SDUIS

Anyone know about the San Diego University for Integrative Studies. I am interested in their psychology programs. Is this an acceptable school?


John

 

I've never heard of it, but it certainly looks interesting.
http://www.sduis.edu/

They are not regionally accredited, nor are they listed as being a candidate.
http://www.wascweb.org/senior/list.html

However they do appear to be California approved and to qualify students for our MFT licensing exams.
http://www.bbs.ca.gov/MFCSCHL2.HTM

My non-expert opinion is that this might be of some interest to residents of California, particularly those who practice Tibetan Buddhism. There may actually be a demand for Buddhist counselors in CA, given the rapid growth of Buddhism here.

But if you live outside California, chances are that this kind of non-accredited state-approved degree won't qualify you for a psychological or counseling license in your state, nor is it likely to qualify you for membership in the APA.

 

Bill,

Thank you for your response. I was wondering about acceptance outside of California. I am very interested in finding a distance program in Buddhist studies or Buddhist Psychology, but I am having a difficult time finding one. If anyone has any suggestions I would be most appreciative.


John Piquet

 

The Buddhist organization to which my wife belongs, Rigpa, offers a basic distance learning course, based on the "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by Sogyal Rinpoche. No degrees -- just a detailed, well-prepared 3 or 4 month home study course, very interactive with experienced teachers. Probably findable on www.rigpa.org or from its organizer, Bernie Schreck at [email protected]

John Bear

 

FWIW, I served on a doctoral committee at The Union Institute a few years back for a learner who was majoring in psychology with a heavy dose of Buddhist studies. He had done his master's at the California Institute for Integral Studies, did his doctoral dissertation in the area of empathy, as I recall, and he was able to sit for the psych boards in Pennsylvania. Union has several core faculty who are adept in Buddhist studies, mostly on the east coast.

- S.
(Disclosure: My own Ph.D. is also from Union.)

 

I AM looking for a degree based program. I guess it is possible that certain schools may have a concentration in Buddhist Studies, but they seem to be few and far between.

 

John --

If you're looking for a master's in Buddhist studies, you might consider boldly going where no one has gone before(tm) and checking out Bukkyo University, which:

(a) Offers a correspondence-based M.A. in Buddhist studies (with four concentratons) to folks with a Japanese address (a convenience or forwarding address might be enough), and

(b) Seems to be working on putting some of its courses online for worldwide delivery.

Good luck!


Peace,

------------------

Tom Head
co-author, Get Your IT Degree and Get Ahead (Osborne/McGraw-Hill)

 

SDUIS is apparently in the process of applying for regional accreditation: http://www.sduis.edu/about.html (at the bottom). Does anybody have any information about this? Chances of eventually really receiving accreditation?

 

Their website says that their graduates are able to practice psychology with few limitations in the areas of counseling, consulting, and education. Believe they're talking about in Cali, so check your own state licensure laws, if you don't want to practice in Cali.

 

Naropa University www.naropa.edu
University of Sunderland www.sunderland.ac.uk

 

I've looked into SDUIS because they have what appears to be an excellent MA MFT program and their tuition is excellent. What I've had to do it get with the Behavioral Health board in my state to find out if the requirements match, in Arizona at this time they do appear to match. You'll need to check the the BBH in your state to be certain. I went to a school that was not accredited for my undergrad and have run into no significant issues in my life, however, they received accreditation after I left. I'm going to visit SDUIS sometime over the next two months and will post what I find here.

 

Though they are currently looking at WASC, but none has been process yet. Looking at the program fees, it's too expensive for a non-accredited, only State Approval university to charge that kind of fees. Any DETC accredited University will win them anytime in term of price and accreditation even though SDUIS is looking at RA accreditation. But at least at this moment, they are not accredited.

 

Another ancient thread, resurrected from the grave.

I might as well use this opportunity to post my current opinion of SDUIS, since it's grown considerably more skeptical over the years.

SDUIS certainly isn't getting much notice. A Google search for "san diego university of integrative studies" only generated 34 hits. There's virtually nothing visible of a scholarly or academic nature (only two .edu hits, one of those the SDUIS website).

A search on Google Scholar only turned up one hit for the school, something from South Africa about sports psychology.

Regarding the original question about Tibetan Buddhist psychology, I've never met a Buddhist here in California who's ever heard of SDUIS. Despite ostensibly offering a Ph.D. in the subject, SDUIS has basically zero profile in academic Buddhist studies.

Restricting the SDUIS Google search to pages containing the words 'buddhist', 'buddhism' or 'tibetan' only turned up six hits. That's not the signature of a real doctoral program. Not only is SDUIS seemingly ignored by academics, it hasn't received any comment on Buddhist websites either.

Regarding SDUIS and WASC accreditation, I really doubt it. I don't recall ever seeing their name on WASC's site visit schedule and they just don't show the signs of an accreditable school.

 

If your desire is to earn a license in marriage and family therapy, a regionally accredited masters degree or higher is required by the state of Arizona. Regardless of course matching, SDUIS does not meet educational requirements for licensure. Also tuition at SDUIS is expensive for an unaccredited school. "The MA programs range from $20,985 to $22,425 and the maximum cost for our doctoral programs would be $24,585. Our certificate programs are available at a maximum cost of $9,600."

According to NCU, Tuition for a masters degree in psychology with an MFT specialization is currently $22,050. NCU is regionally accredited and based in Arizona.

http://www.ncu.edu/why_ncu/compare_masters_costs.aspx

http://www.ncu.edu/academics/psychology_courses/mapsy_mft.aspx?degree_program_code=MAPSY&dp_version_id=8&dpro_section_main_id=170

http://www.bbhe.state.az.us/prelim%20require/reqmft.pdf

http://aztec.asu.edu/azamft/studentfaqs.html

 

Not correct

I've emailed and thoroughly researched the requirements of the Arizona Behavioral board of health requirements for an MFT and it states clearly that an equivalent though non accredited program is acceptable. I'm not here to say that SDUIS is some great school, it may turn out to be terrible, but to say that accreditation isn't everything necessarily.

 

If you open the document and look at B you will see that if it is determined to be equivalent....I've contacted the BBHE and they have confirmed this statement. Funny thing is that the COAMFTE has very few schools that they endorse and non of which exist in Arizona.

 

Do you have a web link to a document that states that a non accredited program is acceptable?

 

I have an email from the Arizona BBHE, but they are the ones who decide which degree is acceptable so any school that doesn't meet COAMFTE's approval I guess is subject for questioning. Letter B states that if it isn't regionally accredited it must meet the COAMFTE standards. That sounds like a non-accredited school is acceptable if it is deemed by them acceptable. Not sure what you are looking for here?

 

If you can earn licensure with a degree from an unaccredited school, more power to you.

http://www.aamft.org/cgi-shl/twserver.exe?run:COALIST

 

Licensure

According to that document you can earn licensure with a degree from an unaccredited school and it looks as though it is possible in the state of California as well.