SCUPS

SCUPS has a new advertisement in China for MBA program. However, the title of the advertisement is California State University MBA program. In its content, it has spent some space to introduce the Calif. State Univ. system (CSUS) and has mentioned that one can get both diplomas from the Calif. State Univ. and SCUPS. I don't really know (believe) there is some cooperation between them.

Unfortunately, the advertisement is in Chinese and can be accessed by http://classad.bj.sina.com.cn/adpage/2002-01-31/10707.shtml

 

My suspicion is that they are saying that they are a university in the State of California, thus a California State University, but I don't know this (yet). I've asked a Chinese friend to do a translation of the site.

Readers of Bears' Guide will know there is no love lost between SCUPS and me, based in part on their distribution to potential students, years ago, of a page they said was from Bears' Guide but which they had, in fact, rewritten re-typeset, to make it seem as if I was writing favorably about them.

I subsequently had a pleasant phone talk with owner Donald Hecht (who also owns Northcentral University, now a candidate for regional accreditation), but there were no apologies that I could detect.

 

Thanks for posting that, Yan. Since I can't read Chinese, could you tell us more about what this advertisement is saying?

Are they claiming that SCUPS is a California State University campus? Are they saying that one can earn a CSU degree through study with SCUPS? What connection is SCUPS claiming with the CSU, exactly?

Do you know if SCUPS is directly responsible for this advertisement, or whether it is the work of some Chinese agent representing SCUPS?

On the face of it, if it really is as bad as it sounds, this is the smoking gun for SCUPS. It smells to me like dishonest and possibly even illegal marketing. The California State University legal department would probably be very interested in this.

Again, if it is true, one wonders how this kind of marketing will impact North Central U., which I believe is owned by the SCUPS people and is a candidate for RA. Why in the world would SCUPS grasp for legitimacy with one hand and then do something stupid like this with the other?

I hope that there is some innocent explanation.

 

From the advertisement, it states students can get postgraduate diploma (?) of 'Information and Enterprises Management' from the Calif. State Univ. and MBA from the SCUPS. It relates to the Project of Chinese International Talent (PCIT). The advetisement also mentions the Calif. State Univ. system (CSUS) but there is no explanation if there is any relationship between CSUS and SCUPS. I think John's Chinese friend may make a thorough and complete translation of this.

The advertisement is made through a Chinese agent.

 

Just a quick thought: If SCUPS has questionable business and/or academic practices and they share a parent company with Northcentral, isn't it reasonable to assume that at some level one might expect some questionable practices from Northcentral as well?

I know regional accreditation probably diminishes the potential for unscrupulous practices. At the same time, some things just may slip by the accreditors. I would be cautious about Northcentral given the common parentage with SCUPS.

Is my reasoning on this flawed?

 

defii asks, "Is my reasoning on this flawed?"

Probably (alas). The evidence with DETC and what had been AICS is that previous problems and misleading claims, even up to the day accreditation is awarded, don't seem to be taken into account.

My only personal experience with Northcentral was going to their then-address in Prescott, Arizona in early January 2000, and being surprised to see that the large red brick building depicted in their catalog was actually a mini-mall in which they rented a rather modest space. The catalog picture (an architectural rendering, not a photograph) also had the mall signs removed, and clearly (to me) conveyed the impression that the entire building was their facility. I don't like these sorts of things.

They have subsequently moved to their own facilities in Prescott.

And it is no mean feat to gain candidacy from a regional accreditor. I don't think it is possible to pull the wool over the eyes of an entire visiting team of academic professionals. So they are surely doing things right, now, and it seems safe to conclude that the North Central Association's policy is to ignore pre-application behaviors or other institutions owned/controlled by the same folks.

 

For the record, abridged from a long article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 1997

Thailand Cracks Down on Diploma Mills

Thailand has lashed out against proprietary institutions offering substandard education
and even selling degrees... ome of these "shophouse universities," as the storefront institutions are called locally, had even held"graduation" ceremonies in Bangkok hotels and sent photos...to local newspapers in an effort to hoodwink the public into thinking the degrees were real.
...
The diploma mills have been doing a growing business here recently.
...
[The] director of the education and foreign-training division of the government's Office of Civil Service Commissions, [said] the department had blacklisted five U.S. companies that had sold degrees in Thailand under the names "American Coastline University of Louisiana," "Kensington University," "Summit University of Louisiana," "University of America," and "Southern California University of Professional Studies."

 

In doing research for my other post of a similar topic, I came across this and wonder how these suggestions would stack up now that NCU is RA and with all the changes/new additions on the net?

 

The Frederick Taylor comments were, of course, written to a person who seemed to want to pursue that school.

The people who took the chance on Northcentral were well rewarded.

And the best advice remains to shop around, do due diligence, and be as certain as you can that any given degree will meet your present and predictable future needs.

 

I see that SCUPS dropped its LLM in Taxation program from their website. Some time ago, I contacted them and asked about how many students they had, etc. Got back a prompt e mail claiming two LLM grads and disclaiming that their degree was for anything other than personal development or words to that effect.

Personal development in TAXATION?? Well, they probably meant that the graduate lawyer could use the KNOWLEGE more easily than the DEGREE.