Berne University, St Kitts

In the journal "International Higher Education" the Oregon position on Berne and St. Kitts accreditation is addressed by Alan Contreras at: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/ihe_pdf/ihe24.pdf

Berne is under the article heading of "International Mystery Colleges."

John

 

RE: St. Kitts

"<..>notorious for its willing-ness to accredit anything with a pulse. "

eh?

From UNESCO WHED:

There are currently six private institutions which offer certain degree programmes, recognized and accredited by the Accreditation Board, Ministry of Education. They are: Berne University International Graduate School, which offers graduate programmes at the Master's and Doctoral levels, and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, both of which possess full accreditation status. There are two medical colleges in St Kitts: International University of the Health Sciences and Windsor University, and one in Nevis: Medical University of the Americas.

6 private schools = anything with a pulse? And only Berne is the controversial one.

eh?

 

Actually, your statment is inaccurate. NACES member WES is quite well known for traveling the world reearching schools abroad. ECE also sends their people as do the researchers who write the PIER series.

You can say that St Kitt's Ministry of Education is not credible. I'm sure they'll disagree with you. They have documented online what it takes to be accredited. You can either believe them or not. You can form an opinion sure, but no one here really knows what Berne or any other St. Kitts school has to do to get accredited. But the documentation of what's required is there.

Again, no one really knows, but IERF Author of the "Country Series" by Ten Speed Press says they are RA-Equivalent.

It seems the only evidence that would accepted would be Chea accreditation. Considering St. Kitts Ministry of Education, NACES Eval, Dept heads of RA schools are not good enough.

 

The ODA get's it dead right with some schools, but also gets it dead wrong for others, especially with this new "diploma mill" verbage development. But that's ultimately the problem with their list, When are they right? When are they wrong? Why is the "Notorious" Berne on there when Credit Card + Resume Diploma MILL XYZ isn't? They can leave more questions than answers. They also have unaccredited = you go on the list policy, kind of like shoot first and ask questions later. Then a school has to pay to try to get removed from the list with no real due process, if Alan says no, I guess you are kinda screwed or might have to travel to Oregon and appear before the commission and take your chances.

 

Hamilton.

 

Generally NACES Members are the most respected in the USA. Of the NACES Members, the Charter NACES Members would be the most respected in that bunch. Most People would put ECE/WES as the most respected especially since they are non-profit organizations. Certainly they are known to be the toughest, especially WES, IERF is also a Charter Member and would probably be a close 3rd but it's really opinion beyond that.

I would hope certainly none of the others would be brain damaged and equate the HW-MBA by Exam as not US RA equivalent. My point was to illustrate that evaluators look beyond the Royal Charter or Ministry of Education to equate credentials.

Yes, back to the original point...

 

This is a complaint about the ODA that makes absolutely no sense to me. No where is it claimed that the list is complete. You're coming out of left field to try and criticize any diploma mill list because it is incomplete. Diploma mills pop up and disappear faster than the ink can dry on their bogus diplomas. The answer to your question is simply that Diploma Mill XYZ is not on the list. It doesn't have to be. If you don't like it then send the ODA a note and perhaps they will add it for you?

Now why don't you tell us which schools you think the ODA is "dead wrong about"?

 

BobC: Exemplary research!

Also, the adjective for the larger island in Federation, used also nationally, is Kittitian.

 

Does the list indicate that it is incomplete? That there are schools not labeled as diploma mills who will be labeled such in the future? Which ones? No, the list is the list, until it changes (again).

 

I don't agree that the designation of some schools as diploma mills is "clearly wrong."

I do disagree with "the list," particularly in its new form, because there are so many mills that are not listed, and many clear mills that are listed as unacceptable, but are not identified as mills. There is no objective standard, or at least not one that is being applied consistently.

As an example of the problem with the list, I just saw someone on another board try to bolster the credibility of Hamilton because it is not listed as a mill on the ODA site.

 

I think we need to be reasonable here. I have always said that the problem with Berne is going to be likely limited utility & perception. Let's examine this...even though they are accredited by a pleasant small island with *no public university* system they in some technical sense do have governmental recognition and are or were UNESCO Handbook listed. They could at one point get a NACES member evaluation (several of us here verified that). This evalution may mean some limited utility. Remains to be seen if UNESCO de lists whether they will still be able to get one.

Now reality check..........if you were able to get some kind of certification say as a school superintendent with your Berne degree....yes you have the certifcation but when you go to compete against folks with with PhD's from Gopher Hole University (lets say it is an RA university) what may happen. Hmmm...I have a candidate with a degree from a small West Indies Island done by correspondence or someone with an RA degree (even from Union or Argosy, Nova, etc). Who is a board likely to pick. If scandal blows up, do you want to add fuel to the fire??

If I recall, when I talked to the NACES evaluator he said something to the effect of yeah it meets the criteria but that in no way means anyone has to accept it.

If you want a Berne degree to say you have a degree fine. To me it is rather expensive considering its possible utility limitations.

North

 

I believe that there are statements saying that the list is incomplete.

My emphasis was added in the above quote. The quote below I believe makes it clear that some items not marked as diploma mills could still be considered a diploma mill by ODA definition.

You're correct that the list is what it is until it changes. Any list of unaccredited schools you would have to say the same about.

 

I know for a fact that Jim of ECE says that Berne is a less than wonderful school and should not be considered RA equiv. I also have heard the same rumors that Berne is going to be delisted from the UNESCO book. I guess we will find out in April if there is any truth to that rumor.