I was tipped to this by one of those anonymous posts on AED, and many of you may already know about it. But for the rest, Earlscroft seems to have mysteriously changed from claiming to be an Irish university to being registered in the Seychelles way out in the Indian Ocean. It's still operating out of its London maildrop though. From their FAQ page at http://www.earlscroft.com What is the legal status of this degree? Subsequent to changes in legislation the 1988 Education Reform Act, Earlscroft University was registered in Eire, where it fulfilled all the legal requirements of an independent tertiary level institution. As such its activities are not subject to national accreditation requirements. The status of Earlscroft University's administration office in London is that of a campus of a non-UK university. Therefore, it is not required to be registered by the Department of Education and Employment as its degrees are excluded from national accreditation requirements in the UK, while their validity is specifically endorsed under the 1988 Education Act. Due to recent changes in fiscal legislation in Eire, which had nothing to do with Earlscroft University's degree granting status, the decision was made to register Earlscroft University in the Seychelles. Although primarily registered for banking and invoicing purposes, this corporate identity is also specifically and identically empowered to conduct itself as an independent tertiary level educational establishment. All degrees from Earlscroft University carry UCC accreditation. So, congratulations are in order to the Irish Republic, which seems to have succeeded in driving this snake from their shores.
I love your choice of words, Bill! Very adequately stated! Could this possibly have been the Irish version of the Loch Ness monster? Russell
Earlscroft claims that it is accredited by the UCC. I have been around enough to know that it probably is also a scam. But being curious, I need to ask: What is the "UCC"? United Council of Churches? United Conference of Con-Artists? Universal Christian Coalition? And up the Irish! Scott
The Union of Credible Colleges (UCC) is a multi-level organization which promotes academic excellence among its member institutions. All quality control (e.g., self-study data, site visits, etc.) is conducted via phone conferencing, with the UCC taking each institution at its word. Somewhat of an honor system! The UCC currently accredits 78 US institutions of higher learning, 14 in the UK, 3 in Mexico, 1 in Cyprus/Denmark and 1 in St. Kitts. UCC institutions can also be found among Klingon and Romulan colonies, and is quickly becoming the accrediting body of choice for Star Fleet Command. Russell
Any relation to International Accrediting Association? Or may be they should call themselves Intergallactic Accrediting Association, given the Klingon is involved. This is of course assuming Klingon is in another gallaxy.
That's them. Check them out at: http://www.earlscroft.com/ucc.htm Earlscroft says that they exist to enforce minimum standards. And very effective they are at it, too.
The website states that UCC "guarantees" minimum standards. As Bill has stated, UCC is most effective at meeting its stated objective of "minimum standards." There are not many money-back-guarantees anymore, but this does seem to be one of them. Russell
