MIGS: How many students are attending this school?

Discussion in 'The Monterrey Institute for Graduate Studies' started by Sam, Mar 17, 2001.

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  1. Sam

    Sam New Member

    Does anyone know the actual number of students attending this program? Just curious.
     
  2. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    When Chip and I asked chancellor Armando Arias, at our meeting a few months ago, the answer was "Fewer than 20," as I recall. I believe he said it was something like half Mexican, 1/4 American, and 1/4 rest-of-world.

    John Bear
     
  3. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    This must qualify MIGS for the Guinness "Student to Lawsuit Ratio" World Record.

    Bruce
     
  4. Sam

    Sam New Member

    The issue is perplexing ,Dr.Bear, that a school such as MIGS, which meets GAAP criteria and is deemed equivalent to U.S., RA institutions,is having so much difficulty in presenting itself in a credible manner to the public.

    Is this a lack of organizational savvy or merely a blaise attitude with no guiding direction? There is no doubt that if marketed appropriately, this school would be a contender, especially when considering that there is absolutely no residency requirement.

    Comments?
     
  5. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    It would certainly be interesting to have Armando's response to the same inquiry today, especially since MIGS' advertising has been dropped from Sheila's "prestigious" web sites, including freeresearch.com and sexiest.org. [​IMG]
     
  6. H. Piper

    H. Piper member

    The issue gets less perplexing when you realize that MIGS is * not * deemed equivalent to US RA, and from all indications MIGS will be lucky not to get a permanent reputation with the equivalency of an average degree mill. (For more on this topic, I recommend reading "The Dayson Evaluation" at Steve's lawsuit site http://angelfire.com/pa4/levicoff )
     
  7. Sam

    Sam New Member

    Let me clarify the issue. According to the International Division of the AACRAO,as of last week, MIGS is considered a recognized educational institution on par with RA schools from the U.S.. Personally, I am not taking a position since I am only interested in the facts, not personal feelings towards the school or its players. If AACRAO holds this position, which is based on the school's mexican accreditation, than I would think it would be difficult to term this school a diploma mill without a substantiated basis.
     
  8. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member


    #1 reason: No full-time faculty or staff. If it were me, I would hire Rich Douglas to run it. I have no doubt that, with his abilities, he could turn it into a credible program within a relatively short period of time.

    However, that takes viewing it as an educational endeavor and not as a (solely) money-making one. I'm not sure that is going to happen. Which is a shame.


    Tom Nixon
     
  9. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member

    Came across this ad today. Don't know how long it has been posted.

    Faculty for Virtual Graduate School
    The Monterrey Institute for Graduate Studies, www.degree.com, the virtual graduate school
    of The Center of University Studies, a 30 year old Mexican University, is seeking part time faculty worldwide to work one-to-one with students in education, business and psychology.
    Requirements: Must have an appropriate PhD and either a current or recent research
    publishing record. Current or past assistant professors at preferred. It is essential that you have experience working with masters and doctoral candidates in traditional or non-traditional(preferred) settings. Must be able to work independently with students. Bi-lingual (English - Spanish) preferred but not required. Salary paid on a per student per credit basis. You can work from your current location via phone, fax, internet. Send CV and any other relevant material to Bruce Forman, VP Academic Affairs at [email protected]. All applicants will
    be seriously considered.

    Tom Nixon
     
  10. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    I did a Google search on Sheila a while back. One old tidbit that came back indicated that she was starting up a new school and had made a similar ad. It made it appear to me that Sheila was probably the person that started up MIGS.
     
  11. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    This is the standard MIGS ad that Sheila ran in a number of publications including the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Virtual University Gazette, the DEOS-L Forum, and even MommysPlace.Net. Most of the ads were run during the period Novemer-December 2000. And, for those of you who read the article by Andrea Foster cited in another thread regarding persons who inquired about faculty positions only to find themselves actually listed as faculty at Preston University, I'm happy to report that Preston was not the only school that did this. I have run into a couple of cases in which MIGS did exactly the same thing, much to the surprise of some of the alleged faculty members of MIGS with whom I have spoken.

    But all that will come out at trial, of course, if the chickenshits ever decide to pursue the case they started. [​IMG]
     
  12. H. Piper

    H. Piper member

    Originally posted by Sam:
    Personally, I am not taking a position since I am only interested in the facts, not personal feelings towards the school or its players.

    I'll take your word for that, Sam. Did you read BillDayson's evaluation as I suggested? Given the objective FACTS in his analysis, can anyone really say MIGS is equivalent to US RA in any way, shape, or form? Hell, no. (Give me the name of one US RA institution that sells pre-written term papers, please.)

    If AACRAO holds this position, which is based on the school's mexican accreditation, than I would think it would be difficult to term this school a diploma mill without a substantiated basis.

    I think it's fairly obvious that mill status is far closer to the mark for MIGS than US RA for now. (But who knows? Maybe they'll clean up their act and fly right. Maybe I'll enroll there someday. Yeah, that's the ticket.)
     
  13. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Thank you, sir.

    Rich Douglas
     
  14. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member

    Hey, us National alums have to stick together!

    The truly sad part of MIGS is that it could be credible and yet some people seem to be working so hard to make sure that doesn't happen.


    Tom Nixon
     
  15. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Did you or Chip ask Dr. Arias how he manages to find time to simultaneously be a Dean and a Professor at CSU Monterey Bay, AND be President of what is in effect a new university in the process of formation a whole continent away?

    I remember that back at San Francisco State the post of Department Head was unpopular with faculty because it meant spending large amounts of time in endless meetings. I can imagine that the post of Dean is even worse.

    When you consider that CSU Monterey Bay is only a few years old and is still in the process of formation (it is just a candidate for regional accreditation), and is trying to create a bunch of innovative new interdisciplinary programs, the post of Dean of Behavioral Sciences there must be very time consuming, especially if it comes on top of a part-time teaching load.

    Now consider that this gentleman is also President of MIGS during the period in which MIGS is inventing itself from the ground up and creating entire new programs up to the doctoral level.

    Wouldn't the MIGS Presidency be a full time job? Wouldn't one expect the President of MIGS to undertake his duties hands-on, in-person, and not from three thousand miles away?

    If Dr. Arias had resigned from CSU Monterey Bay to take up his new post, I would understand. But this part-time distance-Presidency raises questions. I am wondering how it is possible to create an entirely new distance education university in only a few hours a week by phone. He must delegate a hell of a lot of the decision making to others.
     
  16. H. Piper

    H. Piper member

    Originally posted by tcnixon:
    The truly sad part of MIGS is that it could be credible and yet some people seem to be working so hard to make sure that doesn't happen.

    Are you referring to Sheila and Enrique, Tom? Surely those two have done more damage to MIGS than anyone else.
     
  17. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    Arias is not only a tenured professor and department head, he is also the Vice-President of Institutional Affairs & Advancement at CSU Monterey Bay. It is also notable that CSUMB does not have any doctoral programs, which raises questions about whether he has any significant experience in administering doctoral programs.

    Of all MIGS' faculty and administration, however, Arias is one of the most qualified in terms of credentials and experience. (The MIGS faculty list contains, for example, several people who allegedly received their own doctorates in the late 1990's - newbie doctorates, as it were.) Arias has written several articles for a consortium that addresses multicultural education; these are listed on the search engines, and posted by the consortium, which is based, coincidentally, at John Bear's alma mater, Michigan State U.

    Therefore, if anyone has a "clean" motive for wanting MIGS to succeed, it is Arias. He has never responded to any of the e-mails I have sent to the wacky band of MIGS (probably because Enrique Serna, in his dual role as board chairman and plaintiff's attorney, has directed everyone else not to respond). Arias appears to have his head on straight, although in his academic writings he occasionally uses some of the same hype as MIGS (desacribing CEU, for example, as a "30-year-old prestigious university"). Unlike the Danzig/Bennett/Serna continuum, however, he is not a manager or member in DEGREE.COM.

    My take on Arias: He has gotten into bed with the devil. And either he does not give a proverbial phuque, he does not know how to get out, or he still holds a naive hope that the school in which he has involved himself is legit.
     
  18. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member

    Probably not much experience. It's not part of the CSU mandate to award doctorates. Where they do so, it is usually in conjunction with a University of California campus (or campuses). Typically a CSU campus *might* award an Ed.D.


    Tom Nixon
     
  19. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    I must respectfully disagree with my distinguished colleague Tom here. While I'm sure Rich is a nice guy (not to mention a disinguished military hero, according to that prestigious journal AED News), the fact remains that, if Rich completes the doctoral process at MIGS, (1) he will still have an unaccredited doctorate, and (2) he will have a homegrown degree from a new institution and no significant experience as a doctoral advisor or faculty member, let alone a doctoral program administrator.

    There is no doubt that he has been successful as MIGS' primary apologist and sales representative (second in sales, I would imagine, only to the banner ads that have appeared to be MIGS' primary advertising venue). But, notwithstanding his enthusiasm and vested interest, he needs more experience under his belt to become a program administrator.

    Of course, if they were to hire him to run it, it would certainly be a feather in my cap. Therefore, if Rich desires it, I will be pleased to write a glowing recommendation letter to the MIGS Board of Trustees . . . [​IMG]
     
  20. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    While highly speculative (and, ultimately, futile), I think Tom was referring to having someone in an administrative role, handling day-to-day activities, not supervising academic programs. My background is well suited for such; I've been an assistant professor at two universities (one adjunct, one full-time), and been a manager of education and training activities in both the public and private sectors. But I doubt seriously I'll have any role with MIGS beyond graduation.

    Regarding the "unaccredited doctorate," you are wrong. You can disagree with CEU's recognition regarding its right to award the degree, but it exists.

    I don't recall anyone--including me--referring to my service as "heroic." I certainly never have. Of course, I wouldn't expect you to understand the difference between distinction and heroism, having experienced little of either. [​IMG]

    Rich Douglas
     

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