Thousands of DL students expelled; degrees to be revoked

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Steve King, Jan 15, 2012.

Loading...
  1. Steve King

    Steve King Member

    Over six thousand graduate students who were enrolled in DL programs at Dravidian University were suddenly kicked out of school and a government committee recommends "abolition of all the 8,029 PhD degrees awarded during 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years.” The full news article is at: Varsity to reject 6,289 scholars

    I'm glad to see India is cracking down on fraudulent degree programs; but I can't imagine the outrage students will feel if their PhDs are revoked (assuming they actually completed academic research worthy of the degree).
     
  2. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    If their degrees were revoked, it would only be fair to have their tuition refunded, but I'll bet that never happens. The "students" are probably out of luck. That's what happens when you do business with shady institutions.
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That's what happens when you do business with anyone who goes bankrupt. Legitimate schools do that too from time to time.
     
  4. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Much more likely with a shady school, however.
     
  5. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    It's true that legitimate schools have had to merge with other schools or have had to close, due to lack of funds. The degrees that these schools have awarded tend not to be revoked, however. One indication that something might be amiss is an institution that is able to award 8,029 PhD "certificates" in a two-year period. That puts even Capella's annual doctoral degree output to shame!

    Incidentally, I know that it must be a typo, but my favorite part of the article is this sentence: "The Andhra Pradesh government had been mulling on the cancellation of nearly 8,029 PhD certificates awarded during 2007-08 and 2008-09." Does that mean that the institution awarded 8,028 certificates? :)
     
  6. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    Actually that speaks to why (we assume incorrectly) that India is producing more quality Engineer's than the US is. India calls any graduate with a certificate in any technical field an Engineer. Some graduates only attend college for two years, but when they come over here they are Engineers.

    This news plus the horrific scores by some Indian high schools on international tests will help dispel the rumor of their "superior" education system.
     
  7. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    One of my brothers-in-law is of Portuguese descent, but was born & raised in India. In his words, "I couldn't get out of there fast enough".
     
  8. msganti

    msganti Active Member

    I beg to differ. Probably you are not familiar with Indian Education System.
    India has 3 levels of technical education - Certificate (also referred to as ITI meaning Industrial Technical Institutes), Diploma (also called Polytechnic College) and Degree. The certificate holders are skilled technicians like plumbers, welders etc. The diploma is a 3-year course after high school and is aimed at training of Front line engineers. The degree is a 4-year program and is offered by Universities and deemed universities.

    Not completely true. As per USCIS (The immigration authority), one can work as an engineer in USA on a work visa only if he has a US-equivalent of a 4-year degree. The equivalency has to be established by by a 3rd party evaluation agency (like WEC or ECE). The rule of thumb used by USCIS is: 3yrs of experience ~ 1year of college. So, a person with a 3-year polytechnic diploma from India + atleast 4 years of experience can be evaluated as having the equivalent of a US 4-year degree.
     

Share This Page