Global Academy Online Inc????

So, I just got this email from the Dean of Students at Ellis College of New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) :

Has anyone ever heard of Global Academy Online? A quick Google search brought me to http://www.globalacademyonline.com/index2.html

There, they claim that they are "the first, largest, and oldest.online [sic] program rating service." They offer their book for a free download and it just looks soooo hokey. They also tout their courses for universities to purchase and use as a turn-key degree program - a definite conflict of interest.

But back to my question - has anyone heard of these folks and are they indeed reputable?

 

A bunch of marketing crap. It is surprising to me that universities use these goofy tactics. The Financial Times ranking they are referring to is ranked by number of enrollments. Not by quality, employment stats, and other typical ranking criteria.

Never heard of the Global Academy Online. I like their "New University in a Box" program!

According to this article, "The book examines the online programs using a five point rating system that weighs heavily on the quality and experience of each institution's faculty." Notice University of Phoenix is "ranked" 3rd and Stanford 10th. Clearly UoP has faculty far superior to Stanford

Interesting that there is a connection with this "tuition-free university", diUlus Institute and University. For some reason I am having a hard time finding the school's accreditation.

 

I like this article about this sham "Unwanted Export".

It even quotes the great Dr. Bear:

"One detractor — whom DiUlus says he admires — is John Bear, a distance education expert who has aided in governmental diploma mill investigations. Bear is wary of several aspects of the DiUlus Institute and University. He believes that the developers have purposely used a Washington, D.C., address on their Web site, in order to try to garner credibility from international students who will not know that the university has no real presence there. “It’s common for schools that I regard as fake to want the most prestigious address available,” says Bear.

Bear also asks why a legitimate operation based in the U.S. would need to use a Web address with an edu.tf extension. “These people are registered in Antarctica,” says Bear. “It’s uninhabited except for a few researchers at any given time.”

“That kind of threw me when Seborga issued that [Web address],” says DiUlus. “I thought, ‘What in the world?’ ” He says he’s not concerned that people would be suspicious of the address, and he notes that the university also owns the DeUlis.org Web domain. “You cannot get a.edu unless you are approved by the Department of Education,” he adds."

Congratulations Ellis!

 

I'll second that - I didn't have a chance to look at the FT site so thanks for doing the legwork.

Hopefully I'll get some great news about transferring out of there very very very soon and, if I'm really lucky, the whole finanical aid mess they created for me will also clear up quickly.