HELLO GOOD MEMBERS. I AM TURNING TO THIS FORUM FOR THE USUAL SAGE ADVICE. I REALIZE THIS SCHOOL IS RATHER DEBATEABLE. HOWEVER ARE THEY LEGITIMATELY ACCREDITED. WOULD THEIR DEGREES BE ACCEPTED IN THERE REGION. ARE THEY CONSIDERED GAAP. ONCE AGAIN MANY THANKS.
To avoid rehashing too much ground already covered, you might like to take a look at the AED thread on Berne and Recognition. Maybe North will jump in with an update...
Well, the board really butchered the formatting of that URL. Try going to http://groups.google.com and do a search for "Berne UWI North".
This issue has been covered here before so you might do a search. Dr. Bear mentions Berne U. on http://www.degree.net His findings were similar to the findings of my own inquiries. To summarize. Berne meets GAAP and is in the Handbook for what it's worth. BUT what does that mean in terms of recognition. One foreign credential evaluator said no to the question of being equivalent to a US accredited Ph.D. This person was blunt. He said they have nothing upon which to base accreditation (ie no university system). Another gave me a much more gentle response namely that in a situation like St.Kitts with no public unversity system they look to the closest one. In this case the University of the West Indies. If UWI recongizes them then this person said they would give the degree equivalency. So I contacted UWI. After two attempts I got a response that they do not recognize or accept Berne's degrees (at least at the time I contacted them). So....is Berne technically accredited. Yes. Will Berne meet your needs? Maybe depending on what you need it for. If you needed the degree to work for the organization I work for they would require a foreign credential evaluation. It seems that this might be hard to come by. I think Berne would help it's case out by clearing up the stuff with the Oregon site (bad publicity), getting recognized by the Commonwealth Association, and by forging an agreement with UWI. Incidentally, Berne has a new web site and appears under new management (i.e. no mention of Dale Berne). Site looks nice but issues remain in terms of utility. I do not understand how Berne U. could not pressure St. Kitts to provide the documents to Oregon. After all it does not look good to have your degrees illegal in a state. http://www.berne.edu North
