Below is a list of thirteen (13) known nationally accredited U.S.-based institutions operating in Vietnam, many in cooperation with a local partner.
For the record, national accreditation (NA) is not comparable to regional accreditation (RA), which is generally considered to be the “gold standard” of higher education accreditation in the U.S.
If you’re interested in learning more about the differences between regional, national and specialized accreditation, check out this FAQ page on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) website. (SACS is one of the regional accrediting agencies in the U.S. ) Most nationally accredited institutions are private and have missions focused either on career education or religious education.
Credits earned from NA schools are generally not transferable to RA institutions, nor are NA degrees accepted by most RA schools. This is problematic for a student who, for example, who earns a bachelor’s degree from a NA school and then wants to apply to a MBA program offered by a RA school. Some NA institutions share this information with prospective students (it’s called “truth in advertising”), others do not. I know of a number of Vietnamese students who have encountered this dilemma.
Here are examples of two national accreditors. The Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), as its name indicates, accredits mostly proprietary (i.e., private, for-profit) online schools. Among the 114 on DETC’s list are Allied Business Schools, Cleveland Institute of Electronics, Gemological Institute of America, National Paralegal College, National Tax Training School, New York Institute of Photography, and most of the nationally accredited schools that do business in Vietnam.
Another one is the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), which accredits “postsecondary institutions offering certificates or diplomas, and postsecondary institutions offering associate, bachelor’s, or master’s degrees in programs designed to educate students for professional, technical, or occupational careers, including those that offer those programs via distance education.”
Among the 680 institutions that ACICS has accredited are the Bergin University of Canine Studies, Golden State College of Court Reporting & Captioning, Golf Academy of America, ITT Technical Institute, Kaplan Career Institute, and the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, in addition a few that are active in Vietnam.
Andrew Jackson University (AL)
Apollos University (CA) This university was accredited by DETC on 9 February 2012. Below is information from the DETC report.
Apollos University
17011 Beach Boulevard, Suite 900
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
http://www.apollosuniversity.com
Phone: 714-841-6252 or 615-594-1896
Dr. Paul Eidson, President and CEO
Founded 2005. Offers Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in
Organizational Management and Doctor of Business Administration
Bakke Graduate University of Ministry (WA)
California Miramar University (CA) Formerly Pacific Western University, an unaccredited school founded in 1977 that received quite a bit of (unfavorable) media attention in its day. CMU changed its name in 2007 and received DETC accreditation in 2009. It is also ACICS-accredited.
California International Business University (CA)
California Southern University (CA) – Formerly the Southern California University of Professional Studies (SCUPS), an unaccredited school founded in 1978. At one time, it was owned by Donald Hecht, who also owned Northcentral University, a private, for-profit online university based in Arizona. SCUPS changed its name to CSU in 2007 and received DETC accreditation in 2010.
Colorado Heights University (CO)
Columbia Southern University (AL)
Griggs University and International Academy (MI) Affiliated with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Adventist Church’s Griggs University graduates first Vietnamese MBA students (Source: Adventist News Network)
IMPAC University (FL)
Jose Maria Vargas University (FL)
Lincoln University (CA)
Northwestern Polytechnic University (CA)
If you know of any nationally accredited institutions in Vietnam that do not appear on this list, please let me know and I’ll add them.
Updated: 13 February 2012
An International Educator in Viet Nam 
As promised, this is the second of a three part series. The third and final post related to US higher education institutions with a Vietnam presence will focus on regionally accredited colleges and universities. MAA
I would like to add some more american institutions operating in Hanoi as follows:
1. Delaware State University (DSU) – offering MBA in collaboration with Vietnam National University, Hanoi. DSU is not included in DETC nor SACS list.
2. Troy University – offering BA & MBA program in collaboration with many prestigious universities of Vietnam. This university is accredited by SACS but the Vietnam branch is not listed.
3. North Central University (NCU) – offering MBA & DBA with some prestigious universities of Vietnam.NCU is not included in DETC nor SACS list.
I understand that these universities or their programmes conducted in Vietnam are not accredited in USA. Am I right?
Thank you for your inquiry. Each of these schools is regionally accredited. Delaware State University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE: http://www.msche.org). In addition to institutional accreditation, its business school is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB: http://www.aacsb.edu). As of July 2010, 596 member institutions hold AACSB business accreditation, so it’s a very select group.
MAA
Thank you for your info. I have one more question. What if the instruction language is not English? As I know, some american degree programs are conducted through translation/interpretation. That is the foreign lecturers teach in English and an interpreter helps translate into Vietnamese. The study materials and exam questions are also translated into Vietnamese to be given to students. Students use Vietnamese to do the exam or assignments. If that is the case, whether the program is accredited in USA or not.
In response to Viet Ha’s inquiry:
This is a question for that particular institution’s accreditor. Another issue is whether or not the school has permission from its accreditor to offer an “on-ground” (off-site) program in Vietnam. If not, then that school is in violation of the terms and conditions of its accreditation. This is a form of quality control.
MAA
Universities could be accredited by other regional accredited agencies, not only DETC or SACS. For example, NCU is accredited by one of 6 regionally accredited agencies (HLC-NCACS) and and the Bussiness program is accredited by ACBSP
I intend to include NCU and other regionally accredited schools in a forthcoming list of such programs in Vietnam. DETC (Distance Education and Training Council) is a form of national accreditation. Here is a link to information about the six regional accrediting agencies: http://www.chea.org/Directories/regional.asp.
MAA
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Distance-Learning-2087/f/MBA-program-distance-learning.htm
Beware of the Ph.D. on-line programs. Northcentral University on-line purports to be 100% online but is primarily a correspondence school. NCU uses deceptive advertising. It purports to have an online Ph.D. program. The school is a distance education correspondence program. It is not conducted over the Internet. The Internet capability of the university is grossly ineffective and is one of the weak links in its program. There is no interaction with students and very little, if any, assessment or interaction with professors. It is what one of my colleagues called, a glorified correspondence school. Yet, NCU continues to promote itself as an on-line delivery system simply because there may be some limited emails and download files or information.
NCU may try to compare itself to large private programs, but these schools are mostly owned by publicly held corporations that are subject to Sarbanes Oxley and thus a higher standard of accountability. They also have the resources to provide multi-media on-line educational programs and have the library and faculty resources to provide a viable program. NCU does not have any of these.
NCU has demonstrated very little accountability or service initiative. Although NCU is accredited, it promotes its services in a deceptive manner. It should be classified with unethical marketing scams. It is not an on-line program. It is a correspondence school.
NCU is not a student friendly environment, nor is it transparent and accountable in its disclosure. NCU advertising is deceptive and I believe that this is wrong and should be changed and or reported to the public at large.
Their student service is not effective and their focus is primarily on money. Students will receive much better service from large traditional or private universities.
NCU will not refund your money after you enroll and determine that their program was not what they purported it to be. In fact, they will ignore you and use unethical tactics to harass you. They continue to use false advertising and this warrants public disclosure and, at least, preventing others from falling for NCU’s deceptions. Although they may rank well in terms of cost, please remember, you get what you pay for. And you will not get much from this correspondence school.
Search for an AACSB school or a regionally credited school that has a long successful history and/ or is backed by a credible organization that has the resources to provide a top rated program.
Soon prospective students (and their families) will have to learn about accreditation beyond the regional ones. A university may be accredited but some of its specialized programs may be not. In the field of Business Administration (I’m familiar with this field because I have been a business school faculty for 30+ years), it’s AACSB (http://www.aacsb.edu) accreditation that one needs to look for (see a comment above by maavn). There is another accreditation agency named ACBSP but (sorry!) it’s a very long way to the quality standard of AACSB. You can go through the lists of AACSB and ACBSP business schools and tell the big difference. The best known universities in the US are in AACSB list, none in the ACBSP list.
Why does this matter? For one, when students invest several years of their life and their family’s life-time saving, they should try to get the best for their investment. For another, when it comes to applying for graduate programs (PhD, MS and MBA) or even for transfer of credits from one undergraduate program to the another, AACSB accreditation matters a good deal. My advice for Vietnamese students seeking US business education is not putting themselves in a disadvantageous position.
In my 30+ years as a business school faculty, my business school has gone through AACSB re-accreditation 4 times. The process is quite demanding. The school has to demonstrate its resources commitments, student learning, faculty qualifications, continuous program improvements, and so forth. For prospective students, that’s an assurance of value for their investment of time and money.
I would like to ask you if Troy State University is a nationally accredited one. Troy has joned MBA & BBA programs with the University of Economics, Hanoi National university.
Thank you very much for your answer.
best regards,
Ngoc
According to the CHEA (Council for Higher Education Accreditation) “Database of Institutions Accredited By Recognized
U.S. Accrediting Organizations” Troy is accredited by SACS, one of the regional accrediting agencies in the US (http://www.sacscoc.org)
Troy University
University Avenue
Troy, AL 36082
United States
Phone: (334) 670-3000
Fax:
Web: http://www.troy.edu
Institutional Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Commission on Colleges. Please click on the accrediting organization link for the specific dates of the accreditation.
Since you mention MBA and BBA programs, I would advise you to check AACSB (www.aacsb.edu) and find out for yourself about the business accreditation for Troy State Univ.
I’m by Griggs University MBA level, through training link between ETC center of Hanoi, National University with Griggs University and orgnizing in Ho Chi Minh City from July 2009 to lock in March 2010. Can you tell us the degree of this training programs have been linked Chea accredited or not?
Thank you!
Please see the reference to Griggs University in this post.
MAA
I would like to ask you about qualification of candidates who graduated from these nationally accredited schools if I want to employ them (in comparison with Vietnamese schools whether I should pay more money)
There’s no simple answer to your question because it depends upon a number of factors. Ultimately, you have to make judgement based on your company’s needs, the dictates of the marketplace (i.e., what s/he could earn elsewhere) and the qualifications, experience, skills and qualities of the candidate sitting in front of you.
MAA
[…] Thí dụ 2: Bản dịch bài viết của ông Mark Ashwill […]
Here’s an article from 8.9.10 about Columbia Southern University that appeared in VietnamNet (source: Tien Phong)
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/reports/201009/Centre-found-training-thousands-of-MBA’s-illegally-934190/
hello , please i need to know if any of this schools are Accredited,
Central Western University Texas
Southern National University Florida
Westfield University
Liberty International University
thanks
Central Western University, Arlington, Texas (unaccredited)
Liberty International University, Tampa, Florida (unaccredited)
Southern National University, website registered in Pennsylvania, (unaccredited)
Westfield State University, Westfield, Massachusetts (regionally accredited) – Was it Westfield State University or “Westfield University”? Do you have a website address?
MAA
Please they are not clear to me which of them, are accredited? please indicate them one after the other.
1,Central Western University Texas
2,Southern National University http://www.southernnationaledu.org/
3,Westfield University
4,Liberty International University
/www.westfield-university.com
Westfield University, PA? (unaccredited)
registrant-firstname: Oneandone
registrant-lastname: Private Registration
registrant-organization: 1&1 Internet, Inc. – http://1and1.com/contact
registrant-street1: 701 Lee Road, Suite 300
registrant-street2: ATTN: westfield-university.com
registrant-pcode: 19087
registrant-state: PA
registrant-city: Chesterbrook
registrant-ccode: US
registrant-phone: +1.8772064254 +1.8772064254
Thanks for the Info please can you check the other site for me thanks. i really appreciate you.
http://www.centralwestern-edu.org/
http://www.southernnationaledu.org/
http://www.libertyedu.org/
http://www.corllinsuniversity.com/
They are all unaccredited. Here’s a link to the list on my blog, including Corllins Univ.: https://markashwill.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/new-the-dishonor-roll-of-u-s-rogue-providers-in-vietnam.
MAA
ũa,cac bac cho e hỏi vậy là bang lien ket cua troy o viet nam co đc hoa ki cong nhan ko vậy
This is a very personal decision. As with any degree program, find out as much as possible about the program in which you’re interested. Ask the school a lot of questions and request the names and contact information of current students and alumni willing to talk to you about their experience. Good luck! Chúc bạn may mắn!
If anyone hears about any of the following unaccredited schools operating in Vietnam or recruiting Vietnamese students, please let me know.
Cental Western University (http://www.centralwestern-edu.org)
Southern National University (http://www.southernnationaledu.org)
Liberty International University (http://www.libertyedu.org)
Does anyone have a direct phone number to Liberty International University?
As you probably already know, there is only a fax number on their website: 1-817-533-1714. http://libertyedu.org/contact.html
You could look up their domain name to find a contact telephone number, assuming the registration isn’t private. Here’s what I found:
William Gibson
Tech Organization:Liberty International University
Tech Street: Private School
Tech City:Tampa
Tech State/Province:FL
Tech Postal Code:33602
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+81.32306663
MAA
Can you please let me know about Anthem University & Wilmington National University? Does the degreees from this universities hold any value??
I couldn’t find “Anthem University.” What’s the website address? “Wilmington National University” doesn’t appear to be accredited by a US government-approved accrediting agency. It’s probably just a company incorporated in Delaware, probably with the help of this company, whose address it uses: https://www.cscglobal.com/global/web/csc/contact-us.html.
Thanks Maavn. Website of Anthem University is http://www.anthem-edu.org/ Please check & let me know.
My best advice is to check the CHEA database, which lists schools and the type of accreditation they have, e.g., regional or national. http://chea.org/search/default.asp