Is the CEU a Diploma Mill?

When I began reading the threads about March, 2001 I saw a few people recommend Migs/CEU if the CEU is the Degree Grantor. To my disgust I now see that the Oregon List has them listed and I cannot get clarification from the administrator at the school...I have already paid them $600.00 and have started working. I have been away from this forum for a while and it seems funny what a few months can change!!

 

Your question was, "Is the CEU a diploma mill?" The CEU is most certainly not. It is Mexican university that has all of the required authorization to operate within Mexico.

Now, if the question is whether MIGS (or whatever they're calling themselves these days) is a diploma mill...


Tom Nixon

 

As Tom notes, the CEU is a properly established Mexican university. Before MIGS came along, the CEU's core business was as a senior high school and college. The campus-based CEU offers several bachelor's degrees and one master's.

With the advent of MIGS, the CEU began offering other master's and also doctoral degrees, but only through MIGS.

MIGS operates from Florida where it does not have legal authority to do so.

It appears the CEU has the legal authority to add programs. Presumably, this would include those offered through MIGS. Sooo....it appears that a degree program offered via MIGS would result in a degree issued by the CEU. Also, CEU and MIGS officials have stated that degrees issued by the CEU/MIGS will be approved by the Nuevo Leon Secretary of Education who, presumably, will issue the official credentials for the degree.

It is not known how well received degrees earned in this fashion will be. On the one hand, graduates may hold actual, real degrees from a recognized foreign university. (A school from a national system whose degrees are commonly accepted as comparable to our own.) But there is great evidence to suggest that it is the determination of a foreign credentials evaluation agency who's judgment may hold the most weight. I've not heard of anyone who's had their MIGS-earned CEU degrees so evaluated.

The Oregon list is not relevant. The ODA has been unable to determine the sufficiency of the relationship between MIGS and the CEU. It certainly has not determined that CEU degrees are not valid in Oregon. (Only those earned through MIGS--but how can they tell which are which?)

There are many questions, and MIGS has done little to answer them (and the CEU even less). Having worked with them for a year, I came away with no greater insight. I decided that dealing with MIGS, plus the uncertainty about whether or not it would result in a properly-issued and acceptable degree from the CEU, wasn't worth it.

I've been enrolled in other accredited, nontraditional programs (Regents, National, Union), and have never questioned their legitimacy, nor the validity of their outcomes (degrees).

Note: I've referred to them as "MIGS" throughout, and will continue to do so for clarity. They can call themselves anything they wish, but the people and systems that made up MIGS remain very much in place. "A rose by any other name...." and all that.

Rich Douglas

 

I would like to share with you some “insider” information about the CEU and the Mexican ministry of education (SEP).
First of all, the CEU in Monterrey, is nothing close to a prestigious college.
As you said, the CEU might not be a degree mill but it is still a cheap college, without quality programs and very bad reputation.

The only respected institutions in Monterrey are the ITESM (SACS accredited) and the UDEM (SACS candidate for accreditation).
And, please, if you want to know whether an institution is good or not, the last place to look for reliable information is the Mexican Ministry of Education (SEP, actually it's a Secretariat not a Ministry).

It's not a secret that the SEP has always been led by a bunch of corrupt bureaucrats.
The requirements for obtaining "official recognition" are a joke.
In case you wanted to start your own MIGS-like operation, I'll tell you what you'd need to open a university and obtain official recognition in Mexico:
1.- Lease contract or ownership title of the property where the university is located.
2.- Name and description of the courses that are being taught at the university.
3.- Name, c.v. and credentials of the teachers.
And if you don't want any delays, make the SEP's janitor happy with a $5,000 bribe and you'll get your university "officially recognized" in less than 3 months.

Believe me, I've been in the business for long enough to know how this things work.

By the way, I would like to start my own "officially recognized" University in Mexico, and I'm looking for people interested in supporting my noble cause.
If anybody wants to help, please contact me.

Au revoir
Rod Dahs

 

Dear Rod,

Greetings!

Yes, most people here know that CEU is not a highly reputable institution as it is the case with most "centros" in Mexico or in Latin America in general. Still, CEU is perfectly operating within a legal framework there (in the sense that I know of other universities in the region that are not even "recognized").

On a related note, I still don't understand why the MIGS people want to get involved with the SEP. As noted before on this board, the SEP deals with "public instutions" only. CEU, as a "private institution", belongs to the domain of ANUIES.

Best regards,


Karlos Alberto "El Mr. Caballero" Lacaye
[email protected]