BAC ACCREDITATION

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Elbulk, May 16, 2018.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Is that at all like saying that a heart attack is better than cancer?
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Worst case, they're not helpful, but that doesn't mean they're harmful.
     
  3. mbwa shenzi

    mbwa shenzi Active Member

    I wouldn’t say that. BAC is a full member of ENQA, the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, ASIC, as far as I know, is an affiliate member. Unlike ASIC, BAC hasn’t created any affiliate organisations like ASIC’s so-called partner organisations QISAN and ASIQUAL. I don’t think either BAC or ASIC Accreditation is of any relevance outside the UK and when I saw that Charisma University had been accredited by BAC, I was a bit surprised, I admit that. But although I was sued by Dr Okpala, I don’t think Charisma is anything like for example the ASIC accredited Global Vision University, which to me looks like a reincarnation of Almeda University.
     
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Well, Charisma is based in Turks and Caicos, which is UK territory, so I can understand why they'd see value in being covered by UK imprimaturs.
     
  5. mbwa shenzi

    mbwa shenzi Active Member

    Turks and Caicos is a British overseas territory and as such, not part of the UK. But yes, you’re most likely right.
     
  6. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Can anyone point to ANY "recognized body" in the UK (any educational establishment empowered to award its own degrees) that receives its primary ongoing academic and institutional oversight (accreditation in the American sense) from the BAC? My understanding is that all of these must by law be overseen by the QAA.

    https://www.gov.uk/check-a-university-is-officially-recognised/recognised-bodies

    Apparently some of Britain's "listed bodies" (educational establishments that offer programs leading to the award of degrees by recognized bodies) do have BAC accreditation.

    https://www.gov.uk/check-a-university-is-officially-recognised/listed-bodies

    It isn't clear (to me anyway) what function the BAC accreditation is performing in those latter instances, since the university that actually awards the degree has primary responsibility for maintaining the soundness of its own 'validation' arrangements while in addition the QAA is supposed to oversee the awarding university's validation arrangements as part of its oversight of that university.

    I'm doubly unclear about why the BAC's recognition inside the UK (for whatever it is it does there) is supposed to be credible and convincing when the BAC is ostensibly providing the primary academic and institutional oversight (accreditation) for higher education establishments that award their own degrees outside the UK, a function that it apparently doesn't perform inside the UK.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2018
  7. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    or me
     
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Yeah, that's why I phrased it as I did. The relationship between the UK, its home countries, Crown dependencies, and OSTs is pretty complex.
     
  9. mbwa shenzi

    mbwa shenzi Active Member

    I think the answer is no, unless Charisma has been reaccredited by BAC recently.
     
  10. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    "Charisma University is accredited by the Turks and Caicos Islands Ministry of Education as a degree-granting institution for Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, and the Doctorate along with Certificate programs."

    I think this is sufficient. I'm far from being an expert and don't know what recognition this provides.
     
  11. mbwa shenzi

    mbwa shenzi Active Member

    It's been a while, but if memory serves me right, the T&C Ministry of Education would grant Charisma University a provisional license to run an online institution from Turks & Caicos on condition that Charisma was accredited by a legitimate agency. That's why Charisma, on the move from the Philippines, approached ASIC in the first place. The rest is, well not history, but a very long story.
     
  12. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    "Sufficient" how? "Sufficient" for what?

    I'm not an expert either, but my belief is that what 'accreditation' means in places like this is a license to legally operate. It doesn't neccessarily imply that academic or institutional standards expected elsewhere are being met. Let alone standards equivalent to what 'regional accreditation' requires in the United States. It's more about telling the operator of a school that he or she won't end up in trouble for operating it.

    I personally give the old-style California Approved schools more academic and educational credence than some of these local approvals/"accreditations".

    I don't really know what BAC "accreditation" is adding. Maybe a great deal. Maybe nothing.

    But I certainly don't automatically and reflexively perceive it as equivalent to what Americans understand by 'accreditation'. That's an argument that remains to be made.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2019
  13. mbwa shenzi

    mbwa shenzi Active Member

    BAC, clueless but honest. And Charisma is not BAC accredited any longer.
     
  14. Stephen Michael

    Stephen Michael New Member

    I want to make sure we are discussing the same Charisma University --> https://charisma.edu.eu/ located in
    Charisma University
    Queen’s Landing
    Units 8, 9, & 10
    Grace Bay, Providenciales
    Turks and Caicos Islands
    British West Indies

    Correct?
    Regarding their business school, they received ACBSP accreditation, including for their PhD in Business and Accounting programs.
    https://www.acbsp.org/members/?id=25667434
     
  15. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Actually, were were no longer discussing it until you necromanced this thread.

    Their ACBSP accreditation (provisional) says more about ACBSP than it does Charisma.
     
    heirophant likes this.
  16. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    [​IMG]
     
  17. Stephen Michael

    Stephen Michael New Member

    And yes, their business degrees are also ACBSP accredited and I would trust them. After all, they accredit just a few universities worldwide, so the programs must have validity and so must the university as it would be hard to pull the wool over their eyes. As an example
     
  18. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Sigh. Where to begin?

    You trust them? Fine. Go trust them. But it would be irresponsible to recommend that others carry that same trust. It would be interesting to know whether degrees issued by this school are evaluated as comparable to those from US schools before making any such recommendation.

    There is no particular reason to think ACBSP accreditation has any impact at all on the validity or usefulness of such degrees. They accredit business programs at more than 1,000 universities worldwide. But ACICS accredited hundreds of schools, too, and that didn't seem to go so well.

    I'm not criticizing the school--I never have, even though they sued me unsuccessfully. I didn't before the suit, either. But the owner objected when I opposed blanket, unsupported statements about it on this site, so he sued me. That didn't go well for him. Anti-SLAPP and all that.
     
  19. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    It's also hard to pull the wool over our eyes. It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that you registered at DI and then dug up this old thread just so that you could ask a question that you already knew the answer to simply so you could promote this school. Mission accomplished!
     
  20. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure why this sort of thing gets as much attention as it always seems to.

    BAC and ASIC don't accredit institutions in the U.S. sense. They have an incredibly limited role in the landscape of UK education. ASIC seems to capitalize on the foreign understanding of "accreditation" as schools like to slap it on their website to look more legit than they are. BAC seems to accredit, mainly, non-degree schools for the, again, limited role they play in foreign students coming to the UK to study. BAC accreditation is neutral. ASIC accreditation is neutral. It is neither good nor bad in the context of accreditation because they don't do what we think of "accreditors" as doing.

    I have never seen an employer prefer or require ACBSP accreditation for a business degree. ACBSP is a second tier business accreditor. Now, if this school was AACSB? You've got my attention. Unless I'm mistaken, didn't ACBSP also accredit one of the Swiss schools with Canton approval but no institutional accreditation?

    As Rich says, this says more about ACBSP than Charisma.

    Lastly, seriously, even if this school had bulletproof accreditation I cannot imagine putting the name "Charisma University" on my resume with a straight face.
     

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