'Tis the season for threats: Stonebridge Associated Colleges

Well, maybe one good threat deserves another. Here's one just received from Stonebridge, except these people come right out and promise legal action.

On the bright side, they do, in fact, admit their institution is a "business" rather than a "school".

In addition to the thread mentioned in the threat received above, the "school" is also discussed here:

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22328

 

This is Interesting

Well, i am not sure that what the UK law says, but i think that this thread i started and no false comments have been given. If anyone needs their email communication, i can forward to you people. You can delete the thread, if you consider that this is essential.

Better send this email to NCFE, ASET and other organizations.

 

Hey, wait a minute! This time I didn't even get a mention. I must be losing my game.

 

FWIW

University of Johannesburg MA dissertations: proposals accepted before 2007
SM Janse van Rensburg, 'Public Participation: Empowerment Opportunity or Whitewash? (Uys).

(The "S" would appear to stand for "Serverius."

 

Perhaps the folks at Stonebridge need to brush up on their libel laws. There is nothing in these posts that would rise to the level of libel. The posters are simply giving their opinions, and they are certainly entitled to that.

 

Why did'nt Mr Janse Van Rensburg respond to the thread rather than issueing a threat. I'm sure many of us would like to know more about his college.

 

Accredited institutions of higher education in the US and chartered universities in the UK do not waste time threatening a discussion board. In fact, we could argue that Stonebridge declined to address customer service issues in this forum and criticisms thereof. I'm surprised that Stonebridge is being threatening. Positive comments about Stonebridge were posted as well.

Criticism, even negative, is healthy. Customers of Stonebridge in this forum provide feedback as to the strengths and weaknesses of your services. I am surprised you are reacting negatively when you could involve yourself in our discussions and communicate with dissatisfied customers. Threatening members of this forum and a US company is bad way to do business. It creates a public perception that Stonebridge is inflexible and capable of showing aggression in a negative fashion. That does not improve your image.

If you intend to sue degreeinfo.com and it's members, then you should sue elearners.com and all the blogs, discussion forums, social networking sites,
The Chronicle of Higher Education, AOL, USENET and every other form of digital communication that discusses and criticizes Stonebridge. Have fun

http://community.elearners.com/forums/thread/3002.aspx

 

I invite and challenge Stonebridge Associated Colleges in good spirit to discuss its courses and qualifications. However, that will not
prevent me and other members from providing criticism ( negative and positive ) by offering opinions.

 

Well, no doubt that there are some advantages of Stonebridge. There customer service is quick, polite and supportive. There course was easy to read and no doubt very informative. They have good tutor support as well. Results were given at proper time also.

The only problem came for the NCFE National Award Certificate as i discussed before. But after i send a complaint to NCFE, that problem is also resolved within 24 hours.

So, i think that there was no need to threat anyone in this forum. I dont beleive that they can sue anyone sitting in India, Africa or USA that easily, and perhaps there is no need to do that.

There was some other forums on which this Stonebridge disscussion has been done, so then they sue everyone.

"Mr Janse Van Rensburg " : i welcome you on board to discuss your college, and i personally respect your college. I was planning to do another course with your college, bt after this threat, i am also considering to change my mind.

 

We have discussed and critizised some good American and British colleges, but have never face this threat. Perhaps, sincere people and organizations dont care what people say about them. They dont threat ayone.

@Jone: Man, i beleive that this MA dissertations would be the besr

 

In case I didn't make it clear, DegreeInfo has received threats like this on a regular basis since it was started in 2001. Old-timers know it's pretty much par for the course.

As I said on the other thread about Sorbon,

One would think that some of these business-masquerading-as-schools would do a little due diligence and search through degreeinfo's 250,000+ message archive to figure out what happens when someone threatens us.

The threat gets posted to the board, in nearly every case resulting in far, far more exposure for said threatening individual or institution.

This, in turn, encourages people to look even more carefully into the details of said program... which, almost without fail, turns up more dirty laundry or otherwise damning information about said program.

And if we're extremely lucky, a representative from the "school" in question will show up to defend his or her program, which almost always provides tremendous entertainment, since these individuals are never a match for some of the more knowledgeable and well-informed people here on degreeinfo...

End result, said "school" ends up with far more negative information than it would ever have had if it hadn't threatened us in the first place.

 

Chip, i agree. Lets wait for the entertainment to start.

 

Which is unfortunate, because Stonebridge actually has some interesting-looking programs. I don't know what weight their credentials carry or if they are accredited or if studying with them means anything at all. In fact, I really don't know anything about Stonebridge. This was actually a wasted opportunity for someone from the school to perhaps comment here, explain who they are, what they do, what kind of programs they offer, accreditation, etc. Even if they aren't accredited, they could still say so, but point out that they still have some programs that will teach you something. Too bad.

 

First France, and now the UK?

I feel like the creature who harrassed Luke Skywalker in Mos Eisley Spaceport in Star Wars; "I'm wanted in 12 systems!!!"

 

Well, no doubt that Stonebridge has some good courses. There majority of the courses have also been recongnized by NCFE, ASET etc. Weight of the credentials : well, this depend upon your employer that how much weight he gives to your education and institute.

 

I did not get a good service from this business/college! One of their staff members was, instead of being helpful, telling me that I should change and never come back to them! Moreover, they are NOT member of the BILD! So why are they claiming that false comments are displayed?!? I don`t see the relevance....
I think everybody has the right of criticising bad service and inadequate statements on their websites...what would otherwise happen to the most fundamentals of our freedoms..the freedom of speech??

 

Can not one say that all universities and colleges are in "business" one way or another, whether they are non profits and are in business to provide educational services to their students or for profit and are in business to provide services to their students and to make a profit at the same time.

 

I think that you're right when you say that all universities are a business. However, there seems to be a shift in the emphasis. Some are a business first and some are educators first. Do we make decisions to maximize profit for the shareholders or do we make decisions to elevate the quality of education for the students. Priorities change everything. This distinction leads to some interesting differences, depending upon who is running the show. I am neither an educator or a business person but this seems obvious to me. In any organization, decisions get made based upon the orientation/priorities of the organization.

 

Every publicly traded company will seek to maximize profit. A privately held company may or may not seek to maximize profit. Whether a particular company does so at the expense of education quality is not necessarily correlated. It would be interesting to have third-party graders mark assignments and compare the scores with those accessed by the school's instructors.

 

I personally don't see profit status as being a primary cause here. When was the last time degreeinfo received threats from UofP, AIU or APUS? Maybe from some irate alumnus but not the school itself. I think here you see a fledgling "non-wonderful" (thank you Dr. Bear) or at least a school of marginal quality feeling heat from forum in cyberspace that left to its own devices would cause little if any harm to the school. But once the school pops up on the radar with lawyer threats, then people take notice.