California American University Reputation ?

What is the current reputation of California American Univeristy ?

"CAU" is currently California-authorized - but not RA-accredited. I know of one person who says to got an MSc degree in Business at CAU in the 1980s when (he claims) CAU was accredited and highly reputable, and "before it was sold and moved".

Bear's Guide states CAU was founded in 1994. Is this the same school as the 80s version ? Was this school ever accredited - and by whom ?

I notice most of CAU's officers appear to be Chinese, though the main campus in in Alhamba, and there is apparently a Beijing campus. What could this mean ?

 

Elaboration

An elaboration...

There is a professor in a local school who is claiming an MS from "California American University", and a PhD from "University of Bradford". This raises flags - though apparently not with the school's administation - firstly because there is a diploma mill by the name of "Bradford Univerity" (not to be confused with the legitimate "University of Bradford") - and secondly because California American University is non-accredited. "CAU" has a murky past - being described in Bear's 13th Ed as being more or less defunct (mail sent to the school's address being returned undeliverable). But in Bear's 16th, CAU is listed as a legitimate - unaccredited but California-approved - school with a 1994 Founding Date. When I contacted CAU, the registrar's office could not verify the professor's degree because their records only went back to 1994. One story is that the new owners took over CAU in 1994 and kept the name but not the records legacy.

Can anyone supply more information about both the "old" CAU" and the "new "CAU" ? Are they in fact the same ? Is it odd that most of the new officers of CAU appears to be Chinese ? Was this a reputable school in its old configuration ? What is the reputation of the "new" CAU ?

This professor has another interesting aspect to his webpage: While on one school webpage he lists his Master's in full as being from "California American Univerisity", on another page the Master's is listed as simply being from "California". This appears to me to invite the casual reader to think the degree is from the "University of California" rather than the less-than-wonderful... "California American University". Does this strike anyone as a bit devious ?

 

The California American University used to be "Ivy University". a state approved school offering BBA/MBA. My experience as an adjunct at Ivy was fair/reasonable in terms of academic rigorous.

 

Futility ?

Another amazing coincidence:

There is a second professor in a university just a few miles away from the first who also has the same sequence of degrees:
MSc (California American University)
PhD (Bradford University)
In his case, the profile actually says "Bradford University" - like the degree mill, rather than "University of Bradford" like the legitimate university.

Readers might be interested to hear the response I got from the Heads of Department of the two schools of Business:

Dean 1 wrote: "[we] believe there are no serious issues here. We will clarify the web page. The case is now closed."
ie they will change the prof's profile from "MSc-California", to "MSc-California America University", but otherwise no foul...

Dean 2 wrote: "It is my understanding that the California American University is an approved university within the California system, and that it had the distinction of having a significant number of leaders in the behavioural science field..."
In short, clueless.

 

Head in Sand

Here's how my notification to the school was ultimately answered:

Dear [Mr. K]:
I am in receipt of your email. You have indicated your opinion
on Professor [X's] academic credentials. The University of [G]
has satisfied itself as to the acceptability of Professor [X's]
qualifications and does not wish to receive any further correspondence
from you on this matter. If you wish to raise issues with respect to the rigour
of the academic program at California American University or [Bradford
University], I would suggest you direct your concerns to the specific institution.

Director, School of [H], University of [G]

 

In the UK, people can switch around the name easily without problem. So University of Cambridge could be Cambridge University etc..

IT seem you have more concerns about the professors than the school themselves. If they were that bad, they would have been know by now or the answer would have been different.

 

Well, What I really meant was to get the facts first. Are you really going to contact a newspaper before knowing the truth?

 

Well, I am not into defending fraudulent credentials. Why owuld someone mention a school thats questionable on an academic website?

Its very possible its the real University, thats where I am coming from.

 

A few days ago, the "Bradford University" listing was changed to "University of Bradford". I believe this was done merely on the say-so of the Professor, because I actually tried to verify the "University of Bradford" degree and found out verification would require the degree holder's permission and would take several days.

It turns out there are two completely different "California American University". One is the state-approved CAU mentioned by Paul which was previously Ivy University, and apparently teaches courses in English and Chinese. But there was another, prior CAU, which was "authorized" by California (not "Approved"), in an era when "Authorization" was mostly a matter of asserting $50,000 in assets. Bear reports that the Master's degree of this original CAU consisted of a five week summer sesssion and some tutorials. This original school was the source of the Master's used by these two professors. The original CAU is defunct. Apparently, "Ivy University" felt it needed a more American-sounding name to appeal to Chinese students, so it bought or appropriated the name of the defunct school - but not its legacy or records (which are apparently lost). What's interesting is how the two professors spin the situation:

Professor #1 claimed the original CAU was legitimate and renowned, and that the name was bought by the scoundrels in CAU #2. He was outraged that I would try to link his school with the worthless CAU #2. He's also threatened to sue me. (His Dean has revealed me as the complainer).

Professor #2 took exactly the opposite tack. He didn't mention that CAU #1 was defunct. He simply told his Dean that CAU was Approved, respectable and still in business... The Dean bought this story without checking (also after revealing my name). When I pointed out the difference between the two schools, she wrote the "don't bug us anymore" e-mail reply.

In short, everyone is stonewalling and/or lying.

 

I've done Google searches for some common diploma mills and unaccredited univerisities, and I've found dozens of examples of such degrees listed on academic faculty profile webpages. There is one Professor of Medicine at University of Manitoba School of Medicine whose three degrees are all from "Columbia Pacific University".

The reason bogus degrees are listed is because more degrees means higher salary. This is especially true in community colleges. I think what's happened, in part, is that internet searches have exposed a lot of degree listings that were meant to be private. Some faculty member put in a request for his "Chadwick University" PhD to be acknowleged for a pay increase ten years ago, and it is now public knowledge due to easily accessible websites...

Time bombs in resumes...