British politician parlays fake St. Regis degree into some lofty positions

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by John Bear, Jun 29, 2017.

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  1. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Fascinating, indeed. Enfield, where Kersey lived with his parents, is a 16-minute bus ride (329 bus, costs $4 nowadays) from where I lived (Palmers Green) in North London -- but I left Palmers Green long before Kersey was born. I'm much older than he is; in fact, I have sons about his age. Two great guys - and stellar fathers, both.

    Johann
    Doctor of Nothing. Just a former fat boy, who once won the Latin prize - and (fortunately) didn't let it go to his head. :smile: Well, not completely, anyway.
     
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  3. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    OT: The supposedly far right, alt-right Richard Spencer has revealed a profound fondness for socialist policies.
     
  4. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Perhaps not surprisingly, Mr. Kersey does not seem to currently claim his St. Regis doctorate. From his website his academic credentials include:

    Bachelor of Music - Royal College of Music
    Master of Business Administration - Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica
    Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities - Universidad San Juan de la Cruz
    Doctor of Education - Universidad International in Panama
    Doctor of Humanities in History - Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica

    Doctor of Byzantine Studies from the Constantinople Orthodox Institute, West Virginia, USA. (Honorary)


    And then...

    On his election as Presiding Bishop of the Apostolic Episcopal Church he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology honoris causa by the Apostolic Episcopal Church (under the degree-awarding powers granted to the Church by the State of New York in 1933) and the degree of Doctor of Letters by the Western Orthodox University, which is a division of the Apostolic Episcopal Church accredited by the Pontificia Accademia Tiberina, Rome.

    Unless that church received an absolute charter from the New York Board of Regents (possible), they wouldn't have been eligible to award degrees at all. But even with the charter, schools still require approval from the NY Department of Education to award degrees (and that requires ongoing review. You can't just set it in 1933 and forget it).
     
  5. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    My hunch is that this is by far not the only aspect of His Highness and Beatitude Mar EDMUNDUS+'s story that is... I'd say "hard to verify". And not the most impressive: the guy, after all, reportedly heads Catholicasate of the West (that'd rank him in the top ten of the hierarchs of the Oriental Orthodox Church) AND is a rightful Tsar of Belarus.

    Am I the only one thinking that all this research and creativity, properly applied, would surely earn him an accredited doctorate somewhere? Even as it stands, the sum total of his efforts feels good enough for a DFA in Creative Fiction, minor in Alternative Facts.
     
  6. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    He's definitely a quirky one. But he also claims a PhD from Universidad San Juan de la Cruz which, at cursory glance, appears to be properly accredited. Naturally, he could be lying. Or the school could be shadier than it first appears. Or maybe both. Though I suppose we cannot ignore the possibility that he might actually have earned a doctorate in humanities from a real school. That would make his claimed degrees from questionable schools even more, well, curious.
     
  7. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Wrote a lengthy response and let my login expire in the process... In short, San Juan looks like a situation not unlike Empressarial (the fact that Robert Ray Hill and Kersey are involved hints strongly at that direction). I believe that Prince Dr. Prof. Archbishop Edmund III is certainly talented enough to earn a real doctorate somewhere... it's just hot clear he has one now.
     
  8. mbwa shenzi

    mbwa shenzi Active Member

    If memory serves me right, Empresarial was originally an institute under San Juan de la Cruz that developed into an independent institution. There are lots of people with, well, interesting qualifications who hold degrees from Empresarial: David Iornem, a graduate of St Clements University, Sir Professor Bashiru Aremu, who holds many degrees, including one from West Coast University Panama and Daniel Esteban Odin, a graduate of John Kersey's Marquess College.
     
  9. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    San Juan is authorized to offer a few degrees in business, law, and IT with MBA being the highest. All other degrees are this:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Own_title

    Possibly relevant note: this Wiki page was created by user "Wheur". The only other page he/she/it contributed to is "Universidad San Juan de la Cruz". It may well be His Serene Highness himself (note that I only ever listed a small portion of his feudal and academic honours. Kersey certainly makes His Excellency The Most Illustrious and Right Reverend Doctor Andrew Vujisić of St. Gregory Nazianzen Institute look like an underachiever... except all his academic degrees are real, and at least the guy who granted his (fairly meaningless) noble titles really is a Bagrationi prince). Again, it does not show either page is inaccurate in any way, but...
     
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  10. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

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  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Right. But you'll find they do have CONESUP approval. Consejo Nacional de Enseñanza Superior Universitaria Privada. That's the authority that governs private universities. Belonging to SINAES is voluntary. I believe there are some OK institutions that don't. Mixed bag, probably. Oh - sorry. Just noticed, you found the CONESUP listing without me.

    CONESUP site: CONESUP | Ministerio de Educación Pública

    From the school's Wiki: "It is authorized and accredited by the Consejo Nacional de Enseñanza Superior Universitaria Privada, the national council of higher education of Costa Rica.[2][3] It has been authorized to award degrees in accounting and business administration since 1996, and in law since 1998."

    I know nothing about this school's authority to grant distance degrees or any degrees at all in fields not mentioned above. Certainly no mention of doctorates, here. Please don't take my remarks to mean I endorse this school.

    J.
     
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  12. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    IIRC, this school was discussed on the "sister" forum about 7-8 years back. At the time, the only other relevant info shown was that the school had at some time been "twinned" or had otherwise "danced" with four or five schools that were unaccredited or licensed-but-not-mainstream: WIDU - World Information Distributed University, Akamai University (Hawaii), West Coast International (Panama) and the International University, Panama. There was also some sort of arrangement noted with Trans-Atlantic College in England. From looking up the Trans-Atlantic site today, I think that school may no longer be operating.

    It was reported in the "sister" forum (by a very reliable source) that Dr. Capogrossi, founder of Akamai U., had stated that the Akamai connection with San Juan de la Cruz had encountered difficulties and was no longer in effect.

    At the time, I believe the above was the sum total of info uncovered, after a diligent search involving people much smarter than I am. Again, I am not endorsing the school. Just reporting. Don't shoot the messenger -- yet.

    J.

    * San Juan de la Cruz. Same Saint, same name as a centuries-old college of the University of Salamanca, founded in 1254.
     
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  13. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Some more on Dr. Kersey and his many degrees from yours truly in 2016.

    "Some say it's possible that this person also posted here at DI for a short while, back in 2003, as Dr. Marianus. Perhaps so. It seems a reasonable enough assumption, but what do I know? Maybe the name was a reference to the theologian Doctor Marianus in Goethe's Faust, or possibly it referred to Anselm of Canterbury (1033? - 1109) or Duns Scotus (1265? -1308). Dr. Kersey held doctorates from Knightsbridge University (Denmark - since closed) and Robert de Sorbon (France). At one time, he was an advisor with Prof. Dr. Sir Roger Haw's Ansted University and held an honorary degree from that school. However, in 2010, Dr. Kersey's European-American University published a notice of dissociation from Ansted University. https://thedegree.org/2010/03/25/not...ed-university/ ."

    Whole thing here: http://www.degreeinfo.com/accreditation-discussions-ra-detc-state-approval-unaccredited-schools/52137-western-orthodox-university.html

    J.

    "Tout le monde hate me, wey I don't know pourquoi." - Cameroon
     
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    deleted - duplicate J
     
  15. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    CONESUP is analogous to California approval. It basically just means that a school is operating legally. I believe that CONESUP also has to approve tuition fee increases and approves new programs. But it doesn't imply very much ongoing academic academic quality assurance once the initial approvals have been won.

    To their credit, the Costa Ricans recognized the defects in that arrangement and the leading Costa Rican universities established SINAES in 1999. In 2002 the government officially recognized it (legislative bill 8256) as sort of an academic quality-assurance parastatal. (Not unlike how the British government created the QAA as a semi-independent quango in the UK.)

    Sure, and so is RA in the United States. (All domestic British degree granters are required by law to submit to the QAA, so things are different there.) But the fact remains that SINAES is recognized in CR by law. My understanding is that degree programs typically aren't considered accredited in Costa Rica unless they are accredited by SINAES. Apparently some employers in Costa Rica only hire graduates of SINAES accredited programs, while other employers don't care. A lot like accreditation in the United States.

    See the discussion (in Spanish) here:

    PREGUNTAS FRECUENTES - SINAES

    and in English from WES here:

    Accreditation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Costa Rica - WENR
     
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  16. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I appreciate this. Very instructive. Thanks very much.

    How I love that word - reminds me I'm a Brit! Seldom hear it these days -- nice one, Mr. H! :smile:

    J.
     
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