Berne University and VA approved????

Just a question since I have been reading this board for over a year and noticed Berne University metioned numerous times. Since they are illegal in Oregon, how the heck are they accepted by the VA for use with the GI Bill? I thought they had to be at least DETC accredited. Can someone explain? Thanks....

 

Well, hopefully you read the thread Berne University International Graduate School.

 

Without going into the whole accreditation issue which has been discussed to death....the V.A. when evaluating foreign DL programs requires the recognition of the Federal Loans folks. They apparently okay schools who have applied and are duly recognized by the proper authorities in the country of origin.

Sounds great except that from what I have gathered this is of very little interest to foreign credential evaluators who look for more substantive factors in determining credibility.

Berne could do itself a world of good in forging a relationship with UWI & getting recognition in the Commonwealth Handbook.

North

 

Except that it would be a travesty for UWI or the Commonwealth Handbook to recognize Berne, because it's well known to just about everyone that the school is less than wonderful and its degrees are hardly considered acceptable by most schools...

We may eventually end up with a MIGS-like situation here, a school that *technically* is RA, but in practice is nothing of the sort. But I hope that sensible minds prevail and Berne remains unrecognized.

 

Indeed, such recognition may help with the utility of the degrees (eg approval by foreign credential evaluators) but does not mean that the degree will be an entrance pass to professorship at a state university.

The school itself would benefit from the arrangement. The same could be said for the CPU/Malawi deal. If that ever becomes clear and some sort of equivalent of accredited that in no way guarentees that eye brows would not be raised by a California school located in a Montana office building and accredited by the Republic of Malawi.

North

 

I think that Chip misspoke there. The only way that a school possibly could be "technically RA" is to be RA. "GAAP" is another thing entirely, much more vague.

Regarding Berne seeking recognition by the UWI and getting a listing in the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook, it doesn't work that way, does it?

The UWI could actually acquire Berne as an integral part of the UWI, making it a branch campus alongside Fitzroy Bryant College of FE. I can't imagine that happening.

Listing in the Commonwealth Yearbook is a function of membership of the Association of Commonwealth Universities and meeting their requirements for inclusion. Simply being endorsed by the UWI wouldn't accomplish that.

I think that this gets back to the Lisbon Convention, of which the US is a signatory while St. Kitts is not. The Lisbon Convention requires signatory states (not necessarily private parties within those states) to accept degrees from other signatory states as equivalent to local degrees **IF** those degrees are in fact equivalent.

If there is a question as to equivalence, the accreditor/QA agency in the issuing state must provide documentation on the standards required and on how the school in question met them. In Berne's case, Mr. Contreras of the Oregon ODA made such a request to the St. Kitts Ministry of Education, apparently without significant response.

In cases in which there is no accreditor/QA agency in the issuing country, the Lisbon Convention recommends asking other regional universities of undoubted standing whether they would accept the questioned degrees or credits. That's where this whole UWI tie-in comes from, I think.

In St. Kitts' case there is no legal force behind this since St. Kitts is not a signatory to the treaty. But it may be a general but informal rule of thumb followed when dealing with universities in small and third-world states.

Concerning Malawi and Columbia Commonwealth, following this Lisbon procedure would require making inquiries of the American accreditors in CCU's home nation. But CCU is not accredited.

If the Malawi "accreditation" were taken seriously, inquiries could be made to Malawi. I doubt if the process that Malawi applied to CCU would be considered even close to being equivalent to what the American or European QA bodies require. It's doubtful that Malawi even has a functioning accreditation system, seeing as how they only have one university, founded during British colonial times and part of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

Polling local universities would not apply in this case, since there clearly are functioning accreditors in the United States, CCU's home nation. But if you did poll them, they would be places like the University of Montana, and you know what they would say.

 

Berne University

Hello- If this institution ever becomes RA please e-mail me directly. We have a time share bought in a moment of insanity that would fit in well with the residence requirement. It could be a family thing. Hille