When Federal Agents Come Calling: Educating Campus Stakeholders

26/03/2012 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary diploma mills, rogue providers, unaccredited schools, visa policy

Sounds scary, huh? This is the name of a webinar offered by NAFSA: Association of International Educators on 22 March. For $149 for members ($189 for nonmembers) you could have “come away with strategies for building positive relationships with federal agents and dealing with difficult situations.” According to the webinar “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently … Continue reading When Federal Agents Come Calling: Educating Campus Stakeholders

US-Based or Affiliated Unaccredited Institutions in Vietnam

13/02/201225/04/2014 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary, Updates corruption, rogue providers, unaccredited schools

Consider the following list of (22) U.S.-based or affiliated unaccredited schools that have entered the higher education market in Vietnam as a dishonor roll of sorts. Most are "online universities" and some are diploma mills, defined as "a usually unregulated institution of higher education granting degrees with few or no academic requirements." For information about New Typologies for Crossborder Higher Education, … Continue reading US-Based or Affiliated Unaccredited Institutions in Vietnam

“California Leads Nation in Unaccredited Schools, and Enforcement Is Lax”

16/01/2012 Mark A. Ashwill Articles, Updates accreditation, corruption, diploma mills, international students, rogue providers, unaccredited schools

Check out this excellent article by investigative reporter Jennifer Gollan about Frederick Taylor University (FTU), which I've written about on these hallowed pages and which appears on my list of US-based unaccredited schools. FTU has been quite active in Vietnam in recent years and therefore a substantial source of revenue for this state-approved rogue provider. Knowing … Continue reading “California Leads Nation in Unaccredited Schools, and Enforcement Is Lax”

Is Imitation the Sincerest Form of Flattery?

14/12/201114/12/2011 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary, Updates academic globalization, accreditation, rogue providers, unaccredited schools, US-Vietnam educational exchange

The Global Institute of Strategic Management (GISM), which has close ties to Akamai University, a Hawaii-based school that appears on my list of unaccredited US institutions, has a logo that bears a striking resemblance to the Great Seal of a certain US federal executive department charged with implementing that country's foreign policy. Compare the above logo with that on the US … Continue reading Is Imitation the Sincerest Form of Flattery?

“Our Member Universities are the leaders in on line distance learning…”

23/11/201128/12/2011 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary accreditation, corruption, diploma mills, international students, rogue providers, visa policy

I feel so empowered! 🙂 I just received an email from Martha (or whatever her/his/its name is), an Academic Counselor at College Degree Fast, the subject of a previous post, informing me that my requested degree choice Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration has been approved by the following accredited universities: Central Western University (Texas) Southern National University … Continue reading “Our Member Universities are the leaders in on line distance learning…”

Education UK: Vietnam Country Partner Meeting

21/10/201104/11/2011 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary, Events academic partnerships, accreditation, british council, community colleges, diploma mills, education agents, higher education fairs, international student recruitment, national accreditation, rogue providers, soft power

I was invited to speak on Friday, 14 October to representatives from 60 British colleges and universities who were in Vietnam for a series of events, including the UK higher education fairs in Hanoi, HCMC and Danang. My assigned topic was The Study Abroad Market: A US Perspective. During the 30 minutes or so at my disposal, … Continue reading Education UK: Vietnam Country Partner Meeting

Caveat Emptor! US Rogue Providers Discover Vietnam

24/09/2011 Mark A. Ashwill Articles academic partnerships, accreditation, corruption, diploma mills, regional accreditation, rogue providers, unaccredited schools

If you're interested in reading a rather lengthy(6-page) treatment of this issue in a Vietnamese context, check out this article I wrote for the August 2011 issue of wRAP-Up Newsletter. As I've mentioned in a number of settings, most recently in this June 2011 essay entitled Letting in the Fresh Air and the Flies: The Mixed … Continue reading Caveat Emptor! US Rogue Providers Discover Vietnam

Chutzpah & Unaccredited (US) Higher Education Providers

10/08/2011 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary accreditation, educational advising, emerging economies, rogue providers, unaccredited schools

Chutzpah (pronounced /ˈhʊtspə/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad, but it is generally used negatively. The word derives from the Hebrew word ḥuṣpâ (חֻצְפָּה), meaning "insolence", "audacity", and "impertinence." This word, one of my favorites, describes with great precision a recent email exchange I had with the representative of an unaccredited California-based school. … Continue reading Chutzpah & Unaccredited (US) Higher Education Providers

A Year Ago Today

30/07/2011 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary, Updates corruption, diploma mills, rogue providers, unaccredited schools

Today is the first anniversary of the day that An International Educator received the most traffic ever in a 24-hour period - 1,315 views. The catalyst? An interview in the Vietnamese language media (i.e., Tuổi Trẻ Online) about unaccredited US schools in Vietnam that spread like wildfire. 2010-07-30 Title Views Home page 1,015 US-Based or Affiliated … Continue reading A Year Ago Today

An International Educator in Vietnam

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