St. Regis U. "Accredited" by the Republic of Liberia

"Moshe W" posted this news on AED, so I thought that I'd repeat it here.

St. Regis University's 'accreditation' page now says that the institution is accredited by the Republic of Liberia.

http://www.saintregisedu.org/Accreditation.htm

They also say that they are listed by UNESCO.

From their 'accreditation' page:

 

If anybody wanted to do something for university education in Liberia, they might consider sending a contribution to the reconstruction fund for the University of Liberia or to Cuttington College, both of which are attempting to recover after the devastating civil war in Liberia.

 

Knightsbridge University, run by a Danish gentleman from an office in the west of England, has claimed Liberian accreditation as well.

 

Fraudulent Claim

The so called recognized by the UNESCO is merely being listed under www.unesco.org/education/portal/e_learning/Higer_Education/Interesting_Sites/English

along with the notorious Irish International university.

 

Not True

I am not a supporter of Saint Regis University. I am in no way affiliated with them other than doing some investigation about them and the legality of their degrees.

The link to UNESCO "interesting links" under ENGLISH is not the claim. They claim, as I understand it, that because Liberia is a member of the committee (Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) degrees issued in Liberia are to be treated the same as if they had been issued here in the US or in France or Greece. I hastily read the latest Resolutions and Decisions of the organization. It appears to me that the intent is to get education up to a certain standard in all nations such that a doctorate here in the states and there in Liberia are equal.

Now the interesting point that the document I read brought out is that this standardization is a process not to happen overnight, but it does state, as I read the text, that if a Department of Education in whatever state authorizes this or that university to issue "qualifications" of higher education (in other words, degrees) that "qualification" should be valued the same in any other countries that are "member states".

Please forgive my spelling and grammer. Feel free to reply or contact me with any other information you can give me.

I am particularily looking for information which will void the certificates touted on the website which appear to be issued by the Ministry of Education in the Republic of Liberia.
Thanks.

 

So does Adam Smith University

http://www.adamsmith.edu/campus.html

Gee, the Ministry of Education in Liberia will be inundated with applications once this gets out!

Cheers,

George

 

And here's the proof -

http://www.sailinternationalinc.com/recletter.gif http://www.sailinternationalinc.com/reccert.gif
http://www.sailinternationalinc.com/Saint-Regis-University-Auth.gif
http://www.sailinternationalinc.com/certaff.jpg

Cheers,

George

 

An insteresting set-up

It appears that Saint Regis and the multitude of other universities created in its wake are not actually institutionally accredited by the Ministry of Education in Liberia. This from http://www.usdegrees.com/main/Accreditation.htm

So, the Ministry of Education accredits The National Board of Education Inc. to accredit the universities, or are they all accredited together

Cheers,

George

 

I am thinking of enrolling at St Regis University for a degree in maritime navigation with a minor in leaky oil tanker registration.
Roy Maybery

 

Liberia's only real export**.. at least, since the civil war shut down most of the rubber plantations.. has been the Liberian "flag of convenience" for foreign vessels seeking the tax and inspection benefits of being registered in a country with no other infrastructure to speak of. Registrations are handled by a company contracted by whoever is in control of Monrovia at any given moment, which is the only reason that even that industry has flourished.

This is actually pretty visionary of them. They can now be an ersatz "accreditor of convenience" for schools that want to avoid the nasty entanglements of meeting local regulations in their "home port" countries. But will they hand out flags to the new "universities?"

- Dennis

** Actually, Liberia has also done an effective job of exporting a quarter million or so of its citizens as refugees from the mayhem. As I understand it, the country's higher education system has been largely included in that count.

 

Factiods/info on Saint Regis

First on Liberia,
1997 est 2 B/yr exports
2000 est 55 M/yr exports
2001 est 3.6 B GDP
Primary industry: gold, timber, diamonds,
Unemployment 70%
South American cocaine trade trans-shipment point.

See:
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/li.html
for CIA's interpretation

On Saint Regis topic:

KnightsBridge U - makes sense that a Danish gentleman would be somehow involved in that Liberia was carved from Sierra Leone which is/was a British colony. I would expect influence from the european community.

The text of the Liberian license states "and its branch campuses."

Note the statement in www.universityservices.net/degreesbyexam, "St. Regis University and all Official Branch Universities are fully accredited and formally recognized by the Education Ministry of The Republic Of Liberia."

Now how to become a branch?
http://www.degreetoday.com/Sponsor_Universities.htm

It looks like this is a educational referral association, as I've heard it termed. St. Regis U does not provide coursework or education in and of itself. It refers people to different private schools who may have a program for them. That school is responsible to ensure proper educational levels. St. Regis U's responsibility appears to be the handling of official and legal actions. They produce the degrees and set up the perpetual recording systems to verify an individual's degree status.

If this is a scam, I'd say it is the biggest internet scam to hit the net since the "ebay" scandles.

If you were to use this "service":
I'd say for safety's sake that someone should claim their degrees from St. Regis University directly. It would not be wise due to legal implications to allow another entity name to appear on your transcript or diploma. This is because all authority flows from Liberia to NBOE (inc) to St. Regis U to affiliates. I'd say St. Regis U would be the last to fall in a lawsuit.

Yes, I agree that "This is actually pretty visionary of them. They can now be an ersatz "accreditor of convenience" for schools that want to avoid the nasty entanglements of meeting local regulations in their "home port" countries."

The Liberian government might want to put a bit more of a handhold into the Frankenstein universities now being created to help make it look more respectable.

However, there are some problems with this in that Liberia is still an active member of UNESCO. UNESCO's goal is to bring educational levels world-wide to a level in which degrees issued in any member state are valued equal to degrees issued in any other member state. One of the resolutions is that the government must prove that they are making progress towards the ideals of bettering higher education.

Where are the UN peacekeepers when we need them?

I wonder if there is any evidence in Liberia of the creation of "such arrangements as suit its particular conditions for the purpose of associating its principle bodies interested in educational, scientific, and cultural matters with the work of the Organization [UNESCO]" as requested in article IV of the constitution of the UNESCO?

I wonder if National Board of Education, Inc. has been placed in the position of one of the "National Commissions...act[ing] in an advisory capacity to their respective delegations to the General Conference...and to their Governments in matters relating to the Organization?" (Title IV, Constitution of UNESCO)

If you'll check http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001255/125590e.pdf#xml=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=gctd&set=3E19F45D_1_52&hits_rec=3&hits_lng=eng
you'll see that Liberia as of 1 Jan 2002 is still an active Member state (note that it is not an Associate Member State, nor an Member State of the Executive Body).

Now that begs the question as to if someone may have more vision than many "normal" educators. Maybe it might be possible that someone in power made NBOE legal to be able to control it. Maybe this isn't so much of a scam, as a misappropriation of power or a shortsighted attempt to do something good for their country and the world.

I wonder what of these monies goes to Liberia or Liberian employees?

I'd be willing to bet that if NBOE would ask St. Regis U to open its books and processes to international scrutiny there probably would be an uproar because of its unusual approach but the decision returned would probably be that the degree is valid and that the qualifications are real.

What we need to do to investigate the system for real is find out how many hits they have, how many acceptances, and how many people have to test out of subjects before a degree is registered (ie. qualified for).

I've compiled a list of seven people having degrees from St Regis U or a "branch". If we got a commission to look into the people and qualify them independantly we might verify that the St. Regis concept is or is not valid educationally speaking.

Note: St. Regis makes no attempt to state that their degrees replace a liberal arts (standard) degree. In fact some advertising mentions "A GED for college degrees!"

Let me know what you think.
JMetro

P.S. I am in no way affiliated with St Regis U or the NBOE, Inc (or UNESCO for that matter). I am considering using their services and am simply doing a little investigative research about them and posting my conclusions and questions.

 

Forgive my spelling and grammatical errors. I'm not a complete idiot. I just love my spellcheck to catch anything I don't get.

 

Jacob: I suspect your contributions are going to get more and more trenchant. Thanks for posting. The Carpathian peasant welcomes you aboard.

 

Thank you

I'm sorry my words are a bit grumpy sounding. I really don't mean it. I just love to poke holes in things. I also love Austria-Hungarians. I'm glad to be here.
Jacob Metro

 

Don't Make Me Laugh

You should look at these important facts about the Ministry of Education, Republic of Liberia.
First, do you honestly think that a degree accredited by the Ministry of Education in Liberia is going to carry any weight?
Second, if you were an employer, would you hire someone with a bachelor's degree from a RA university or someone with an advanced degree that is accredited by the Ministry of Education in Liberia?
Third, most of these universities (St. Regis, Adam Smith, etc.) are assessment based institutions. They offer no programs that are recognized by any of the U.S. colleges/universities.
If you want to jeopardize your career, don't even mention the Republic of Liberia to your employer. You will most likely be laughed out of your job!
Stick with the regionally accredited colleges. They are your best bet!
Roy

 

Liberian education review

I found this on the web, just to add to the discussion here concerning facts about the educational system within Liberia. This is a couple of years old, and given the message it seems that Liberia almost HAS to be open to just about any method for bringing higher education into its country, which probably explains their willingness to do business with and legitimize operations like St. Regis.




....LIBERIA'S EDUCATION SYSTEM

A. BACKGROUND

After the 1997 elections in Liberia, which brought in to place a civilian government, there were several schools, colleges and universities that were reopened. Most of the schools in the country are being operated by churches or Christian missions, among which are the Catholic Church, Methodist, Episcopal and a few others. Others are being by the government under the supervision of the Monrovia Cooperative School System (MCSS).

Most of the schools are found within the Monrovia area. This is because of the lack of good roads throughout the entire country. Christian missions have extended their schools to other parts of the country so as to increase the educational process and ease the mass flow of students into Monrovia.

Majority of the students can only afford to attend the public or government schools or university because of the high tuition fees involved. Most of the schools being operated by the government have poor performance of their students. This due to the low salaries being paid to their instructors and the lack of good teaching materials. Instructors in most cases pay less attention to the students.

Unlike the public or government schools, the private or church mission schools are offering a better quality of education to most of the students. Although there are very few public or government schools that are struggling to do likewise. Some private schools provide books and other materials to help ease the problems of getting a good textbook by the students.

There has been a little increase in the number of community colleges and universities in the county sine the civil crisis. The government owned university has re-opened an annex in another part of the country to increase the number of students wanting to attend the university. The major problem of this university is financial support. There is very little support for the university by the national government. This in most times including this year has led to the delay in acquiring a degree at the nation’s highest institution of learning. Many times a student spent six to seven years to earn a degree. Early this year (2000) the national university closed for the first semester and did not re-opened for nearly two semesters.

There are three private universities now opened which the plan to open a fourth one by the Methodist Church. There are near five private colleges most of which are being run by the Catholic Church, and the Episcopal Church.


B. DESCRIPTION

Kindergarten/pre-primary

Due to the lack of schools within the rural areas of the country, most of this education process is carried out in the Monrovia between the ages of 3 to 6. During this period the little students are taught how to identify letters and read.

Primary/Elementary School

There are many of these schools almost through out the country but with very few within the rural areas and the greater number within the Monrovia areas and surrounding communities. At this level students from grades 1 to 6 learn basic reading, English, arithmetic, general science and bible.

Junior High School

Most of the junior high schools are found in Monrovia except those of the church missions and very few government or public schools. All schools through out the country are under the Ministry of Education, which has the responsibility to regulate quality education to students in the country. During this level students are induced to the basic concepts of algebra, geometry, geography, physical science and chemistry. They also sit for the West African Exams for.

Senior High Schools

About 98% of the senior high schools are in Monrovia and the others within the rural areas of the country. In the senior high school level students are prepared for universities and learned the second editions to subjects taught during the years of junior high. Students are also allowed to sit for the West African Exams if they are successful.

College and University

Liberian colleges and universities are limited in many aspects because of the lack of finance. The national university is always faced with numerous problems that can not be solved by the national government. There is presently the need for better instructors at the university.

Private universities have better facilities and therefore present better quality education in the country because their instructors are well paid. But they also have their own limitations in terms of accreditation with most of the foreign universities. There is still a growing need to improve the educational system in Liberia. This can be seen from the mass failure of students in the West African Exams of 1999 and 2000.

 

Wow

Im just wondering.
If I get one of those fancy degrees from Saint Regis
( not the real Regis ) for 700 bucks, does Liberia give
me two free American knockoff coins?????

Of course if I act now maybe I can get the entire
program, yes----
degree BS, MS and PhD.
two free coins with stamps for
3 easy payments of $19.95 plus S&H

 

Well Done Carl!

Well Done Carl Reginstein! My complements to you for providing us with this historical overview of Liberia's Educational System. It explains why organizations like Saint Regis and Adam Smith take advantage of the Republic of Liberia's education system. Obviously they need to have some form of state or government accreditation to have international recognition. Good information! Thank you.


Also, to Veteran101 : the two free coins are actually two 25 cent pieces. The university wants you to use their on-site vending machine to get your diploma.

regards,
Roy

 

Re: Not True

In my quick look at UNESCO's web site, I noticed that the United States is not listed as a member nation. Doesn't that preclude the U.S. from having to recognize other UNESCO committee nation's degrees?

 

Liberia

This thread made me think. Liberia and higher education? College?

Some research shows Liberia has a current Literacy rate of
38% and an average life expectancy of 46.5 years.

Just a thought