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issues
This page considers issues regarding 'degree mills' or
'diploma mills'.
It covers -
issues
The operation of degree mills poses a range of issues
and regulatory challenges, including -
- ethics
- exposure
- accreditation
- public
safety
- consumer
protection
- confusion
ethics
One issue is simply the personal value of a degree where
effort has essentially been restricted to writing a cheque
- or typing credit card numbers into a browser - rather
than engaging with literature and writing a text that
requires some skill. The US$800 PhD in Oncology highlighted
by George Gollin would not provide a basis for scientific
research or for work in a pathology laboratory.
One FION competitor offers a degree on the basis of 'life
experience' plus 8,000 words and the requisite fee. Others
settle for fewer words. Some institutions, emphasising
their status as 'entrepreneurial' or 'alternative' education
alongside more credible peers, boast that there is no
requirement for 'face time', class room contact, examinations
to evaluate whether the student is assimilating the curriculum.
Some indeed have dispensed with a curriculum.
Some institutions - characterised by critics as generating
awards of little value and defended by supporters as bold
innovators - wrap themselves in the cloak of religious
freedom. One for example indicates that it
was
founded and is directed by the Society for Humanistic
Potential (SHP), a religious organization whose philosophy
honors lifelong learning as a key aspect of the holistic
development of the individual.
Religious
ordination by the SHP is open to every faith. SHP states
that it
is not an organization set up to avoid taxation, an
association without purpose, a "rival" to
other established groups, or a promoter of new age or
old age teachings that seek to destroy or harm the moral
fabric of civilization. ... Recalling a motto of one
of our non-traditional predecessors, the erstwhile Columbia
Pacific University, we express our resolve in the fulfilment
of these ideals with the words Onward Yes!
Reference
to Columbia Pacific may not reassure people who recall
that institution gained attention for criticisms by Californian
state officials prior to closure, including claims that
a PhD dissertation written in Spanish was approved by
four faculty members who did not speak the language and
that a masters student was given credit for a 'learning
contract' describing how he would continue taking dance
lessons and watch dance demonstrations in order to improve
his skills as a Country Western dancer.
exposure
Elsewhere we have noted the comment that a fake degree
is
like
carrying a ticking timebomb with no idea of when it
could go off. It could happen when you claim the qualification
for the first time, or it might take years before it
explodes in your face - taking your riches and your
reputation with it.
It
might also explode in an employer's face, either because
the employer is embarrassed when a new appointee is revealed
to have a phony degree (so much for the recruitment process)
or because an unqualified employee is allowed to exercise
authority.
Such warnings are useful advice for purchasers who have
been beguiled by claims that
You
must not forget that your degree is obtained by exploiting
legal loopholes. We are often asked what this means
and the best definition, that neatly encapsulates the
concept, is that an institution is legally formed and
operating in such a way that it makes the granting of
a degree legal, whereas this would otherwise be illegal.
The only real limitation concerns accreditation, which
is not legally required.
accreditation
Accreditation is of salient importance because many nations
do not recognise degrees awarded by unaccredited institutions
(including institutions that have sought to subvert such
regimes by setting up tame accreditation bodies). It is
generally illegal to practice particular professions,
such as law or medicine, without certification by a government-recognised
accreditation body and/or an award from an accredited
institution.
The preceding page of this note flagged that Australia,
New Zealand and the UK restrict use of the term university
and issuing degrees, along with registration
of practitioners in professions such as law, medicine
and pharmacy.
Restrictions in the US are uneven and in other nations,
such as Liberia (home to Saint Regis University, duly
accredited by the Commission of Higher Education in Liberia),
may be meaningless. Consumers might hesitate before accepting
advice - or surgery - from practitioners 'trained' at
some US medical diploma mills.
enforcement
Omissions in US state law have been compounded by indifferent
enforcement (particularly since the 1980s 'Operation DipScam'
exercise by the FBI) and by scope
for evasion through incorporation as religious entities
such as FION. Bear for example noted
in 2000 that Kirk/McPherson sheltered behind his World
Christian Church, albeit eventually being sentenced to
five years in federal prison after 18 counts of mail fraud,
wire fraud and tax fraud.
Although issuing or receiving a degree from a mill may
be legal, passing it off as one with accredited status
is generally an offence, in some instances a criminal
offence.
Law enforcement agencies have unsurprisingly been hostile
to sites that have purported to be real universities (eg
fraudulently granted degrees as Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge)
or that have misled consumers into believing that their
paper is accredited.
The UK government for example successfully prosecuted
scammers in Romania and Cyprus who are reported to have
accrued around US$2 million per month while the fraud
was underway. Other governments and individuals have taken
action against mills that had blithely added the names
of academics to their faculty lists without permission
- or knowledge - of those scholars.
In 2004 Pennsylvania used state consumer protection legislation
in litigation against spammers who offered a PhD or MBA
within 72 hours, somewhat quicker than the traditional
14 day turnaround for mailorder degrees and the 36 months
of hard work for a real degree.
In June 2006 the UK Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ),
which represents seven school examination boards, won
an injunction against Peter Leon Quinn to stop selling
fake GCSE and A-Level certificates on the internet. He
was also ordered to pay £30,000 interim costs pending
assessment of the JCQ's full legal bill.The JCQ barrister
said the certificates were
instruments
of deception ... They don't deceive those who buy them
- they know they are fakes - but they do deceive others
further down the line.
The
judge agreed, commenting that Quinn's activities amounted
to passing off and breach of trademarks registered by
the boards.
confusion and consumer protection
Much government angst about degree mills has centred on
perceptions that they will erode the credibility of international
online education, claimed as a potential major contributor
to national earnings.
There has been less attention to consumer protection,
with regulators apparently taking the stance that consumers
know - or should know - what they are buying. One state
government official commented last year that
if
you are silly enough to pay $500 for a worthless bit
of paper that's your problem. If you use it to get a
job that's the employer's problem ... and yours when
you get done for fraud
A
more positive response might have been to assist consumers
to navigate their way through the thickets of the Australian
Quality Framework.
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