where next? So where will the Saint Regis group go next? Dominica -> Liberia -> India (with side trips to Pakistan, at least based on the domain names for a few sites...) Perhaps the Ascension Islands? There is a certain love of the .ac domain that we see. G
I thought that the Indian opinion article was rather ambiguous and difficult to comprehend. It isn't really clear what their subject is. They start out talking about foreign investment in Indian "universities". "It is reported that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board is not going to approve any more applications by foreign universities to set up affiliates in India, until the norms for such approval are reviewed by the human resource development ministry. It is also reported that the ministry wants to impose restrictions on the entry of foreign universities. The present policy allows 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector. Is this good or bad?" They make some charges about quality: "It is true that there have been complaints over the last six or seven years that many of these foreign universities are "farji" (not quite fake but being so close to it as to not matter)." Then they make this rather opaque statement. "For one, it is not clear whether the government is objecting to the price or the quality. If it is the latter, it has no case because degrees awarded by the majority of Indian universities are not worth the paper they are printed on." Are they suggesting that becuase they don't like the standards at Indian universities, foreign-owned degree mills should be allowed to operate from Indian addresses? Or are they really talking about the local validated affiliates of foreign universities, arguing that it's ridiculous for the government to blame them for the low standards problem when so many local schools of the Chattisgarh sort (many of these must be Indian owned) seem to be seriously substandard as well? The latter seems to be the authors' intention: "In any case, if the government has objections, it should state all the reasons, if only to enable a proper comparison between the quality being offered by the foreign affiliates and Indian universities.... Ultimately, the only thing the government should be concerned about is the bona fides of the foreign university." So my impression is that the authors are arguing that if the Indian government wants to control "farji" universities, they should enforce standards, not restrict foreign investment. If my exegesis is correct, I agree with them.
Re: where next? For what it's worth, St. Regis has no relationship with Dominica, other than maybe having been incorporated there (something that would be impossible to determine and is meaningless in any event.) I see at http://saintregis.edu.lr/accreditation.htm that it says: St. Regis University Dominica is not accredited by Dominica's Minister of Education as The Commonwealth of Dominica presently has no process for accreditation of distance programs, However, St. Regis University Dominica is in full compliance with all laws and is fully authorized to grant university degrees. The only two recognized degree granting institutions on Dominica are the Dominica State College and Ross University's Medical School. I don't believe there have ever been any others. It's true that Dominica doesn't yet have a tertiary accreditation process, but it's hopelessly false that St. Regis is authorized by Dominica in any fashion to grant degrees. I don't believe the government of Dominica is aware of this claims, but since St. Regis has no problem with bald face lies I'm unsure what's to be done about it. -=Steve=-
