Accreditation/Approval question

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Robbie, Dec 21, 2006.

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  1. Robbie

    Robbie New Member

    Pondering, and pondering as I often do, this question come to mind. Hope someone out there as a credible answer.

    My question: Can a university or college in the USA apply for recognition or approval from another country?

    I ask this because I see that there are many many schools overseas that have regional accreditation or national accreditation from the States.

    Robbie
     
  2. ShotoJuku

    ShotoJuku New Member

    Would there be a benefit to the school?
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  4. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    No and yes. There's two separate issues here.

    First of all, there's legal permission to operate. If a college is operating "in the USA", then presumably it's in one of the states (or in DC). Wherever it is, it will have to conform to the laws in that jurisdiction, which will involve some kind of state licensing. Without the license, the school wouldn't be operating legally. So...'no'.

    Second, there's academic quality assurance. Here in the US we call that function 'accreditation'. As long as a school is operating legally in its state, possessing California approval or whatever it needs, then I don't see any reason why it can't get its quality assurance from an overseas entity. So...'yes'.

    The most obvious example would probably be a school that's "validated" by a British university to offer coursework leading to the award of the British university's degrees. I don't know of any examples of that here in the US, but it's a routine practice elsewhere in the world.

    If this "validated" school was operating in California, it would still have to be approved by the BPPVE. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be operating legally. (That's equally true for out of state American schools that want to set up branch campuses in CA.)

    But since its graduates would be receiving British academic awards, the appropriate accreditor for it would be the British Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (the QAA). They make overseas site visits to validated schools.

    That kind of arrangement would work for Britain, certainly, but it might raise eyebrows and create problems if an American school's 'accreditation' came from a remote or obscure source without a reputation for reliable academic standards. The memory of 'Liberian accreditation' is still fresh. What's more, there would have to be some clear and transparent explanation for why an American school chose to avoid domestic quality assurance in favor of something less familiar. It's very easy to imagine this overseas-accreditation idea being abused.
     
  5. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    Why wouldn't they able to? There are Canadian schools with U.S. regional or national accreditation (Alberta and Briercrest).

    Pug
     
  6. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    There are Canadian schools, such as the University of Athabasca, that have US accreditation. However, I would expect any such schools to also have full Canadian accreditation (certainly Athabasca does). A Canadian school that only had US accreditation, and which lacked approval or authorization from Canadian authorities, would be suspect.

    The same would be true in the US. A US school that only had foreign accreditation, and which lacked approval or accreditation from US authorities, would be suspect (if not illegal). But if a US school with full US accreditation wanted to pursue supplemental foreign accreditation, no one would object. Don't know of any examples though.
     
  7. Robbie

    Robbie New Member

    Thanks guys. I was just curious. I don't know of any schools in the US doing this, but was curious if it could ever be done but see quite a few foreign countries having national and regional accreditation from the US. Didn't know if that work the same here or not. Like I said, just pondering.

    Another curiousity arises now. Say if a state approved or state licensed school was validated by a British University, how acceptable is that in the US? And are there any such schools in the USA having this approach?

    Thanks again guys! and Merry Christmas to you and yours!

    Robbie
     
  8. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    OK, here is an example of a legitimate US school with a form of foreign approval:

    McIntosh College is a private, regionally accredited junior college in New Hampshire. One of its divisions is the Atlantic Culinary Academy. The culinary program is unusually prestigious, because it is approved by the Le Cordon Bleu school of Paris. Graduates receive a Le Cordon Bleu Diplôme in addition to an RA associate's degree.

    There are many conventionally accredited culinary schools in the US, but only a handful of Le Cordon Bleu-approved schools. So in this case, the French "seal of approval" may well add more prestige than US regional accreditation.

    If any accredited university (US or foreign) were to "team" with an unaccredited US school, perhaps to offer a joint degree program, then it would certainly improve the reputation and standing of the unaccredited school. However, it would also tend to lower the reputation and standing of the accredited school. Universities tend to be sensitive about their prestige, so it's hard to imagine any circumstances where this situation would arise.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 22, 2006
  9. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    There are none that I know of.

    Frankly, I was surprised that the Open University didn't take that approach in their recent unsuccessful foray into the US. They could have deputized American study centers (with the appropriate state approvals) to provide courses and tutorial support leading to the award of real Open University degrees from Britain. Instead they tried to create a new and completely separate university here in the US that would award its own unfamiliar degrees, then acted surprised when American students didn't flock to it. So they prematurely pulled the plug before the new thing was even RA.

    As to whether or not a British validated school would be acceptable in the US, I think that it generally would be. That's because the resulting degree would be awarded by the parent institution back in Britain. British universities generally have good reputations in the US and many American students travel to Britain to study without suffering any ill effects. Of course, there would be inevitable questions about why an American would choose to study in the United States for a foreign degree. But if the British degree program offered something interesting or unusual, that question could easily be answered.

    For example, I can imagine the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC getting the necessary NY approvals, then being "validated" by the ultra-prestigious Courtauld Institute to offer courses and research support leading to its students being awarded University of London art history graduate degrees. That wouldn't only be acceptable to Americans, it would probably be one of the most prestigious and sought-after art history programs being offered here in the US. The thing could point to the prestige of its two parents (the Met and the Courtauld), to the intrinsic credibility of University of London degrees, and it would come under the quality assurance scrutiny (read 'accreditation') of Britain's QAA.

    That kind of validation relationship shouldn't be confused with the kind of thing that Trinity College and Seminary in Newburgh IN is claiming. That's where an individual British university takes it upon itself to to "accredit" another institution that continues to award its own American degrees. (In this case an institution that withdrew its application for American accreditation.) The British government and the QAA don't involve themselves in the matter because the school here in America isn't offering "British academic awards". So it's really just a private endorsement relationship between two schools whose meaning and credibility remains rather limited and opaque. It's better than nothing I guess, as long as it isn't misrepresented, but it's not really what Americans understand by the word 'accreditation'.
     
  10. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Here's one: a joint doctoral program offered by the University of California San Diego and the newly CA-approved Burnham Institute.

    http://medicine.ucsd.edu/molpath/

    Of course, the Burnham Institute has already been in existence as a non-degree-granting research institute for 30 years, it has 10 buildings, more than 700 employees and boasts of being #7 among private research institutes in NIH funding. It only rolled out its first degree programs (two doctoral degrees) earlier this year. But still...

    Here's an announcement of UCSD and Burnham's new Joint Center for Molecular Modeling. And here's an announcement of Burnham and UC Santa Barbara's new Vascular Mapping Center.

    Google "burnham institute" site.edu and see what you get. I expect it to become RA in about a microsecond, so enjoy it quick.
     
  11. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Trinity Theological Seminary was, at one time, accredited by the University of Liverpool.
     
  12. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    OK, the situation could arise if an accredited school teamed with a brand-new school that had not yet received full accreditation. Another example from California: a few years ago, (accredited) Cal State Stanislaus considered teaming with new (unaccredited) UC Merced to offer the EdD degree. They did not go through with it, but only because CSU campuses ultimately won the right to issue the EdD degree independently.

    I think the Original Poster is looking for situations where US schools gain legitimacy through accreditation or approval by foreign entities, instead of US entities. I don't see this as a practical approach. I could see a legimitate US school getting foreign accreditation as a supplement to US accreditation, but not as a replacement for US accreditation.

    And the converse is true for foreign schools. Yes, it's true that some foreign schools have accreditation from US agencies. But I expect that the US accreditation normally supplements, rather than replaces, the accreditation or approval process in their home countries.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 22, 2006
  13. Robbie

    Robbie New Member

    Thanks guys. Caldog scratched my itch. I didn't know how this played out between countries. The Liberian scandal came to mind. Caldog answered my question, as did all of you.
     

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