Agents Vs. Pimps

Local Malaysian agents who act as mediators or liaison officers with foreign unrecognised universities are of the same category as the pimps who acts as mediators for prostitutes.

View the story appeared in NEWS STRAITS TIMES – July 30, 2005

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/20050730074858/Article/indexb_html


Hello boss, mahu Amoi kah? China ada, Indon ada’

THIS statement got unemployed Lee Han Kyu, 25, in trouble. Little did he realise that his offer of Chinese and Indonesian prostitutes was to an undercover policeman. Lee had also said: "Harga RM230 satu shot. Kalau mahu saya boleh bawa boss ke hotel dekat sini." (The price is RM230 per shot. If you want, I can bring boss to a hotel nearby).

 

In precisely what way does a news story about a common pimp -- an entity that exists in virtually every nation at virtually every time in history and the present (and, will, most likely, in the future, too) -- illustrate the point you were trying to make? Had the story been about some government official who was making that same point about pimps and "local malaysian agents who act as mediators liaison officer with foreign uncrecognized universities," well, then, that might have made the story worth linking to. Otherwise, it's a waste of the reader's time.

 

I don't think Wan Salleh's post is a waste of time. It's a nice illustration of how low at least one of Akamai's competitors (or rather, one of the competitors of Akamai's Malaysian collaborator) is willing to stoop in its smear campaign. All readers should take note!

 

Okay... well... when you put it that way...

 

Do you really think Akamai need competition? Grow up and face the truth.. Akamai is proving to be a Diploma Mill in Malaysia while others in the line such as Irish International, CSU, SPU, Dublin, Greenwich, Honolulu, AUH, Paramount University, Preston, Columbia Open, Columbia Commonwealth and many more smaller one who had already proven to be Diploma Mill in Malaysia.


Comparison of agents of unaccredited universities and Pimps might seem to be crude but let us see the similarities;

1) Both pimps and agents are operating illegally in Malaysia and so is prostitution and unaccredited universities. Minister of education of Malaysia had recently made statement that all online programmes operating in Malaysia are illegal unless their programmes are approved by local accreditation board.

2) Both prostitution and online learning bogus universities are on government hit list. They are catching pimps and at the same time catching agents.

3) Government vows to close prostitution den and at the same time closing doors for unaccredited universities.

4) Pimps and agents possess similar qualifications; high-school drops outs but the difference is that agents then buy titles such as Dr. and Professors..

5) Both pimps and agents are desperate for money and would do anything to convince their customers.

6) Both pimps and agents are frequently jobless and thus join these activities to make quick money.

7) Both pimps and agents have no basic salary but survive on high commissions. One take commission from a hooker and the other takes it from an unaccredited university.

Now is it me who stoops so low in making the comparison or agents and pimps or perhaps those who support their action??

The bottom line is as long as we have ready customers there is no way to stop prostitution or diploma mills.

 

Just curious, Wan... and in the interest of exploring oxpecker's surmise (if, in fact, it was that): For precisely whom, if anyone, are you an agent? And be careful how you answer... lies around here have a way of being found out (not that you'd lie... but I'm just sayin').

 

If I am an agent then perhaps you could be A PIMP...but then I could be wrong....

 

Well...there are SOME things you just can't get a PIMP to do...

 

Nice non-answer... and inappropriately confrontational, under the circumstances. It's your credibility that's at issue here. So let's try again:

For precisely whom, if anyone, are you an agent?

I'm serious. Whom, if anyone, do you represent?

 

While I'm not sure what the relevance of the newspaper story was, I do agree with your pimp analogy.

I think that aggressive marketing of questionable degrees, particularly when that marketing trades on one country's students' confusion about another country's higher education system, is pretty clearly unethical. It can harm students. And it certainly tells us something about the schools that resort to the practice. It tells us that their purpose is to maximize tuition revenues and that they don't really care about how they accomplish it.

Local agents that sell such things do resemble pimps.

 

Re: Re: Agents Vs. Pimps

They're not anything like pimps. Stop it! Both of you. It's a degree they're hawking, for godsake. Get some perspective! Pimps deal in human flesh... the most repugnant and unconscionable thing imaginable. One is commerce, albeit fraudulently conducted; the horror of other is in a class by itself. No one is left a mere emotional shell of her former self for a lifetime because she bought a phony fucking degree, godammit. I've had enough of this analogy. Enough! Bill, I don't ask much of you. We argue sometimes, fine. But unless I'm mistaken, we respect one another. I'm asking you to respect my request that you not argue with me about this one thing. THIS ONE THING. Please. In all my posts here I have never pounded my keyboard as hard as I am right now; nor heard my heartbeat in my own ears. Agents are not anything like pimps! There's a special place in hell for pimps that no agent could ever possibly do enough things bad to earn for himself.

I beg the lot of you: Stop this comparison. It understates the egregiousness of pimps; and it dishonors their scarred-for-life victims by suggesting that they're no more damaged than someone who's been separated from their cash by a slick diploma mill salesman. There is no comparison. None!

 

Re: Re: Re: Agents Vs. Pimps

....quietly sneaks back out of the room..... sheeezz.....!

 

Re: Re: Re: Agents Vs. Pimps

They're both bad. They're both referring to a low class group of humans.

 

Ask an Expert

Why don't we settle this by asking an expert on the subject? Maybe "Dr." Neil Hayes would like to weigh in on the qualitative difference between pimps and agents for degree mills.

http://www.knightsbridgeuniversity.com/

 

Here is the agent contract from Vice-chancellor, Henrik Fyrst Kristensen of Knightsbridge university....... Got it 2 days ago and I am thinking if I should sign up for this or rather write to Akamai since being non-profit organization they might offer better price for their degrees as compare to Knightsbridge..;

For Bachelor of [INSERT]: £650.00, For Master of [INSERT]: £900.00, For Doctorate award: £2,500.00.


_________________________________________________

KNIGHTSBRIDGE UNIVERSITY
APPOINTMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE - VALIDATION
----------------
STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS
In the following THE UNIVERSITY shall be understood to be Knightsbridge University, and THE REPRESENTATIVE shall be understood to be [insert name/details here].

1) The appointment entitles the Representative to present for an award of the University those who have successfully completed courses of study with the Representative, in respect of the following awards:
• award title
• award title
• award title
• etc
2) This is not an exclusive, geographical appointment, and the University may appoint other Representatives for similar or identical purposes without consulting with the Representative;
3) The appointment will be in force in [insert country] only;
4) The Representative will be permitted to also represent other Universities or institutions of higher education in a similar capacity while this appointment is in force;
5) After the first enrolment session, provided the minimum number of students has been enrolled, and when the appropriate monies resulting thereof have been paid by the Representative to the University, the University will supply the Representative with original versions of all teaching materials required;
6.a.) The Representative will not be allowed to make use of teaching materials provided by the University in other courses run by the Representative;
6.b.) If the Representative wishes to be able to make use of the University’s original teaching materials in any other context that that which defined, the Representative will be required to enter into discussions in respect of suitable remuneration for this privilege;
6.c.) Where it has been demonstrated that the Representative has made use of any teaching materials supplied by the University’s in other courses offered by the Representative, this appointment will be immediately suspended, and the University will move for the award of damages in a court of law;


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6.d.) In an event such as described in 6.c., the University holds no responsible for any student or graduate enrolled with the Representative in pursuit of an award from the University;
7) Only advertising and promotion cleared by the University may be initiated;
8) Advertising and promotion placed by the Representative is at the cost of the Representative;
9) The Representative has no authorisation to express the views of the University publicly, or to claim to know the University's views, except where expressly permitted to do so;
10) The University accepts no liability for any expense or cost incurred by the Representative, directly or indirectly, in the capacity of Representative for the University;
11) A candidate may only be viewed to be officially matriculated with the University where the appropriate fee has been received and cleared by the University’s bankers;
12.a.) On signing this appointment the Representative agrees to pay the University a fee per candidate as follows:
For Bachelor of [INSERT]: £650.00, with 50% paid upon matriculation of student, and 50% upon completion. The Representative undertakes to forward to the University the candidate's original transcript and identifying details (name, surname, home address, any other contact details, proof of date of birth). This presupposes a batch size of not less than 10 graduates.
For Master of [INSERT]: £900.00, with 50% paid upon matriculation of student, and 50% upon completion. The Representative undertakes to forward to the University the candidate's original transcript and identifying details (name, surname, home address, any other contact details, proof of date of birth). This presupposes a batch size of not less than 10 graduates.
For Doctorate award: £2,500.00, with 50% paid upon matriculation of student, and 50% upon completion. The Representative undertakes to forward to the University the candidate's original transcript (where relevant) and identifying details (name, surname, home address, any other contact details, proof of date of birth).
12.b.) Under this scheme, the individual becomes a candidate of the University upon receipt by the University of the mentioned fees and documents, and until the issuing and supply of the University's award has been completed.
12.c.) The University shall be entitled to inspect the course materials used by the Representative for any course leading to an award of the University;
13) No return of funds may or will be considered from the University to the Representative;
14) The fees must be received nett; any cost incurred on behalf of the Representative in respect of bank charges and other fees in handling Programme Fees are at the expense of the Representative;
15) All payments from the Representative to the University must be by way of an electronic bank-to-bank transfer to the bank and account details provided by the University;
16) The University cannot be held responsible for fees not received from the Representative, nor can the University accept responsibility for any problem arising between the Representative and the applicant, whatever its nature;
17) Should the Representative be forced to wind-up, enter into liquidation, or become unable to trade for financial reasons, the Representative will still be responsible for any fees paid in respect of the programmes, and the University cannot accept any liability of this nature;

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18) The initial duration is of this appointment shall be 3 years, provided the Representative adheres to the terms and conditions, in which alternative case the University shall be entitled to suspend and/or cancel the appointment without notice;
18.b.) The individual elements of the appointment shall be open to on-going review;
18.c.) Unless cancelled by the University, the appointment will continue for 1 year periods after its initial 3 year period.
19) Should this appointment become subject to legal proceedings, these will take place in a Danish court under Danish Law. Under no circumstances will the University accept or consider undertaking legal proceedings under another jurisdiction.
Signed for and on behalf Signed for and on behalf
of Knightsbridge University of [name]


_____________________________ ____________________________
Henrik Fyrst Kristensen [name]
Vice-Chancellor [position]

 

ROFLMAO!