My gmail account displayed an advertisement for U21Global. The programmes might be of interest to some of you.
They offer Management and IS programs and is the product of a consortium of universities coming together. The degrees are offered by U21Global, which is based out of Singapore. I think in the US they would be NA, but i could be wrong. They have tied up with many companies in India, Middle East and Far East to offer various programs. Sathya
There have been quite a few threads about U21Global. Here's one in which I expressed my skepticism: http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?t=23040 U21Global might very well offer excellent education. I don't know. It's certainly associated with some prominent institutions around the world. But just in terms of its organizational structure, marketing and accreditation claims, Universitas21's designers seem to have been using a degree mill as their model. U21G uses the names of the famous U21 consortium members in its marketing, but those universities don't appear to provide U21G's teaching (that comes from the Thompson publishing company, I think) and they don't ultimately award its degrees. U21G makes much of its Singapore Ministry of Education recogition, but that seems to merely be recognition that it's a foreign institution that's offering courses in Singapore. The Singapore MOE is clear that Singapore doesn't charter or accredit such schools. www.moe.gov.sg/education/private-schools/files/edp-list/edp-u-z.doc It isn't clear where U21G originates or where its degree-granting authority actually comes from. (Not Singapore.) It seems to have a business license in the Channel Islands. When it comes to accreditation, it turns out that U21Global is accredited by U21Pedigogica, both of them owned and operated by the same people, Universitas21.
I only posted the link as a point of interest for discussion. I have no idea whether the organization is akin to another outfit which provides distance learning courses on behalf of various UK universities (Laureate Online Education partnered with the University of Liverpool).
Maybe i shall give my 2 cents here since i am a Singaporean. Alot of people still doesn't know how a school is operated in Singapore, with or without accreditation. As many and many private institutions are opening in Singapore. All private operated schools need to be registered with the Singapore Ministry of Education (equivalent to State Approved/Licensed in U.S.) in order to legally operated in Singapore, but they are not allowed to register name, such a College, or University etc....Unless it's an Overseas University setting campus in Singapore or jointly corporated with the private schools in Singapore to offer distance learning in Singapore and will confer its degrees upon graduation. Universitas21 is one of the school which is registered with Singapore MOE, but they do not confer degrees. They offer distance learning in Singapore for students who are interested in the affiliated programs shown on their website. Degree certificate will be confer directly from the university upon satisfying the degree requirement. Yes, Singapore does not have a central accreditational board for accrediting private institutions, so Private Schools can't confer degree themselves with their own degree. All University degree confer must be accredited and recognized by their local government in order to issued in Singapore, but MOE doesn't oversee the whole process. The students themselves must make sure that degree they are seeking is accredited and recognized by their own state government thru the website. Hope this helps....
Thank you for the clarification on the issue of accreditation and degree-granting authority. It seems U21Gloabal operates in Singapore much the same way as Laureate Online Education operates in the UK. Both are distance education providers of courses offered by affiliated colleges and universities.
