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Well, it's not just Almeda stuff that's been copied, there are a few things from other Axact entities as well.

 

No, they're just different.

 

You quoted me by name and then quoted someone else without attribution, making it seem like I said both things. I didn't.

 

Sorry, Rich. I accidentally lost the attribution to heirophant in the second quote.

Be it known to all:

The second quote in the post Rich is talking about is from heirophant, not Rich.

 

I agree. However, I think you also used the word "worthless" in another post and that's not necessarily the case. Admittedly though, it depends on how you define "worthless". In 2011, Victorville International University ended up on BPPE's list of denied schools. The name was changed to Charisma University and after a short stint in the Philippines, Charisma relocated to Turks & Caicos. The T&C Ministry of Education required Charisma to be accredited, and the school was subsequently accredited by ASIC. The T&C Ministry of Education issued a provisionary license to operate an online university, which was later upgraded to a full license (yet confusingly, the Ministry has later claimed that Charisma is not a T&C university.) Be that as it may, both ACBSP and the American Council on Education accepted Charisma as a member institution.

Largely, yes, but considering the fact that an AAHEA director is an academic consultant for ASIC (and linked to at least two of the universities accredited by ASIC) there appears to be a certain influence, so to speak.

Yes, and at least one of those universities has since been accredited also by AAHEA. The dean of the university's European programs is (or was) also an academic consultant for ASIC, by the way.

Correct, but it has no remit outside the UK which makes the recent Global Licensing initiative interesting, ASIC License, Accreditation Service for International Colleges

The prospectus makes for interesting reading

Over and out. Thank you Neuhaus, I appreciate your input.

 

This isn't just about the U.S., since students from the U.S. now attend universities all over the world--especially by distance learning.

ASIC accreditation doesn't mean in the UK what accreditation means in the US.

 

Perhaps. But ASIC checks B – Governance, Management and Staff Resources. The BPPE found "Deficiencies with Organization and Management/Administration". ASIC checks D – Quality Assurance and Enhancement. The BPPE found "Deficiencies with Education Quality" and finally, ASIC checks G – Marketing and Recruitment of Students, BPPE found "Deficiencies with Advertising and Other Public Statements". But as I said, things may have improved since February last year.

 

That refers to providers in the UK. The international accreditation is presented in a slightly different way, see Information for Colleges | Areas of Operation | ASIC

 

To me this begins to feel like the old University of Wales system where they would appropriately take care of themselves according to all the regular British rules and standards but then they would offer some sort of umbrella service to other institutions, many of them non-British, that created the distinct impression of quality education. We now know that many of those institutions under that umbrella were quite questionable and this reflected back on Wales, creating the impression that they themselves were more than a little smarmy.

 

Perhaps. I wondered, back in the day, whether or not UNEM was even issuing the degrees to those American students, or was it all being done in the US? It was hard to tell.

 

I would tend to agree. However, if ASIC's international accreditation is holistic and encompassing an institution in its entirety, some of the ASIC accredited institutions may have a different opinion. A few have, apparently, and claim institutional accreditation from ASIC. Horizons University in France and the University of Northwest Europe in the Netherlands for example.

 

ASIC accreditation doesn't make a school a recognized degree-granting institution. It's no more complicated than that.

 

I don't get HBO but we all have at least heard of the Sopranos series (I think). So Tony has this legit job in "waste management" and this is where is income supposed comes from. Anyone asks him what he does for a living he points to this job ("It's my W-2"). But, of course, the real story is that all his money comes from this "thing" and it's way out of bounds. Most of his money comes from this "thing" but he has this legit cover. Are you familiar with the series?

 

I am. And, when I watched the show briefly, I enjoyed it quite a bit when Tony decided to actually show up at his "W-2" job only to discover that it was full of regulatory compliance issues and required a level of expertise that was simply foreign to him.

Anyway, is it possible that ASIC is knowingly providing cover to sham institutions so that they, themselves, can make bank by operating as an accreditation mill? Sure. It's possible.

But the same claim could have been made about the University of Wales for the same reason. ASIC's purview within the UK is fairly limited. So they branched out. DEAC offers institutional accreditation. They also offer their AQC service. For $1,000 for my application plus $1,500 per course evaluated, I can get a stamp of approval from DEAC that isn't recognition of my school as a degree-granting institution.

ASIC is accrediting schools like Warnborough and AIU. But they are also accrediting, in the same process, a school of Israeli dance. They never claim to grant degree authority. They don't appear to be conducting on-site reviews. They appear to be reviewing curriculum and saying "Yeah, this looks like a good curriculum!"

There are countless agencies in the U.S. that offer "accreditation" that is not intended to provide the same service as a CHEA/USDOE accreditor. Nurses can be "accredited." In this sense, as in the case of the ASIC schools, it is more comparable to something like ISO registration. It seems some shady schools are capitalizing on the fact that the word "accreditation" is used. But I think it's a bit ridiculous to carry on this idea that ASIC is really just a front for something more sinister.

 

Yeah, you'd have to be some kind of conspiracy-minded person who believes in secret societies and organized crime and things like that. Quite silly, really.

 

Stage 2 in ASIC's accreditation process is the initial inspection visit. Stage 3 is the accreditation inspection visit.
The Accreditation Process | Stages and Fees | ASIC

And, part of ASIC's mission is to assist accredited institutions to "Gain international recognition for their institution and its courses"

Our Mission | About Us | ASIC