National Accreditation Board of Dominica's level of acceptance in US

In Canada at least, many foreign PhDs in psychology become therapists or just counselors. You can practice counseling in many provinces without a license and there is a very thin line between counselor and psychologist.
Others go into holistic counseling or psychology that is also not regulated and become "positive" psychologist, sports psychologists, etc.

The PhD seems to be the minimum requirement nowadays to attract customers so I can see people paying the money to get a second rate doctorate that they can at least list in a CV or business card.

There are also people that might want to do counseling as a second career so might just get it for personal interest and to practice on the side.

 

I would like to add that IUGS also covers degrees in areas that you cannot find in the US. Parapsychology is not taught at traditional Universities in the US and the ones offered are by non accredited places. IUGS has strong faculty in Parapsychology, I noticed Carlos Alvarado that is an authority is this area.
I would be interested in completing their degree in parapsychology for personal interest but at 30K for a PhD is not so easy to justify so I would stay with my unaccredited degree in Metaphysics that cost me under 1K for now.

 

One would think that if NAB accreditation would add credibility to IUGS's degrees in the US that they would provide the names of legitimate foreign degree evaluation services that would validate these degrees. However, when you request referral to such an agency from IUGS's representative, she cannot provide the names of any!

This raises a red flag. Any foreign university would promote to the hilt the fact that their degrees are accredited and acceptable in the US, or at a minimum, are generally equivalent to US degees, but this is not the case with IUGS. Enough said.

 

Many legitimate foreign universities I dealt with have no clue about credential evaluation.

 

So contrary to your original statement, you seem to have very strong opinions about this school. I'm sure you'll pass these on to your friend.

 

This is as good a time as any for a sidetracking of this thread.

Stanislav, how's the LLB with Northumbria going? I recall we had a thread talking about Univ of London and Northumbria for distance law study. You've taken the plunge. Inquiring minds want to know!

 

Ah, that has been an adventure. Long story short, I've took and passed first year subjects (English Legal System, Contracts, Criminal Law). However, I decided to sit out next year and take ACCA accounting exams instead. I fully intend to resume my LLB studies later.

 

An issue that nobody's really addressed yet is academic credibility. Ideally, accreditation is supposed to be an indicator of academic credibility, at least in the sense that some minimal standards have been met.

In the Dominican NAB's case, I'm not sure what those standards are. The fact that the accreditation apparently exists to attract off-shore entrepreneurs from the United States who seemingly have little or no chance of getting their personal universities accredited by conventional accreditors at home makes me skeptical about how much additional credibility NAB accreditation implies.

I don't think that off-shore accreditation from obscure jurisdictions automatically renders schools academically equivalent to American RA doctoral programs, even at the low end. I'm more inclined to think of these kind of schools as effectively being upper-unaccredited schools, much like the old California-approved schools of yesteryear. That doesn't mean that they are mills, but it doesn't totally guarantee that they aren't either.

So I'm going to look for other indicators of academic credibility. Syllabi, faculty lists, research projects, publications. And I want to see whether or not the school participates in and receives recognition from the wider academic community in its fields of study. Do scholars at other institutions ever mention the school and talk about work done under its auspices? Does the school participate in collaborations and joint projects with better known schools? Does it ever attract grants, funding and awards?

 

I have strong impressions regarding the validity and level of acceptability of NAB accredited degrees in the US. This is based on my not having any information that contradicts
My impressions. However, in good faith I wouldnt share my impressions with my friend until I'm certain that NAB has no utility, and was the basis for my broaching this question on this forum to hopefully add clarity to this subject.

 

Heirophant, as always, your perspicacious insights are right on target. Thank you. Jan

 

I have strong impressions regarding the validity and level of acceptability of NAB accredited degrees in the US. This is based on my not having any information that contradicts
My impressions. However, in good faith I wouldnt share my impressions with my friend until I'm certain that NAB has no utility, and was the basis for my broaching this question on this forum to hopefully add clarity to this subject.

 

I'm not sure that you've added any clarity although you certainly have expressed some strong opinions.

 

Awesome. I have a "hankerin'" to follow suit. A bit too much on my plate right now but I've yearned for a law degree for so long. Please keep us updated -- a distinct informative thread perhaps?

 

As stated in my post above, it was my intention to obtain clarity regarding this subject, not to provide that clarity, other than my impressions, which by the way are open to change if provided with credible feedback demonstrating the viability of NAB in the US. In fact, the questions and issues posed by Hierophant lays the groundwork for clarifying the actual value of an NAB accredited degree program.

 

Sorry that you are personalizing my question due to your conflict of interest in seeking accreditation from NAB for your online school. However, as previously noted, and as we agreed, I am not negating the potential value of NAB for the prospective international demographic student population you are seeking to attract, but am focusing on its potential acceptability and utility solely in the US.

So other than taking a defensive and contentious stand regarding my question, can you elucidate the viability of NAB degree programs in the US?

 

The Parapsychological Association has an interesting page on university education in parapsychology, that has lots of leads.

University Education in Parapsychology - The Parapsychological Association

Several British universities reportedly offer degrees in psychology up through the doctoral level with concentrations in anomalous experience, that might conceivably be open to parapsychological research topics. Here in the US, RA-accredited Saybrook entertains parapsychological dissertation topics, supervised by some reasonably big names like Stanley Krippner.

And there are a couple of DEAC accredited places that offer masters degrees in 'Consciousness Studies' that are open to parapsychology.

There's the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles, that I've mentioned before.

University of Philosophical Research | A Non-Profit, Contemporary, Online Wisdom Academy | Philosophy, Psychology, Culture and Religion | Online M.A. and B.A. Degree Programs

And here's another one that I just became aware of, the Holmes Institute. This one is DEAC accredited and is associated with the Church of Religious Science.

Holmes Institute School of Consciousness Studies.

Total program costs for both of their MAs are less then $ 10K US.

 

Once again, it's unfortunate that your conflict of interest results in your hyper-defensive and hyper-offensive posturing regarding my question. However, I have no reason to defend my question, currently or in the past, because it remains unanswered.

However, your inordinate focus on my credibility in seeking a definitive answer to this question, in lieu of your providing definitive/conclusive statements of fact regarding the acceptability of NAB degrees in the US, does not undermine my right to do so. However, it definitely places the onus on your motives in defending NAB so adamantly, and with such animus, without a substantive and definitive basis for doing so, other than your speculation as to its acceptability in the US.