Soka University of America

Soka is not a DL university but it is interesting to see that Soka Gakkai is a Buddist organization that has just built their second campus in So. Cal at an estimated cost of $220,000. Soka is not regionally accredited but plans on applying to the WASC "when they are ready". Their latest campus opens this fall with 125 students. The school is open to people of any religious persuasion.

 

Ike the school has a web site, what is the URL?

Ike

 

Corrections please. I meant "If" and not "Ike".

If the school has a web site, what is the URL?

Ike

 

http://www.soka.edu/

They are associated with (a branch of?) Soka University in Japan. Soka University is a new (1971) but apparently very well funded (impressive campus) creation of Soka Gokkai (Value Creation Society), a lay Buddhist organization that was founded by but is now somewhat estranged from Nicheren Shoshu, a peculiar and very hard-core Japanese Buddhist sect. (Unlike virtually all other Buddhists they are exclusivist, claiming that they are the only true Buddhism. They also apparently have some messianic-type beliefs and seek to become Japan's national religion.) Soka Gokkai is big, with about 16 million members, and generally operates as sort of a mutual-aid society providing each other with psychological support in small neighborhood cells. Most of its members aren't Nicheren fundamentalists, but some of its leadership still is. But Sokka Gokkai espouses separation of church and state, unlike Nicheren Shoshu, and the relationship between the two is no longer entirely friendly. Soka Gokkai in turn founded but is not wholly identified with one of Japan's largest political parties, the Komeito (Clean Government Party).

Anyway, at present Soka University of America is one of the many California-approved universities. I'm not sure what its relationship is to the mother campus in Japan. It may be a US branch and hence GAAP, or it may be a separate institution as is the Open University of the US. But it definitely has influential backers and probably could become WASC if it wants to. As far as I know it has basically operated in Southern California as an ESL school up till now.

BTW, do people realize that there are 689 CA-approved schools in Los Angeles County alone? Most are not university level, but still...

 

Sounds like the BPPVE have their hands full doesn't it Bill? It must require a substantial amount of manpower to regulate all the CA state approved schools, with 689 in one county alone. If CA state approval is for a five year period, then LA County alone requires almost three site visits per week.

How many CA state approved schools are there in the entire state?

Russell

 

I didn't see a state-wide figure on the BPPVE website. But they have a search page broken down by counties. In the greater LA area:

LA county - 689
Orange county - 236
San Bernardino county - 100
Riverside county - 71
Ventura county - 46
TOTAL - 1,142

The nine Bay Area counties have an additional 461. Tom Nixon's Fresno county boasts 50. San Diego county has 198.

I'd say well over 2,000 for the state as a whole. (There are about 30 more counties, mostly rural.) Of course the great majority of them are trade and vocational schools that don't offer degrees. But the BPPVE still has to oversee them.
http://app1.dca.ca.gov/bppve/school-search/

 

Hey, they have to put truck driving and cosmetology schools somewhere!


Tom Nixon

 

I am a member of Soka Gakkai, and attended the private dedication ceremony of Soka University in Aliso Viejo (Orange County, CA) on May 3, 2001. This campus was built after being unable to expand their Calabassas (Los Angeles County) campus, which is accredited and offers M.S. degrees in teaching second languages.

SUA-AV, as it is known internally, will seek WASC accredidation after the start of their first incoming class this month. The currently offer only a BA in Liberal Arts, and will expand the offerings to different degree areas and to Master and Doctorate levels at a rate keeping pace with graduations. Also currently in the works is a community education program similar to many of the UC system's Extension programs.

Let me know if you have any questions about SUA-AV.

Regards,

Christian