UNISA lets DETC lapse

This is an Internet forum, not a serious academic exercise. An opinion doesn't have to be well supported to add to a discussion.

 

I agree, but some take too serious this forum. An academic journal in DL might suit better these people than this forum.

 

Excuse us that we have not done a PhD in Higher learning education and we are not at your level. Your assumptions that DETC has more credibility because other Universities have adopted DETC seems pretty unsubstantiated to me but again I'm not a PhD in Higher learning so my opinion does not count.

 

I agree, but you have to realize that when hiring adjuncts the background check it is not very intensive. It is a not a very likely scenario and might never happen but a prospect student might feel that getting the "non-prestigious" accredited degree might not be the best idea. Some have expressed this feeling in this forum as evidence that the feeling exists in some. I personally don't care if USQ has DETC accreditation as I'm not applying to teach at new schools but I might have decided for another schools only because the DETC accreditation depreciates the value of the degree in my opinion. This is an opinion and some have expressed the same here, not a Universal truth statement substantiated with evidence and not sloppy thinking as this might be a possible scenario that has been validated by some in this forum.

 

Your opinion counts as much or as little as it relates to the matter at hand, and the command you have of the available facts.

If you can offer an opinion, someone else (like me) can counter it. You did. I have.

 

"Validated"? Doesn't that move it from opinion to "fact"?

Validated by whom? Anyone we know and with whom we can verify this validation?

In one post you complain that this is just a discussion board, and in this post (as well as others) you talk about proof and validation. You want it both ways, but can't seem to have it either way.

Expect your opinions to be countered. That's the nature of a discussion thread.

 

View of the U.S. Department of Education

The Department of Education has an FAQ on distance education here:

http://answers.ed.gov/cgi-bin/education.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=17&p_created=1095342762&p_sid=V6oB83Ei&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTIzJnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9ZGlzdGFuY2UgZWR1Y2F0aW9u&p_li=&p_topview=1

The Question and Answer are stated as follows:

Question
How can I find a legitimate online or distance education program?

Answer
In the U.S., the system for maintaining basic standards in postsecondary institutions is called accreditation. Accreditation is the responsibility of independent accrediting agencies. The U.S. Secretary of Education publishes a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies. For more information on accreditation and the list of recognized accrediting agencies, please see Accreditation in the United States. For additional information, please see our answer on accreditation.
The Secretary recognizes only one agency dedicated to accrediting distance education institutions, the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). You can find the list of programs accredited by DETC, and search for programs by subjects taught or degrees given at their website.

So the Department of Education clearly thinks the DETC is the most competent distance education acreditor.

 

In my own opinion this is a misinterpretation of what is written. I believe that the key to this misinterpretation is found in the word "dedicated." I believe that this word is used to indicate that DETC is the only agency that accredits distance learning institutions exclusively. They do not accredit anything but distance education institutions. It is all they do. There is nothing in the statement that suggests that they do it better than anyone else.

I might be a motorcycle mechanic. Perhaps in my shop I only work on Harleys. Nothing else. Ever. This does not mean that I am the best Harley mechanic around. In fact, I might not be very good at all. Regardless of my skills, I would be "dedicated" to the repair of Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Please keep in mind that I have no problems with DETC. They may be very good at what they do, I don't have the expertise to make that judgement. But I know the meanings of words and I know that even if it's all they do, it doesn't, by definition, make them the best at it.

 

While you are entitled to your interpretation, the bottom line is that the Department recommends looking to DETC if one is seeking an online program. They do not mention anyone else.

 

This is a very eye opening discovery, excellent work!

 

Australian Universities may be revisiting their business plans.There is an ongoing "shakeout" of university educational priorities in Australia initiated by the Australian Government. This is particualrly so in allocation of research monies. The regional universities, such as the University of New England, may be refocusing on their core markets or perhaps redefining them to survive.

Some might simply be downsizing their attempt to penetrate the US market and, as a result, DETC accreditation may no longer be required. One private non DL university here used to draw most their student base from the US. They now draw heavily from northern Europe, particularly Sweden for some reason. A long way to come to go to school!

Some Australian Universities have a number of students in the US without DETC accreditation which may have influenced the decision as well. I would be surprised if the decision had anything to do with the status of DETC. The universities were all GAAP approved in any case, so the DETC probably had more to do with employers and student confidence as mentioned in other posts.

 

If they're officially the ONLY one doing it, then officially they're "better than anyone else." Of course, this doesn't mean that they're necessarily doing a good job at it...

 

This is going to feel weird, but, um, they're not the ‘only ones doing it’. They’re the only ones doing it exclusively.

I’m not really arguing this passionately, but the question is:

How can I find a legitimate online or distance education program?

Legitimate is the word they use, not something like:

How can I find a distance education program accredited by an organization that only exclusively accredits distance programs, not an organization that accredits both distance and face to face programs?

 

I would think it was obvious that they're not the only ones doing it. In fact, there are far, far more ditance learning degree programs offered by Regionally Accredited schools than DETC schools. So while it's clearly true that DETC is not the only accreditor of distance learning degree programs, it's also true that they're not even the largest accreditor of distance learning degree programs. Then, as you point out, there's no evidence that they are the best accreditor of distance learning programs.

I have nothing against DETC or the programs it accredits. They're probably doing a fine job. However, I felt the need to point out that simply because they are the only name listed on a website, it does not follow that they are the best accreditor.

 

"I have nothing against DETC or the programs it accredits. They're probably doing a fine job. However, I felt the need to point out that simply because they are the only name listed on a website, it does not follow that they are the best accreditor."

Why can't it mean that they are the best accreditor? This is not just some arbitrary website. RA is considered to be the "gold standard" because of the recognition given by the same folks that run that website. The recognition given by the Department of Education has been the "seal of approval" for those schools for years. Why is their webiste just some "website" now that they recognize the DETC apart from everyone else? I don't get it.

This thread started out about UNISA letting their DETC accreditation lapse. Being a vet, I think the initial decision to go after DETC accreditation was about money. DETC schools are allowed to participate in the GI Bill. I considered going there due to the fact that they were DETC. Maybe they didn't attract the "following" that they thought they would and decided to dump the accreditation, that doesn't mean the DETC name/accreditation hurt them...it just didn't help like they thought it would. I think it's easier to get Uncle Sam to pay for a foreign, DETC school, than just a foreign school. Watching this debate, I'm changing my mind about some of the folks here. Some of you that I thought were biased against the DETC are proving not to be (and I think that's commendable). Others....well, there's still hope. They're not DETC any more, I'm not interested any more (I wasn't very interested anyway).

 

I didn't say that it "can't" mean what you contend. I said that it doesn't follow. It doesn'tnecessarily mean what you contend. My contention is that the quoted statement means that DETC is the only accrediting agency that accredits only distance learning schools. The evidence that I can produce to support my argument is that the vast majority of RA schools will not accept credits in transfer from DETC accredited schools. On the other hand, DETC schools will readily accept credits in transfer from RA accredited schools. If you have evidence to the contrary, this is the time to bring it out.

It is not my wish to enter into a tiresome debate on a old topic. DETC is clearly gaining respectability in the larger academic world. I hope that trend continues. But to contend that DETC is actually a superior accreditor based upon the misinterpretation of a single sentence from a website (any website) is clearly misguided and without support of objective evidence.

 

first off, the CGA Deal is not unique in terms of structure. Similar deals for CMAs and CAs have been offered over the years at a lot of schools

 

Regardless, people turn to this internet forum expecting good information. As such, sloppy thinking, unsupported opinions, deliberate disinformation, and the like are not terribly well appreciated.

 

Again, just to point this out, it isn't just 'a' website, it is the US Department of Education.

 

And I would again like to point out that if you misinterpret the sentence it doesn't matter what website is quoted.