Hello, pardon my ingles, I am writing from Puerto Rico. I need you opinion on Atlantic International University, Pacific Western University and Preston University. At the moment I have a Masters in Justice Criminal in a RA University and desire to make a doctorate in Justice Criminal in a State-Approved or in a Unaccredited but legal university. Because in P.R. a legal degree can help me. Also my ingles is bad and these universities have programs in Spanish.









B.A. American University of Puerto Rico

M.A.Caribbean University of Puerto Rico

The following information is from the 14th edition of Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning.

AIU- Appears to be a poor choice to me because they dishonestly claim fake accreditation. They claim degree granting authority through Hawaii so I suspect this is going to end (if it hasn't already) because Hawaii is currently viorously cleaning up these "unusual" arrangements.

PWU- I didn't look this one up. Just do a search on this forum. PWU has been discussed many times and it is seems that most people don't hold it in high regard. I believe that it has sometimes been called a degree mill.

Preston-It is in Wyoming which is a very popular place for degree mills to hang out. (This is my words, not from Bear's Guide.) They dishonestly claim fake accreditation.

I suggest that you reconsider your desire to get an unaccredited degree. Too many (the vast majority?) of these operations are flat out degree mills or borderline operations. Even if it appears that they are operating within the law today, as the laws are strengthened, they are put out of business or flee to a new jurisdiction with weak laws. (like Wyoming)

Hello, In the spirit of the holidays who knows where this new member can get a PHD dl with courses taught in Spanish? Have a peaceful holiday season. Hille

There are many totally legitimate universities with distance learning graduate degree programs throughout Latin America: Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia.

I am 1000 km away from my book or files, and metaphorically as far from the right memory cells, so I can't be specific right now. Universad Estatal a Distancia. Is that one? Empresarial in Costa Rica. Universidad Autonoma de (what?) in Mexico. I'll stop trying now.

Pacific Western is legal in that it meets the state operational regulations/requirements of the states in which both it's schools reside (CA in HI). Since within the US, the states are the legal operating authority for granting degrees, a degree from a state registered/approved school is legal (with the exception of states that prevent usage of unaccredited school degrees, such as OR).

However, legal and the appropriateness of usage are two entirely different functions.

An unaccredited school will create limitations upon degree usage that will not be encountered with a Regionally Accredited program, such as transferability and meeting conditions where a US DOD recognized accredited school is required.

If the reason you are looking at state approved options is to short cut length of time/coursework required, you may be mistaken. Many posters on this board have stated that while significant coursework may have been completed in the attainment of a State Approved program, it’s utility is limited, or may not be fully recognized. You may be better off with TESC, or Laurie Miller’s program.

Bottom Line: Legal - but - limited usage; think it out before committing to a program that does not provide you what you are seeking.

Good Luck,

RJT

Extremely balanced response regarding both the utility and limitations involved with earning a degree from an unaccredited school. Bravo.

I'm sure RJT meant "US DOE" (US Department of Education) and not "US DOD" (US Department of Defense" when referring to recognized accreditation.

Thank you, Rich. For a moment I thought the Feds had followed the example of Oregon and established the US Dept. of Degrees.

I am, at the moment, a bit confused. You claim a Masters degree in Criminal Justice from an RA university, yet you indicate that your Masters degree is from Carribbean University. While Carribbean University is indeed regionally accredited (Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools), it does not offer Masters degrees in Criminal Justice (or even a M.A. degree for that matter). Carribbean University offers only two Masters degrees, both of them in Education. The Bayamón campus offers a M.Ed. with a concentration in Education Administration and Supervision, and a M.Ed. with a concentration in Special Education. The Ponce campus offers only the M.Ed. with a concentration in Special Education. Could you please clarify this?

That having been said, there are many graduate distance learning degree programs available in Spanish from numerous universities around the world. You might want to check out some of the links on the Web Hispana de Criminología such as the Asociación Española de Criminólogos. Another good site with many interesting links is El Criminalista Digital.

My first suggestion, however, would be to look no further than your own backyard. Since 1997 the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico (PUCPR) has had an agreement with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) in Spain to offer several doctoral programs, including one leading to a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice. The program is coordinated at PUCPR by Dr. Enid Miranda, and Drs. Manuel Maceiras and Emilio García are in charge of the distance learning component for the UCM.

__________________
[b]Gus Sainz[/b]
[url=http://www.degreediscussion.com]DegreeDiscussion.com[/url]

John,

Someone recently posted under the UNEM thread on the main board that Empressarial was NOT approved at the doctoral level. The guy claimed to have recently completed his PhD only to discover that it was not an approved degree program (I believe the Bach & Masters were). If true that answwers a long debated question.

I agree with you, our friend from PR ought to find an accredited Spanish program.

North

Hi guys, thanks to answer, specially to the Dr.Bear, for my is an honor that you advised me . On Caribbean University, at the moment the institution offers 13 types of Masters. The Masters in Justice Criminal is offered from year 2000.



Thanks for the information on the Universidad Complutense de Madrid ,i will verify it next. But right now my interests is to make a unaccredited doctorate in one of this universities because they full my necessities. I am considering Preston University because they indicated that they would be put under the accreditation processes in the future, and they are authorized by the department of education of Wyoming.

Good luck to you. With respect, I would not waste my hard earned money & time on an unaccredited doctorate.

If you think you could manage a research doctorate (generally no coursework all research) in English I would contact the University of South Africa (through the Canadian Rep). Cost will probably be similar to your unaccredited option but faaaaaaaaaaaaaar more versatile. They are a very well respected University with famous alumni. You could also ask them if there are any faculty advisors who could supervise your research in Spanish (my guess is probably not but would not hurt to ask). Frankly, you could probably struggle and succeed in English. I once met an Sri Lankan (??Sp) Anglican Priest when I was in Germany. He spoke broken but relatively good English and was writing his doctoral dissertation in German (also not his first language).

North

Claiming soon to be accredited is a tatic that has no meaning without signifigant proof. It is better that the school claim what they are, state registered and not accredited. Amongst the schools you mentioned, Pacific Western would be a better choice, as at least they are CA Approved/HI Registered, and do not make claim to be accredited. If the state approved route is the only one you are taking other options include California Coast and California Pacific University. Kennedy-Western is a State Registered school in WY, and they do not claim to be accredited, so it is not necessary to do so to obtain the WY state registration.

Being legal, state approved/registered is not the best track - but acceptable in certain (mainly business) situations. However, claiming false accreditation, or soon to be, is not.

Open University Management Center claims to be the representatives of Pacific Western University for Latin America. Here are a few gems from the English version (it reads the same on their Spanish and Portuguese pages) of the Web site that purports to explain the legal status of Pacific Western University.

• 
  “The Security commission of the State of Hawaii added the guarantee of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to the document witnessing to the legality of PWU.”
  
  “Therefore, the degrees granted by PWU are recognized in every state of the USA and in those foreign countries that have agreements on university equivalents.”
  
  “The nature, purpose, and validity of the accreditation of PWU are sometimes questioned by people who lack adequate knowledge of the American educational establishment.”
  
  “Furthermore, a university that does not require class attendance but offers doctor’s degrees can obviously not be accredited. Such is the case of PWU and a great number of the best universities of North America.”
  
  “The degrees granted are equally valid and accepted in all the States of the USA, since, by Federal law, approval in one state automatically means approval in the rest of the country.”

__________________
[b]Gus Sainz[/b]
[url=http://www.degreediscussion.com]DegreeDiscussion.com[/url]

Thanks for posting that Gus, it cracked me up (rolling on the floor).

North

Hello friends, I found in Internet information on a contract between Pacific Western University- Hawaii and the Inter-American Open University in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This contract establishes that Pacific Western University will offer doctorates in the institution. If Pacific Western University is too bad, why this Inter-American Open University established this contract?. Here you can find the information friends.

1-http://www.vaneduc.edu.ar/uai/default.asp

2-http://www.vaneduc.edu.ar/uai/comuni/boletines/Boletin-9/uai-boletin-nro9_07.htm


Some idea on this, because I am confused

Mucho dinero?

The Universidad Abierta Interamericana is owned by the Fundacion Iberoamericana de Estudios Superirores (both are part of Grupo VANEDUC), which, in turn is controlled by the Rector of UAI, Dr. Edgardo De Vincenzi. Dr. De Vicenzi, in addition to being Professor of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Education (presumably with the appropriate degrees) holds a doctorate in Social Psychology, and appears to be a very well-connected individual. He not only claims to be the president and founder of numerous educational associations, but is also Advisor to the President of the Education Commissions of the National Congress and the Senate in addition to being member of advising councils to both the Secretary Education of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Argentina.

Therefore, is not surprising that the Universidad Abierta Interamericana is the only institution in the entire country whose provisional authorization to operate comes from an Administrative Decision by the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers instead of the usual Executive Branch Decree or Ministerial Resolution.

Because the Universidad Abierta Interamericana is a private university operating with a provisional license, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MECyT) of the Republic of Argentina must individually approved each and every program and degree offering relying on the recommendations of CONEAU (Comisión Nacional de Evaluación y Acreditación Universitaria), the National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation. CONEAU issues an annual report (which can accessed here) detailing UAI’s progress, how well they are conforming to their approved plan and objectives, and any deficiencies that must be rectified. Any modifications to the original approved plan must be approved by MECyT and requires a favorable report by CONEAU.

The 1999 annual report indicates that UAI entered into agreements with 7 foreign (to Argentina) universities, bringing the total number of these agreements to 27. These agreements, however, are not subject to approval by CONEAU or the Ministry of Education. Interestingly, the 1999 annual report also states that accreditation was denied for UAI’s Masters in Human Resources, Masters in International Business, and Masters in Business Administration degree offerings (graduate programs were not part of their original plan, and therefore must be individually approved), which might help explain their involvement with PWU.

Are few troubling facts are worthy of note concerning the Universidad Abierta Interamericana’s agreement with Pacific Western University. First, it appears that the agreement is only with PWU-Hawaii, and in no way involves the California state-approved PWU. The agreement with Pacific Western University was through one of PWU-Hawaii’s representatives in Argentina (the other one being the previously discussed Open University Management Center), Dr. Juan Carlos Gozzi. Dr. Gozzi, not suprisingly, claims a BSc in Management and a PhD in Industrial Management from PW University, CA-USA. (This, of course, appears to be a bit misleading, as the California PWU does not offer either of these degrees.) Actually, to be even more specific, PWU-Hawaii’s representative in Argentina in question is Warwick’s International Studies, which is run by Dr. Gozzi.

Second (and what is even more revealing, not to mention troublesome), in addition to offering degrees from the non-wonderful PWU-Hawaii, Warwick International Studies is also the representative in Argentina for the GAAS passing Wittfield University International, once of Hawaii, now using a mailing address in Cambridge, UK. While Wittfield Education LLC, the parent company of Wittfield University International was originally incorporated in Delaware (with administrative offices in Los Angeles, CA), Wittfield University International is now claiming to be ”fully and properly incorporated as a private commercial university company in the Federation of Nevis, a full member of the British Commonwealth and the United Nations.”

But you gotta love that picture of Dr. Gozzi, et al. signing the agreement; kinda reminds me of MIGS.

__________________
[b]Gus Sainz[/b]
[url=http://www.degreediscussion.com]DegreeDiscussion.com[/url]

But Rich is right; the simple answer is dinero.

__________________
[b]Gus Sainz[/b]
[url=http://www.degreediscussion.com]DegreeDiscussion.com[/url]

Gus and I went back and forth about MIGS for months. What was I thinking? He's got the Spanish-speaking higher education scene down COLD! Take a lesson, y'all.

My summary of all that delicious detail presented by Gus Sainz is that it is not the least bit surprising to me that PWU is sometimes referred to as a degree mill.

Another danger of going with an unaccredited institution for a degree is that they have a tendency to be closed down when the owner dies or goes to jail. After it folds then there's no easy way for a potential employer to verify that the school ever existed let alone that a degree was earned there.