Trinity Graduate School of Apologetics and Theology

I was wondering if anyone had experience with TGSAT? They are located in India and at one time claimed accreditation from ICAATS (which was meaningless as most Indian seminaries are unaccredited due to religious exemption and this entity had no real official standing). Trinity

From what had been posted elsewhere they seemed to require a lot of writing and had a process in place for outside thesis/dissertation reviewers, etc. Judging by their discussion board there have been a fair number of people frustrated at one time or another with slow or non existent communication.

They do not charge tuition but some small registration fees (which I can no longer find on the site).

Has anyone here actually taken classes, dealt with them, etc? Does anyone know of someone getting into an accredited school based on a degree from them or a faculty position at an accredited school based on a doctorate from TGSAT? What about the quality of the free texts and other materials?

 

In case anyone is interested, here is the ICAATE site. ICAATE, International Council For Accrediting Alternate and Theological Education

As far as I can tell it is basically a recognized NGO that is registered to do what it does but without any meaning in terms of the government. In other words, it is not like a recognized accreditor of religious programs in the US, since my understanding is the Indian government decided it does not regulate religious programs.

I suspect this is why at one time the Indian version of Trinity (domestic) offered religious degrees including DBS, ThD but no PhD. On the other hand, their version for foreign students offered a PhD. My guess is that they could not award the PhD. Now, Trinity no longer offers a PhD.

I am curious if anyone reading this board can comment on the school because they took classes or they are from India and have a better idea of what standing (if any) the school has. What is the quality of instruction and materials? Some of the free courses (admittedly NOT college credit) do not appear to be impressive. They are not masterful pieces of academic writing. I wonder what texts they use since those are not on the site.

 

You seem to be asking a question and then answering it yourself. What is it that you really want to know? This is not a school recognized by any entity on the planet. Might some of the courses be interesting? Maybe. Might they have value in terms of college credit? No. Might a degree from this entity have value in the real world? No. At least not with anyone who bothers to check. If it's free what harm could occur? Possibly none, as long as you don't expect others to take it seriously.

 

Thank you. I realize there are issues with it. As I noted above, I was wondering if anyone here has taken courses and can comment on textual material and so on. In addition, if anyone is from India, how do these exempt Indian institutions get viewed in terms of their academic output (jobs, admission to other schools, are doctoral graduates allowed to use the title "Dr." in India).

 

So you realize that you're essentially buying a piece of paper from a degree mill but you want to know if the authorities in India are sufficiently aware that you might still be able to use it somehow? Is that it?

 

Huh.....? That is not what I said or implied. I imagine English is not your first language so I do not take offense. I just had questions clearly noted above: As I noted above, I was wondering if anyone here has taken courses and can comment on textual material and so on. In addition, if anyone is from India, how do these exempt Indian institutions get viewed in terms of their academic output (jobs, admission to other schools, are doctoral graduates allowed to use the title "Dr." in India). Just pure intellectual curiosity. I have no intention of signing up.

PS Sorry about the repeat of the word offense. It shows up twice but not when I try to edit so I cannot seem to delete it.

 

I'm sure that we all understood that you'd never show any interest in a scam degree. I'll make a note of it for future reference.

 

Thank you.

 

not a degree mill

My husband is an Indian and we both studying in the college.
Before joining, we need to submit our testimony and our church name.
After joining, the college staff will send you some e-course book and you download it from the net. I feel very shocked that their material are very useful and sufficient
enought to equip you as a preacher of gospel. What we look now is the content,not only whether we could find a job or not.

I have joined for two years already, last year, becuase I lost my job and I feel very flustrated due to economic crises, at that moment, I asked some question to the school mentor, and they reply me quickly.

I tell you all that their course work are very tough and difficult, if you are not prepare to preach gospel in developing countries especially to the places where only few christian, please think before you submit any application.

thank you.

 

My husband is an Indian and we both studying in the college.
Before joining, we need to submit our testimony and our church name.
After joining, the college staff will send you some e-course book and you download it from the net. I feel very shocked that their material are very useful and sufficient
enought to equip you as a preacher of gospel. What we look now is the content,not only whether we could find a job or not.

I have joined for two years already, last year, becuase I lost my job and I feel very flustrated due to economic crises, at that moment, I asked some question to the school mentor, and they reply me quickly.

I tell you all that their course work are very tough and difficult, if you are not prepare to preach gospel in developing countries especially to the places where only few christian, please think before you submit any application.

thank you.

 

Regardless of all that, it's still unaccredited/unrecognized by anyone anywhere.

 

Respect to the Past post and clarity on accreditation

With respect to the past post, "Kizmet
Regardless of all that, it's still unaccredited/unrecognized by anyone anywhere."

Many smaller, religions Christian institutes are unaccredited/unrecognized by many governments. This is due to many of their laws, like in India and the USA. that Don't require them to fall under a religious group or that government has no official religious accreditation. Even in the USA there are multiple Christian Colleges that are unaccredited. But once you have the degree and you show the school you wish to attend your transcripts, they generally accept the degree. There are many levels of accreditation also. Local, regional, national, international, many of them have different policies. I myself attend a unaccredited college in New York City that was own by a major Christian Org. When I left, I got my transcript. The courses were accepted by a large University (Baylor University, Texas)

To add after reading through the posts. I did some research and found that other larger universities have accepted the degrees, even the Doctorate level degrees as acceptable for being professors.

The institute says it is accredited by ICAATS and many information websites express that it is an NGO for the purposes for accrediting Theological Schools. They provided enough information. Many Accreditors require the schools to have Libraries or resource center with a physical presence on campus, this would be an issue for many Distance learning schools.

We must remember that the secular world as a whole can't regulate Religious Degrees. Universities for thousands of years weren't accredited and was accepted by the church, institutes, and education.

 

The School is being accepted by many Churches in South East Asia as an acceptable school. It is being recognized as a valid school.

 

In India, any institution not approved by UGC / AICTE is considered non-accredited - period.

If somebody graduated from such college, and was accepted somewhere, then it's just by chance, and is an exception - not the rule.

 

OK, so go spend your money on some unaccredited degree program if you think it will work for you. I'm just saying that it's unaccredited and that most people on the planet who pay attention to such things will not consider it to be a good degree.

Oh yeah, and by the way, the secular world DOES regulate the vast majority of religious degree programs.

Also, a long time ago people thought the sun revolved around the earth too. Join us in the 21st century.

 

Just change the title of this thread to state: (Non-Accredited or Mill) and let the sudden onslaught of newbie posters go at each other.

Alternatively you could get cute and label it: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of mill, I fear no rigor."

IT

 

It seems that the issue of accreditation is always the focus of discussions on this and other boards. I honestly think it depends on what you plan to use your degree for. If you want the structure of a degree program without the exorbitant costs of a tradition bible college or seminary, there's nothing wrong with attending an unaccredited school, tuition-free or otherwise. However, you need to understand the limited utility of such a degree. On the other hand, It's probably not a good idea to start calling yourself "doctor" unless your denomination or church organization recognizes the school. Even then, it is better to use the programs for personal enrichment and not for academic credentials.

 

Trinity School is fully accredited by ICAATS [International Council for Accrediting Alternate and Theological Studies] which is a government-recognized private Christian agency. – See also this link for comments from somebody who has studied with and speaks very highly of Trinity Graduate School of Apologetics and Theology.

https://drmusekiwa.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/trinity-graduate-school-of-apologetics-and-theology/

 

See also this link regarding the accreditation of Trinity Graduate School of Apologetics and Theology.

http://calvinschool.info/us-accreditation/

 

The "accreditation" that this school enjoys is essentially meaningless. As I said before, if you want to throw your money away by buying a piece of paper then fine, go ahead. But don't expect anyone who knows anything about it to give it any respect.