What's the opinion on Berne U.? They are listed on the US DoE's Office of Post Secondary's Website, and are authorized to accept Federal Financial Aid. The are Liscened in NH and Are granted the authority by the Isalnd of St. Kitts to award Degrees. They have a campus where you can do a residency. Sounds pretty inticing for a non-tradional and non RA U. Thoughts?
Berne U is a bad choice. Their degrees would not likely be recognized in any academic situation. From the 14th edition of Bear's Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, it says that PhD's are typically granted after one to two years of part time study. This is a ridiculously low amount of study for a Ph.D.
You say '...licensed in NH...' Licensed as what exactly? Can you tell us, and how you know - what is the exact wording?
Licensed in New Hampshire? I don't find them here: http://www.state.nh.us/educate/college.html Or here: http://www.state.nh.us/postsecondary/directory.html Or here: http://www.state.nh.us/postsecondary/directoryprop.html Or here: http://www.state.nh.us/postsecondary/degdga.pdf Funny, I don't even find it here: http://www.berne.edu/ Please provide some documentation that shows Berne is licensed by New Hampshire. I'm not saying it isn't true; I just can't find it.
Bill Huffman correctly questions the acceptability of a short doctoral program. One argument advanced by Berne supporters has related to the value of the intensive one-month residential period on the island of St. Kitts. It is true that a great deal can be done in 30 intensive residential days; Capella and Union, for instance, have comparable models. However, earlier this year, when two prospective students wrote to Berne saying they were unable to fly, Berne immediately (and in writing) waived the residential requirement, subject to a note from a doctor. As Jack Benny used to say, "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." (Qualifying to accept federal aid certainly is a positive factor for Berne. My assumption is that the aid covers only that percentage of the time that one is in residency on St. Kitts, presumably thus 30/365ths to 30/730ths of the tuition -- or less for those for whom residency is waived. It would be great to hear from Berne itself, or a student or graduate, to clarify, correct, or confirm this assumption.)
I consider your posting quite timely, as it was only yesterday that I received my course-by-course evaluation report (PhD, Berne University) from an agency that is a member of both NACES and AACRAO. I can assure you that I am aware of three agencies (NACES-member) that have evaluated Berne U degrees as equivalent to doctoral degrees from regionally accredited institutions. I am based in NY and teach at an established 4-year college (which required listing in the International Handbook of Universities before appointment). I recently saw an advertised NY civil service position and upon inquiry was directed to the following link, the reason I sought evaluation of my degree. http://www.cs.state.ny.us/announ/mainpages/degrees.htm I graduated from Berne University in 1999 (1995-1999) from the College of Health Services (with concentration in Epidemiology). The evaluation report (2 sections) reads as follows: SUMMARY OF EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Mr. ------------ attended Berne University, International Graduate School, College of Health Services, St. Kitts, West Indies, 1995-1999. He was awarded in July 1999 the “Doctor of Philosophy” in Public Health – Epidemiology, which is equivalent to a U.S. Doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in the same discipline, from a regionally accredited university. The second section details all the courses with US credit equivalence, and concludes with the following: Recommended Class Level: Graduate Grand total semester hours: 60 As advised by many schools and organizations, it is important to find an evaluation agency whose personnel are familiar with the system of education (country/region from which you graduated). Finally, Berne University is listed/detailed in all the major directories (including the World Higher Education Database – CD ROM) used by NACES and AACRAO. Feel free to contact me directly for further information ([email protected]). R. Alim
Whatever happened to Berne University's founder and former rector, Dale L. Berne? There used to be a welcome from him (with his photo) on the website; sometime between October and December 2000, it disappeared and there was a new list of administration and faculty that didn't include Berne.
The way to go Berne! I am glad to hear that Berne is getting the recognition it deserves and is now sanctioned by reputable accreditors. The school had a good reputation, and requires a residency. Many have panned it as a DM. However, it is acceptance is the business/work community that matters, Berne is achiveing that. Perhaps, I'll pursue my EMBA there.
Re: The way to go Berne! What recognition? Bernegrad has yet to post the names of the foreign credential evaluators. Without that this is not at all useful information especially since previous experience says this was not the case. If he has new info then that would be highly helpful to Berne grads and to the university itself. If he doesn't post it then the info becomes somewhat suspect. North
And Berne University no longer posts any info -- not even the name -- of its former rector and founder, Dale L. Berne. Are they ashamed of him? Was there a hostile takeover followed by a purging of his name?
Kristin: "And Berne University no longer posts any info -- not even the name -- of its former rector and founder, Dale L. Berne. Are they ashamed of him?" Well they don't mention the names of the five bad or fake accrediting agencies they used to claim accreditation from, over the years, either. Maybe they really have gone straighter. Hey, if Doctor Berne is really no longer involved, I must have another look at the non-disclosure statement my then-employer Pearson had me sign, in the matter of B(mmmf-sqkk-gflmmmp-blattt -- transmission ends
"Gone straighter!" LOL. This has GOT to go into the lexicon. It describes sooooo many schools that have slightly cleaned up their acts. From dropping unrecognized accreditation to actually requiring academic work, several "less-than-wonderfuls" have certainly gone straighter. Still, there is so much more to do....
BERNE FROM BERNE UNIVERSITY Accreditation The Ministry of Education of the Federation Government of St. Kitts & Nevis Recognition & Approvals UNESCO, (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) The International Association of Universities (IAU). U.S. Department of Education (approved) as an eligible institution to participate in the Federal Family Education Loan programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act United States Distance Learning Association United States Veteran’s Administration UNESCO, founded in 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations, currently has in excess of 230 recognized member states in the world. It is the world organization that establishes standards in the preparation and adoption of international instruments and statutory recommendations. The United States of America is a member state of UNESCO and endorses its policies and recognizes its accredited member institutions such as Berne University.
Re: BERNE All of that sounds good but for reasons discussed to death here it means not much in terms of getting the degree accepted in the US because of the issue with the accreditation process (??) on St. Kitts & the UWI. If you need the degree evaluated by a foreign credential evaluator then you seem to be out of luck. No one has provided any name of any recognized agency that will give it a positive evaluation. BERNEGRAD posted that he/she had the names of 3 evaluators. When pressed about who they were, BERNEGRAD promptly disappeared. Other than the above issue I have no comment on Berne I do not know whether their standards are deficient. They may well be on par with Capella & Argosy but they are no were near close in terms of utility because of the F. C. evaluator issue. North
Re: Re: The way to go Berne! OK North, bear with me for a moment. I had followed this thread although I'm not especially interested in the topic. Then there was the announcement of the new forum, distancedegree.net. I decided to check it out. One of the (few) threads was posted by a person anonymously calling him(her)self survey2002. It is clear that survey2002 is the same person as BerneGrad from this degreeinfo thread. So what? In the distance degree thread survey2002 states that his/her degree was certified (or whatever it's called) by a place known as: Education International, Inc. 29 Denton Rd. Wellesley, MA 02482 www.educationinternational.org Again, so what? Well it just so happens that I travel through this town frequently and know it quite well. Denton Rd. is a quiet, crescent shaped residential street. It has about fifty very nice homes built around the end of the nineteenth century and a large number of maple and oak trees making it a bit too shady for my taste. On the corner of Denton Rd. and Rt. 135 is a very nice Episcopal Church. My point? If someone is running a company evaluating foreign educational degrees from an address on Denton Rd. they are doing it from their kitchen. Does this mean that it's something less than valid? No. But since the relevant distancedegree thread was entitled "The truth will always survive" (or somesuch), I thought that I'd just add this snippet of information into that mixture of info that has come to be known as "the truth." Jack
hm, the "Fulbright" commissions in UK and Austria seem to accept "Education International, Inc." in Wellesley as a legit foreign credential evaluator: http://www.fulbright.co.uk/eas/credential.html and http://www.fulbright.at/oe/creden.htm My question now is: Would an institution like Excelsior, TESC or COSC also accept credits transfered in by "Education International, Inc."? What do you think? Greets, trigger
