Can anyone tell me more abt Preston Uni ? I'm interested abt the PhD offerred by Preston Uni ... Or any1 can tell me more abt any distance learning PhD offerred through distance learning with reasonable course fees ?
Preston was one of the featured schools in an article in the Chronicle a few months back. If I remember correctly, they have no recognized accreditation (but plan on applying for same), they market heavily in countries such as Pakistan, and they have a legitimate presence (offices, staff) somewhere near an airport in the midwest United States. IMO, there are much better alternatives available. What field of study are you considering? Bruce
Bruce : thanks for your quick respond ... i'm interested abt the Phd in Management Info sys, Computer Science or E-Commerce major ... Anyway currently i'm located in Melbourne Australia so it is hard for me to study on campus in United States. So is that any Uni offered distance learning PhD with reasonable course fees ?
The do have a physical campus in Pakistan.I had a lecturer who transferred from University of Technology Sydney where they had not checked his crednetials to my Institute before I was appointed. I inherited him and had doubts as to his ability from reports and observation. He had an MBA from them and was a lecturer there. His undergraduate degree was a BBA from sone place in the Philippines.I quizzed him politely and he took classes - 2 per week of 3 hours each and that gave him passes in 12 subjects in 1 year of 2 17 week sememsters at Preston So their advertisied excellerated program is 204 hours f2f for 12 subjects. He was retrenched by me as I could not find any position suitable to his lack of qualifications. Not exactly a mill, but not worth spending any money on. I would presume that the same standard is evident in their PhD. Peter French
I missed the fact that you are in melbourne - why the hell would you be so stupid when you can get a PhD on HECS out here for about $6K in total repaid through the tax system, or don't you qualify to enter such a program? If you don't qualify here, you don't qualify anywhere. Peter French Melbourne
Uuuh, I have to say that the article in the Chronicle was very vague as to the details of Preston University's airport presence. Unless any of us have been there (and, no, I haven't been there), I don't think anyone can say whether the Preston University American headquarters are much more than a mail drop address. That said, there are HUGE RED FLAGS regarding Preston University. For instance, its president Abdul Basit's partnership with Maxine Asher in the World Association of Universities and Colleges, as revealed by corporate filings. And why would a valid foreign university locate its offices in Cheyenne, Wyoming of all places?--because an iffy "university" lacking accreditation can apparently get away with a lot in the unquestioning State of Wyoming.
Two other points that I will add: 1 - you have one of the safest education systems in the world in Australia so why bypass it? 2 - if you do a straight research PhD here in melbourne, the University of melbourne for one will give you a scholarship to cover the HECS; Latrobe will do even nore - if you do an EdD for example, they will gve you a scholarship to cover the coursework component as well. Leave Preston in the confusion and non recognition are it belongs in. IF you are eligible for PhD entry here you are crazy to look elsewhere, particularly a non RA US University, but IF you aren't eligible to do a PhD/EdD here you really aren't qulaified anywhere to enter the degree are you? Peter French
It is interesting you mention Preston. On April 7, 2001 I sent a message to Preston asking about the accreditation they were seeking and from which accreditation body. On April 17, 2001, I received the following: Dear Mr. Blahetka, Thank you for your recent e-mail and your interest in academic programs offered through Preston University. Unfortunately Preston University is not pursuing accreditation at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience. Warm Regards, Ms. Kim Vassar Student Advisor My subsequent message re: why their web site mentioned seeking accreditation went unanswered. Russ ------------------ ========================================== Humans are the only animals that protect their stupid from the forces of evolution. <A HREF="http://www.blahetka.com ===================================" TARGET=_blank>http://www.blahetka.com ===================================</A>
I have to agree with Peter French, there are many excellent DL schools in Australia with proper accreditation, so it makes no sense whatsoever to consider Preston. Charles Sturt University for one is a major player in DL, and I'm sure one of our Aussie experts can offer more options. Bruce
Due to my Bachelor and Master degree are obtained from Swinburne University,I wish to look for some other universities (in USA) to further my doctoral degree ... Here i wonder that anyone can provide me more information about the universities in States who offered PhD or DBA program major in IS, E-Commerce and etc thru distance learning mode in reasonable price ???
Swinburne ... and you want to do a 'cheap' US degree? MIT will take anyone from Swinburne into their Doctoral studies programs - I have a son who has received such an offer. but you'll get a suburban home in several parts of Melbourne cheaper. The same applies to many reputable top US universities. You have a choice of Swinburne, Melbourne, Deakin, Monash, Ballarat (Don't forget that the State Government is backing this Uni for IT/E-Commerce jointly with IBM), VUT - all ofr HECS at the worst and totally free most possibly. You wouldn't even consider any of the DE instittuons even here with that option. Tkale a chep US degree, and you are going to denigrate the value of your SU degree. You obviously don't want to teach or you would't be considering Preston. Your degree shouldlbuild on you SU degree - NOT detract from it. The Preston gradudate I referred to above was teaching in IT, rather attempting to teach in IT. I know that we are currently really only developing E-Commerce courses - I have one on my desk I am commenting on at the moment. However, a bullshit one from Preston won't advance any or anyone's cause - not yours, your students (?) or your employers. Peter French Melbourne, Australia
Peter, thanks for your advise ... anyway i really wish to take nmy doctoral degree thru distance learning mode ... wht u thik abt USQ or CSU ? Which 1 is better as comapare ? can u give me more advise on this 2 Uni ?
You will possibly be expected to at least meet with a supervisor, or may have one appointed locally. A PhD is virtually done in isolation so in Australian being researched based it is DE in effect even if you were a faculty member at the smae Univeristy you were taking the degree at. You remember those professors/lectureres who were always busy and you couldn't ge to them? ...fair chance that they were doing their PhDs. The isolation deosn't help and i am usually supervising 2 or 3 graduate students - my advice is stick close to home, and in your case there is nothing that your stated options can give you that you can't get better here in Melbourne. I am not going to get into a USQ/CSU debate. I have working relationships with both, and co-researchers in both.
Dear Mr. French, Since you mention you're in Melbourne, I wonder if you'd be interested in starting a thread about St. Clements University and the Irish Business School, which are at least two of the schemes run by David LeCornu. In 1999, a report by the Australian (a newspaper?) stated that he was, when not wearing academic gowns, a Melbourne upholsterer. Looking online, I see lots of pages about a David LeCornu who is a whiskey wholesaler, wine afficianado, and Adelaide innkeeper. There are a lot of LeCornus in Adelaide, apparently--I don't know if this would be the same person. My interest in LeCornu is owed to his business partnerships with Maxine Asher in her various schemes. Do you have any knowledge, interest, or ideas on this? Thanks. Also--if anyone cares about hearing anything else I think about Preston--I might bring up the following: (1) Pakistan is a famously corrupt country. The existence of Preston University there, even as a thriving concern, is no guarantee that it is a worthwhile institution even in its native country. Perhaps the proprietors just know how to grease the wheels. (And in a two-class society such as Pakistan's, there are a lot of poor people to exploit.) (2) The name "Preston University" alone is rather worrying. Why would a Pakistani institution serving Pakistanis have such a name, unless its intention is to be an international degree mill? The name alone seems designed to sound "American" and to attract customers with the implicit promise of an "American education." I've written a letter asking about Preston to a Pakistani acquaintance from college who grew up next door to Benazir Bhutto and whose sister is/was Benazir's best friend, but I don't know if I'll ever hear back from her. Probably unlikely.
This George Brown's specific area. Maybe he will reply. ------------------ Peter French MEd MAcc(UNE)CMA Melbourne, Australia [email protected]
I'll take the liberty of commenting two posts at once. Please expand on this. How did you become privy to their corporate filings? And in a subsequent post "S.M. Go" wrote: There is already a thread dealing with them. It's the "Diploma Mill" thread started by CSLee. The 'Irish International University' that he asked about seems connected to the same crowd. What business partnerships are those? And how do you know about them? If there is anything to substantiate this, it is very interesting, Mr. 'Go'. Preston's Mr. Basit a business partner of Maxine's, and now the LeCornus as well. It kind of puts her in the middle of a growing web.
"A growing web": Exactly! That is what made my head begin to swim in just the earliest stages of my research. Ms. Asher and her various partners, rather than working together to start a single upstanding university, each set up their own diploma mill with their own accreditation mill. I will try to answer your questions as best I can, but I have over a foot of books and computer print-outs that I will need to eventually digest, and which I won't have time to digest for some time. First of all, when I say "corporate filings," I am referring to the usual articles of incorporation (I think that's what they are) or at least "corporate records" that one can find online for many state secretaries of state, at least in truncated form. The particular one that associates Asher with Abdul Basit was a 1994 Louisiana WAUC corporate record sent to me by Taft University, which they had gathered in the course of their suit accusing Asher's WAUC of fraud. The record lists the WAUC as having as its "Officers/Directors/Partners/Members": Abdul Basit, Franklin T. Burroughs, and Maxine Asher. The Registered Agent was Colleen Twomey, who now runs Lasalle University under her married name Colleen Twomey Boyer. (I believe her middle name is Susan, as in Colleen Susan Twomey Boyer.) Franklin T. Burroughs is behind Nobel University and an accreditation mill of his own, the Global Education Association, as I imagine you will recall. 1991 Louisiana corporate records for AWU that I have looked up online list AWU's Officers/Directors as Maxine Asher, Alfonso Roldan, and Moira Carney. The Incorporators are Maxine Asher, Franklin Burroughs, and Moira Carney. The Registered Agent is Colleen T. Boyer. So, at least some of these relationships go back at least a decade. For an Adam Smith University connection: Asher's new South Dakota AWU location is, in fact, located in one-half of "Suite 202" at 1719 West Main Street in Rapid City, South Dakota." Suite 208 is an address for Adam Smith University and for iaus-accreditation.org, the International Education Group or International Association of Universities and Schools. A reporter for the newspaper in Rapid City told me that when she visited the building both "suites" were empty, at least in the sense of nobody being there. I don't know what secretarial service actually serves these offices, but the building acts a bit like a secretarial service itself apparently, with a central reception desk serving the building. Asher is also the proud possessor of an Adam Smith University honorary degree. David LeCornu has been listed as an official with both AWU and WAUC, but I can't recall if I have seen corporate records documenting a partnership per se. Other Asher colleagues/partners include Charles Mercieca and Francis Dessart (with AWU's "faculty") of the International Association of Educators For World Peace (IAEWP) and Alfonso Roldan More of European Union University and the International Commission on Distance Education, based in Zurich. The three are also--get this--"ambassadors" of the First Childrens Embassy In the World - Medjashi (http://www.unet.com.mk/medzasi/amb2.htm), which must thereby give them--how convenient!--diplomatic passports. Very convenient for visiting the degree mills and accreditation mills with which they are involved which are based in Switzerland, I suppose. (The IAEWP is the NGO that St. Clements, AWU, and various other schools use to claim that they are loved and adored by the U.N. and/or UNESCO.) Charles Mercieca has been an "honorary" official at European Union University ("Honorary Chancellor") and the Swiss Business School ("Honorary President"). Asher and her "faculty member" Irving Buchen have been listed as "Visiting Faculty" at the Swiss Business School, Asher's field being listed as "marketing." Anyway, I hope the above gives some documentation for what I'm talking about. When I eventually publish an article, I'd very much like to get a chart-maker to make a chart of some kind (a "flow chart" I guess? a "spiderweb" chart?) showing the humongous web of business relationships between Asher and her business partners and various degree mills and accreditation mills. I think the above is just the half of it. BTW, did you ever examine Asher's Walden dissertation on "intuitive archaeology" that you once mentioned in a newsgroup thread?
Correction: Ms. Boyer is with Lacrosse University, not Lasalle. The university is of course WAUC accredited. Checking the WAUC site, I see that St. Clements is the featured university of the month. CONGRATULATIONS, St. Clements! And another WAUC accredited university is the mythical University of Global Religious Studies, another Asher scheme. The only evidence I have ever seen for it was an old letter Asher sent to The Futurist magazine, claiming to be president of the institution. (There was, however, no incorporation info for the school in the state which Asher claimed to be its home--Louisiana, I believe.) David LeCornu ("Ph.D.")is the "First Vice President of Administration" for the WAUC. (Like, how many Vice Presidents of Administration does the WAUC have?) I feel certain that he has been listed as having a similar glorious role at AWU, but I don't immediately find this online.
