Universitas 21 status

I received this information today and I think it is of general interest. I removed his phone numbers and the ODA entry did not copy because it is not text. Note that Singapore has not listed the supplier with UNESCO. We have asked for more information.


From: Michael Goldberg [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2005 10:32 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Clarification of Universitas 21 and Universitas 21 Global for your ODA List

Dear Office of Degree Authorization:

Our Registrar at Universitas 21 Global, Mr. HON Thin Woon, sent me a copy of your list of Invalidate Degrees in Oregon where one of the entries is:

[U 21 entry saying U21 is not a degree-granter]

As the Chief Academic Officer of Universitas 21 Global, an online graduate school supported by18 research universities around the world, I wanted to clarify the functions of Universitas 21 (hereinafter U21) (www.universitas21.com) and distinguish it from those of Universitas 21 Global (hereinafter U21G) (www.u21global.edu.sg).

Briefly, U21 was founded at the University of Melbourne in 1997 as an international network of leading research-intensive universities in order to foster collaboration and cooperation among its members and seize diverse opportunities that no single institution acting on its own would be able to realize. Universitas 21 comprises: 18 universities (Shanghai Jiao Tong University is the 18th U21 school and has just joined the consortium); in 9 countries; an aggregate student enrolment of roughly 500,000 students; some 40,000 academics and researchers; and over 2 million alumni collectively. At the second U21annual meeting held in 1998 a set of 10 foundational projects was identified to get the consortium launched on meaningful and valued collaborative activities. Cooperation in e-learning and internal U21 quality assurance were foremost among these 10 inaugural projects. In 2001, these initiatives led to the creation of U21G, the online learning group, and U21pedagogica, the quality assurance body charged with assuring the quality of U21G offerings, faculty and students, and assessment standards discussed briefly below. Universitas 21 LBG (“limited by guarantee”) is a formally incorporated non-profit entity registered in the Channel Islands so as not to attract any tax inadvertently for its non-profit activities given its membership in 9 different countries (10 if Hong Kong is viewed as a separate jurisdiction from China).

Turning to Universitas 21 Global, it was born out of the desire of the U21 university president to forge an online learning cooperative. It was felt that e-learning was a globe girdling activity and could liberate U21 universities from the spatial limitations of their own physical campuses giving them collectively global reach, something impossible separately or from a traditional campus base. It was also clear online learning required substantial resources to get started and that the resources available to any single university would be insufficient. As events came to pass, even the collective resources of the U21 universities were inadequate to build the hoped for online collaborative effort and laboratory. Thus, a private sector partner (Thomson Learning) was brought in as a 50% owner of U21G.

As a result, in 2001 U21G was founded via a formal set of agreements between the U21 universities and Thomson Learning. A key part of the agreement, and a significant differentiating factor from previous online learning consortia, was the ongoing and full involvement of the sponsoring universities in the assurance of quality of U21G activities. Thus, Universitas 21pedagogica (U21p) was simultaneously created with U21G. U21p is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Universitas 21 consortium and is based at the University of Virginia in the United States. It is charged with ensuring the quality of student admission standards, faculty, course content and online courseware and student assessment standards.

This central involvement of the U21 universities in U21G evolution provides U21G with a major academic and competitive boost. U21G is able to draw on the research and learning strengths of the now 18-member U21 consortium. Novel joint programs can be, and are being, developed with the U21 member universities combining their content, and pedagogy with U21G online content and pedagogy and to offer students worldwide a growing and exciting array of graduate degrees and certificates built on the best of traditional learning and U21G advances.

Given the foregoing attention to quality and student learning, the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) recently conferred its Certificate in e-Learning (CEL) on U21G as well as asking U21G to be represented on their Advisory Board. U21G is duly registered in Singapore to offer distance graduate degree and non-degree programs, initially in business (the MBA) and now in information systems management (the Masters of Information Systems Management or MISM degree), and hence has been assigned the .edu.sg domain by the Government of Singapore. U21G is also a member of EFMD as well as an international member of the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

Thus, returning to my initial observation about your listing of Universitas 21 as an Invalid Degree, this is technically correct in so far as it goes since Universitas 21 LBG (the U21 consortium) does not grant any degrees. In view of the information set out above however, I hope that it will be possible to have Universitas 21 Global graduate degrees be recognized by your office going forward. If you need any additional information about U21Global or about U21 itself, please let me know and I will be delighted to arrange to have whatever you need sent to you promptly.

Sincerely,



Michael A. Goldberg, Ph.D.

Chief Academic Officer

Universitas 21 Global Pte Ltd

#01-01, UIC Building

5 Shenton Way

Singapore 068808


website: www.u21global.com

 

Let me get this straight... U21 awards degrees in management?? It seems to me like this U21 monstrosity is a textbook example of how NOT to manage a DL program. Good lord!!

To my student's/consumer's eye, it really looks like an academic shell game. We see the names of some 18 world famous universities prominently displayed, but none of those universities seems to actually award the U21G degrees, either individually or collectively.

Nor is it clear where U21G is located or whose laws apply to it. Is it legally considered a domestic higher education institution in the Republic of Singapore? Or is it legally domiciled somewhere else (the Channel Islands?) and just operating an off-shore branch in Singapore?

There's lots of stuff about quality assurance, but ultimately it looks like one U21 entity (U21pedigogica) is "accrediting" another U21 entity (U21global). It would have been easier for them to just write "trust us", because that's essentially what it amounts to.

There are some very respectable universities' names involved with this. So I guess that I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. But it still isn't clear exactly why they felt the need to do whatever it is that they are doing. (Other universities have no trouble collaborating or offering world-wide DL programs without all of the bizarre contortions.)

And most troublingly, this frustrating vagueness and intangibility seems to be entirely intentional and by design.

 

Re: Re: Universitas 21 status

The degrees are apparently awarded by U21 Global, which is a joint venture of the Universitas 21 network and Thomson Learning.

I looked into this in a previous post. Universitas 21 Global is registered with the Singapore Ministry of Education as a "Distance Learning Programme". However, the ministry notes that such registration is "not tantamount to accreditation or recognition by the Ministry of Education."

Yes. It seems that ODA will have to determine whether U21pedagogica's "seal of approval" is equivalent to accreditation. I have no idea if this is the case, other than to note that many reputable universities are involved with U21pedagogica.