academy of science and other short cuts.

Because my credentials are from State University - well Ukrainian but Soviet at the time this reflects on my degree as well.
I worked very hard to earn it and not happy when the system is portrayed corrupt and unreliable.

I also atended US university.


No more Ph.D directly from academy of science and other short cuts.

I have grater confidence in their educational system today than lets say in the 90’s.

 

The International University of Fundamental Studies (IUFS) is affiliated with The International University, in Bangladesh, which is approved to grant degrees by the Minister of Education.

http://www.tiubd.org/index.html

http://tiu.org/

http://tiu.org/iufs_news.htm

http://www.internationaluniversity.edu/

 

I also looked at their Russian website wich is a little more truthful (since those in Russia are in position to check their claims).

They hold classes in some Forestry school, do tuition for UofL and might just be substantial enough to warrant a state license. Still, they behave just like any other unethical diploma mill out there. The fact that they are able to parasite on Russian/exSoviet education system and its credibility makes it worse. Same with the bogus titles, "academy" and medical quackery they're connected with.

I also have Ukrainian degree. Shanujmosja!

 

Stanislav I hear you.

I'm not defending IUFS but I'm defending the License.

I have seen IUFS supplement to the License it has no Medical education at all but its a comprehensive 5 page list of many classes in computing, forestry, engineering, liberal arts etc.
I have no way to claim that it was original – so if it was fake please understand that I’m not an investigator but a curious individual.

Anyone who wishes to understand the Russian system of education can read this.


http://www.cepes.ro/hed/recogn/groups/guiderus.htm

7. QUALITY CONTROL

As a result of the changes that occurred in the Russian Federation after 1990, and in order to ensure quality and efficiency, a new national mechanism for quality control and assessment was introduced. This mechanism includes:

the state educational standard;

licensing;

state accreditation;

state final attestation.

7.1. The State Educational Standard

The State educational standard is a set of nationally recognized requirements laid down by the State which determines a mandatory minimum for the contents of educational programmes, the maximum work loads assigned to students, as well as general course loads and requirements to be met by graduates. The State Educational Standard of Higher Professional Education was developed by teaching and methodological associations that brought together higher education institutions in relevant fields of study on the basis of a competition organized by the State Committee for Higher Education and approved by Decree No. 940 of 12 August 1994 of the Government of the Russian Federation.

It covers the following:

the structure of higher education and state documents certifying graduation from a higher education institution;

a list of fields of study (specialities);

the state requirements for mandatory minima of the contents of educational programmes (basic educational programmes) and of knowledge and skills to be met by graduates;

the state requirements for the general course load of an educational programme and for the maximum work load assigned to students;

the state control mechanism for the implementation of the State educational standard for higher professional education.

The mandatory minimum for the content of an educational programme (basic educational programme) constitutes the so-called federal component of the educational programme. It can be complemented by the regional component which reflects national and regional requirements in regard to the content of education. Each higher education establishment develops its own educational programmes which must include the federal component and may also contain the regional component and components designed by the particular higher education institution.

7.2. Licensing

Licensing is a procedure whereby an educational institution is granted the right to carry out educational programmes in relevant fields of study (specialities) and at corresponding levels of education. It consists of the recognition of expertise, the taking of decisions, and the issuing of a duly worded authorization, i.e., a license.

Licensing is based on the results of an evaluation carried out by expert commissions that are composed of representatives of educational authorities (federal and local), educational institutions, and the public. The aim of the evaluation is to determine whether or not conditions for the implementation of educational programmes at a given educational establishment correspond to state and local requirements with regard to construction norms and rules, sanitary and hygienic standards, possibilities for health care for students and academic staff, the equipping of the premises and the teaching and learning processes with the proper infrastructure, the staffing of the institution, and the educational qualifications of the academic staff. The content, organization, and methodologies of the teaching and learning processes are not included in this evaluation. The license is issued by the state education authorities or, on their behalf, by the local (municipal) education authorities on the basis of the conclusions of the expert commission. This licensing procedure has no equivalent in the western European countries but is somewhat comparable to state licensing procedures in the United States of America.

Even though licensing grants the right to engage in educational activities, it does not confer the right to award educational certificates of the state format certifying graduation from an educational institution. In order to earn this right, an educational institution must be accorded state accreditation.

 

Additional Quesion from Lerner

Dear Lerner,

I read in your above post the following, as quoted:

"Candidate for accreditation by RF DoE .
They failed site visit in 2001, 2003 for the state accreditation and still have a chance at 2006. So officially they are Candidate for accreditation. Read new guide lines for US Civil service - there is a provision for such a condition."

My questions are:

Are you saying Sir that IUFS is a Candidate for Accreditation by the Russian Federation Department of Education and even though they failed their first site visit in 2001, 2003 for the state accreditation, that they still have a chance in 2006 for accreditation? Is there any information to suggest they may receive accreditation in 2006? With my limited understanding, it would almost be like a RA institution in the US that still has not been formally accredited, yet their candidacy hasn't been revoked pending further review.

Since I am not Russian, I would appreciate further clarification regarding their Candidacy status. I will do some research into the US Civil Service regulations regarding the use of their degrees based on RF DOE candidacy. Thank you again.

Sincerely,