Kingdom of Hawaii Royal Accreditation Commission (KOHRAC)

There are several branches of the Royal Hawaiian Family with someone claiming to be head of the Royal House/heirs. I don't believe there is anyone to settle this or much need since the likelihood of the restoration is low.

Here is one:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Kawānanakoa

He apparently has little interest.

 

Ouch. Busted, I guess.

 

No biggie. Nomaduser will find you a free Hawaiian course.

 

And his degrees come from known schools. I have to like him.

 

Yes. On the happier side, King Constantine II of the Greeks (uncle to Prince Philip) IIRC is still alive.
The name of the woman with the most-recognized (although not undisputed) claim to be Head of House of Romanov escapes me at the moment. Her son's name is Grand Prince George. There's an argument that Florida Romanovsky branch, while losing the claim to Russia, should be rightful claimants to Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. The current Prince does not actively claim this; pity, could have accredited a school or five.

 

I think that's Maria Vladimirovna - here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Maria_Vladimirovna_of_Russia

And yes, the imprimatur of Schleswig-Holstein would look great on a school. I'd love to have it for Die Freie Universität von Johann.

 

Yep, her. She and Tzarevich Georgiy visit Russia on a semi-regular basis, patronize nobilitary associations, grant dynastic orders and decorations etc. I never heard of these individuals to deal with colleges; they did give some medals to weirdos like a turncoat former Ukrainian prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya (current Russian MP and a blonde symbol of Crimea's annexation). Then again, anyone seeking a medal or a title from a deposed House runs a high chance of being a weirdo).

You can contact Prince Dmitry Romanoff Ilyinsky and ask whether he'd like to take up the Schlezvig claim for your school (it makes sense: he would be a leading claimant for the throne of Russia but for his grandfather's unequal marriage, and it does not automatically follow that Russian succession rules govern Schlesvig succession) . That'd be fun. Alternative, there's a Romanov Empire micronation seeking to build an island off the coast of The Gambia; if you're willing to invest some cryptocoin in the hypothetical real estate, they may be willing to charter a university. It's run by some Russian businessman (and former MP) and recognize a German prince as a Romanoff pretender and Emperor Nicolas III. Can be pricey for ones not involved in offshore finance (also, more than a little shady).
Another option would be Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky, a Royal Patron of St. Gregory Nazianzen Institute for Eastern Christian Studies (discussed here). Not sure how good a match would that be.

 

Here's the Swiss Accreditation Council that by law appears to govern higher education accreditation in Switzerland.

https://akkreditierungsrat.ch/en/accreditation-switzerland/

They say, "Institutional accreditation is a requirement for the right to use a reserved designation - in other words, institutional accreditation is mandatory if an institution wishes to call itself a "University", "University of Applied Sciences" or "University of Teacher Education". It is also a requirement for universities regulated by public law in order to be eligible for federal contributions (Cf HEdA art 29)"

Notice that 'Rockfield College of Sciences and Technology' uses the title "College".

The Swiss Accreditation Council continues:

"All cantonal universities, universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education, other institutions within the higher education sector and federally universities and institutions recognized under previous law are subject to compulsory accreditation.

Private universities and institutions must undergo a process of institutional accreditation if they wish to make use of the above-mentioned designation right or - with regard to international recognition - require their institutions to be accredited by a government body.

The Swiss Accreditation Council is the decision-making body for institutional accreditations."

The Swiss Accreditation Council in turn farms out the actual accreditation evaluation process to a quango called the AAQ (Swiss Agency of Accreditation and Quality Assurance), pretty clearly designed on the model of the British QAA.

https://aaq.ch/en/accreditation/institutional-accreditation/

I believe that the Swiss Accreditation Council also recognizes assessments by several other bodies, mostly German it seems, as well as the AAQ for purposes of bestowing Swiss institutional accreditation status.

Yes. Based on the information above, I'd question whether they are considered accredited university degrees at all in the Swiss context. It looks to my non-expert's eye like the imprimatur of the Akkreditierungsrat is necessary for that. My sense is that degrees from schools unrecognized by the Akkreditierungsrat might indeed be entirely legal, but they aren't accredited in the Swiss context.

I've never heard of EduQua and can't comment on it. But Rockfield College themselves say,

"Rockfield College of Sciences and Technology is certified and accredited by Swiss EduQua - The Swiss Quality Certificate for Further Education Institutions."

https://www.rcmedu.ch/rcst-swiss/accreditation.htm

My comment would be that in the British context at least, "higher education" and "further education" are two different things, existing under separate legal regimes. Higher education is university degrees, further education is vocational certificates of various sorts. Perhaps the American equivalent would be the distinction between universities and the kind of terminal-vocational programs offered by community colleges.

So my question is, is EduQua actually recognized by the Swiss government and by the Swiss professional world as a university accreditor? I would guess not.

 

Shoot first -ask questions later. I didn't even ask. I knew they weren't. To be a Swiss Federation-recognized University, the standards include 100+ full-time professors of high qualifications, buildings, library holdings, research etc.. etc... etc... No distance school could possibly comply with the requirements - so all operate under Cantonal licenses. They can legally award degrees of less-than-mainstream standing. And if a school is not a Federation-recognized University, with all the above - then it can no longer call itself a University.

Good guess. Their "accreditation" is pretty much limited to quality assurance re: courses for adult education in various arenas. They certainly won't be accrediting Universities - as defined by the Swiss Authorities. Not their job.

 

It occurs to me, after reading heirophant's post, that some European countries are rapidly adopting "accredit" and "accreditation" into their languages. I presume it's adopted from English (word made up from Latin) - though it doesn't always have the same precise meaning the word has taken on in American usage.

I notice this particularly with German. The verb "akkreditieren" for example. When German borrows a verb from another language, it uses the foreign stem plus the ending "ieren." All verbs with infinitive ending "ieren" are foreign-derived. I remember making a project to compile a list of them in high school. When I announced it, my teacher shook her head and said, IIRC "only John would do something like this..."

They're welcome to borrow terms. And to use them how they will. And there will always be the translator's dilemma. "We know what they say - but what does it mean?"

 

(1) Well, if they'll invest some non-crypto money in my hypothetical University, I might be willing to charter an Island Cruise off the Gambia... I dunno. I think I might end up owing money to bad people... There might be a movie here - and I know how it ends!

(2) Isn't St. Gregory Nazianzen Institute run by a guy who collects titles? Maybe he'd want to sell me one. Nah, I'll just be content as Baron von Biersaufen und Wurstburg.

 

When someone takes a degree from one of these places and, in a foreign credential evaluation, receives an equivalence to a US degree, then I'll pay attention. That goes for Swiss Cantons, Propio-whatever, rented degree-granting authorities, and (gasp) the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

 

Tee hee... if you look for a herald, let me know.

 

Maybe. But not for my Biersaufen und Wurstburg titles. I have provenance documents for those. I made them myself. I took a PDF copy of the Reinheitsgebot of 1516 and edited it, then reproduced it on old parchment. We know all about the Reinheitsgebot* here. It's referred to on every German beer we drink.

But maybe as a herald, you could do something to clarify my other titles :

Knight Commander of the Eparchy of Southern Ontario
Count of Minsk, Pinsk, Omsk and Tomsk
Supreme Voivod of Tobolsk

* German purity law of 1516 -still governs the making of all German beer today.

 

Inconveniently for Mr. Bakov, more than anyone else.

 

Yep, you are all set with these.
Fr. Andrew is still one of my favorite characters in this kind of sagas. 3 doctorates, and all accredited! His latest dignity of Count comes from Prince Nugzar; while this Prince is real enough, it does not seem like anyone takes his awards seriously. Not that any of these have much value...
BTW, he now partners with Carpathian University, and that place is ran by Bishop Victor- who is also quite a collector of degrees and distinctions. This may finally be the partnership that lasts, why knows?

 

I can see a quiet friendly poker game between these guys. "All right, I'll see your two Knighthoods and raise you a Dukedom and a St. Petersburg Doctorate..."

"OK...but it's a Nauk, right? It's gotta be a Nauk!"

 

Yep. Ukraine renamed Kandidat into PhD so there's "Doktor Filosofii" and a "Doktor Nauk", the latter being a higher award.

 

I know that - now. I'd only heard of it before, but Metropolitan (or is he Archimandrite now?) Wiki told me all I needed to know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doktor_nauk

I think I first heard about Doktor Nauk degrees from you, Stanislav - long ago we were talking about WIDU and their "Grand PhD." I never forget stuff - unless it's vitally important...