Anyone heard of "Florida Virtual College"?

I'd be interested in hearing if Virtual Education Services, Florida Virtual College or Florida Vedic College are known as legitimate institutions. The head of FVC is Andres Pastrana, Ph.D. and the primary accredidation for the Vedic college is from an organization called the National Private Schools Accreditation Alliance.

I've been offered an opportunity to teach some courses through their online system, and before I travel too far down the road with them I need to ascertain if I'm getting sucked into a 'degree mill' or whether all is copascetic.

Thanks!!

 

Andres Pastrana is/was the president of Colombia. Same person? Common name? Coincidence?

 

President of Columbia <i>what?</i> I don't understand your reference, John. Can you explicate, please? Thanks!!

 

Colombia. That big place in South America. Can't miss it on a map.

 

rude--how 'bout helping? a thought. And btw, he didn't ask where it was.

 

Dave Taylor asks, "President of Columbia <i>what?</i> I don't understand your reference, John. Can you explicate, please? Thanks!!

John Bear responds: I referred, not clearly enough, to the president of the Republic of Colombia. A Google* search reveals that the Columbian president is referred to as "Dr. Andres Pastrana." So the coincidence, if it is that, becomes even more coincidental.
__________
* Google = http://www.google.com, popular search engine

 

As you noted, Florida Vedic College is accredited by NPSAA (http://www.npsag.com/accreditation.html), which is not recognized by the DOE. Read it and draw you own conclusions. They accredit private schools (elementary on up) and teachers. I could find only a few references to NPSAA in a Google search...a couple of Hindu schools, a childcare facility, and a Christian college. I could find no list on the NPSAA site of accredited institutions. They make a big deal about their database of 130000 private schools, but I saw no claim about how many of them are accredited.

I'm not qualified to comment about the teaching of Florida Vedic College itself.

"Florida Virtual College" and "Virtual Education Services" have such generic terms that I could not find them among the bazillion hits. Perhaps you should give links. (I assume you're not talking about Florida Virtual Campus which is a directory of state universities and colleges with DL programs.)

 

Fasten your seatbelt, Dave, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

The Florida"]http://www.floridavediccollege.edu]Florida Vedic College (FVC)[/url] was founded in 1990 as the College Division of the Institute for Gaudiya Vaishnavism ( http://mahabuddhi.tripod.com/InstituteGV/index.html ). It was originally registered with the State of Florida, Division of Corporations, as a non-profit Religious Institution. The founder and President is Dr. Randy I. Stein who is also known as Mahabuddhi Dasa Adhikari, Bhakti-sastri. His doctorate is a D.Div., in Vaishnavism, earned in 1991, coincidentally, at Florida Vedic College. He also claims a M.A. in Hospital Administration from International University. His bio states that he was initiated in 1973 and awarded Brahman diksa by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya.

Florida Vedic College claims they were granted "Full Accreditation" by the National Private Schools Accreditation Alliance, and this quote from their Web site speaks for itself.

“It should be noted, that the Private Schools Accreditation Alliance, has developed a policy that does not impose any specific, pre-determined or rigid, fixed standards, to be come Accredited.”

This is not surprising, as their motto is, "We warmly welcome you as you are." As previously noted, only a handful of schools claim NPSAA accreditation, the majority of which are elementary schools and day care centers.
As Florida Vedic College operates under a religious exemption from licensure in Florida, by necessity all of the degrees offered are religious in nature. Therefore they claim to offer such unique degrees as a Bachelors Degree Program in Vedic Administration, with concentrations in Vedic E-Commerce, Vedic Small Business Management, Vedic Business Administration, and Vedic Business Communications. This in addition to the Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate programs in Vedic Astrology, designed for serious students of divination. Perhaps most disturbing, however, is the Doctorate Degree Ayurveda which teaches, “Psychotherapies are other useful treatments,” “minor surgery of the head organs,” and “Removal of piles and anal fistula.” All within the tenets of good Medical Astrology because “Major operations and therapies should be planned according to the horoscope of the patient,” and “Astrology can also be used as a diagnostic and prognostic tool.”
The faculty"]http://www.floridavediccollege.edu/art_faculty.htm]faculty list[/url] at Florida Vedic College boasts some impressive credentials. It would be wise, however to do some further checking as such lists can be frequently outdated or in error. It is interesting to note that two of the professors hold doctorates from Walden, and one of these also holds a MBA from Amber (now Amberton), institutions that have been much discussed in this forum. Dr. Andres Pastrana holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, and claims extensive academic administrative experience, mostly in Venezuela. He is listed as an adjunct professor at Florida Vedic College, but in reality he is much more than that.

Virtual Education Services, LLC is a limited liability corporation registered with the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations. Established in November of 2000, its principals are, An & Re Investments, LLC (whose principals are Andres and Reyna Pastrana), a Venezuelan corporation called Depnsu, C.A., and the Institute for Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Inc. (a non-profit corporation whose principal is the aforementioned Randy I. Stein). Recently, Florida Vedic College (which used to be a division of the non-profit Institute for Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Inc.) became a corporate part of Virtual Educational Services, LLC (a for profit corporation).

Dr. Pastrana is no stranger to educational ventures. In addition to Virtual Educational Services, and An & Re Investments, he is also listed as the registered agent or as a principal in the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporation database for the following corporations: Cuam Educational Foundation, Inc., Online Educational Group, LLC, American International High School, Inc. and PMF Associates, LLC. Florida Vedic College claims the new corporate structure will enable them to expand to have a full service (secular) University.
Florida Virtual College is not in the database of the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, nor did searches on several search engines yield any results. Perhaps this is the proposed name of the new secular venture.
In closing, let me just say this:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare.
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Gus Sainz, whose extensive collection of Vedic texts was acquired at no cost from the guys in the saffron robes while waiting for flights at the airport. I miss them!

 

For insight into the prevailing mindset at NPSAG, the statement on communications monitoring, located under BEWARE here should be read.

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Bill Gossett

 

Wow! With such sophisticated monitoring equipment, it makes one wonder if NPSAG can read one's mind.

Russell

 

You'd pretty much have to think so, Russell, otherwise how would they know if you harbored "...ill-intended" purposes through association with one of their "competitive" (sic) organizations?

------------------
Bill Gossett

 

Dear John,

Greetings!

This can easily be solved. We in Latin America use father's last name in addition to mother's last name. We refer to the mother's last name as second last name. In this vein, the full name of Andrés Pastrana, the President of Colombia, is Andrés Pastrana Arango. Thus, if the FVC president doesn't have the "second last name" of Arango, he is not the same person.

All the very best,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye, who has the "second last name" of Bermúdez.
[email protected]

 

As a point of fact.. he DID ask. And if he now knows the answer, it DID help.

 

Thanks for all the great information. As a point of fact, I do realize that Columbia is a country in South America! My question was because I felt that John B. was referring to a college called Columbia when he made his succinct posting earlier in this discussion.

Anyway, seems to me the alternative online teaching opportunities offered me at DeVry and U of Phoenix are less likely to become positions I'd want to hide from my future employers, somehow!

Thanks everyone!!

 

I

\

The name of the country is Colombia (not Columbia). It is spelt with an O not with a U.

Ike

 

Ike: "The name of the country is Colombia (not Columbia). "

Named, of course, for Cristobal Colon (and how did that happen?

 

Dear John,

I am glad that you are asking this question.

It is believed that Gen. Francisco de Miranda, a Spanish American who fought the British in Florida, was the man responsible for coining the name Colombia. He wanted to create a big nation comprising all Spanish American countries under the name of Colombia or Columbeia. This noble idea was shared and popularized by Gen. Simón Bolívar, another Spanish American who fought against the Spanish Europeans for the idependence of the north of South America. After Gen. Bolivar won the war of independece, the "Republic of Great Colombia" was created (composed of what is now Panamá, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador). Unfortunately, this union was unsuccessful, and the area known as "New Granada" became to know as "Republic of Colombia".

Needless to say, the breaking down of a unified continent of Spanish American nations (other confederations in Central America and south of South America were also unsuccessful) depressed Gen. Simón Bolívar and all people who believed in this noble cause. Towards the end of his life, Gen. Bolívar declared something like, "I finally came to admit that Spanish America cannot be governed by the good will of its people".

Kindest regards,


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

 

I believe it was the result of a prank by his good friend Americo Vespucci, who was still miffed that Chris changed his submission in the “Name That Continent” contest from Americo to America.

Gus Sainz

 

Florida Virtual College now doesn't seem to mention NPSAA. Claim to be "in the process of applying" for DETC accreditation