Preston
When it advertised ..
..in the Straits Times 5 years ago, a Singapore website issued
a 'watch' alert on the uncredited institute. Littlespeck
carried this, plus names of others as well as degree mills.
By Seah Chiang Nee.
Sep 9, 2008
On Oct 29, 2003, Littlespeck quoted from The Australian
newspaper, which listed two lists of universities 1. uncredited
universities and 2. degree mills, which listed Preston University
as belonging to the 2nd category. The article contained their
respective names under the following synopsis: -
Wannabe universities
More degree mills and uncredited universities cash in on
education-hungry world. The A-Z watch list to watch for
by The Australian. Oct 29, 2003.
The lists of both categories can be found at:
http://www.littlespeck.com/content/education/CTrendsEdu-031020wannabe.htm
Nine days earlier, another Littlespeck report said: -
Distant-learning
Red alert
Watch out for US distant learning "universities" advertised
in Singapore whose degrees are not recognised, warns alert
local website.
Oct 20, 2003
The following was put out by HardwareZone.com forum moderator,
Jayan on Oct 19, 2003 as public service to ensure interested
Singaporeans get the proper information. (Hardwarezone has
since been bought over by The Strats Times.
http://www.littlespeck.com/content/education/CTrendsEdu-031020.htm
PRESTON UNIVERSITY
Dear Fellow Forumers,
The above-mentioned "university" is offering
Bachelor, Master and Doctoral-level degrees in Singapore
via distance-learning
through its local agency - Centre for Professional Studies.
The advertisement appears in the 21/10/2002 issue of the
Straits Times, Home section, page H10.
Update: The same ad appears in the Straits Times again (11/11/2002).
Update: Once again, the ad appears in the Straits Times,
this time in page H6 (17/2/2003).
Please be notified that for the degrees of an USA-based
university to be recognised by the Singapore Government for
the purpose of employment in the Civil Service, or for further
studies in NUS, NTU and SMU, the university MUST gain accreditation
in any of these 6 regional accreditation associations:
1) Middle State Association of Colleges and Schools
2) New England Association of Schools and Colleges
3) North Central Association of Schools and Colleges
4) Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
5) Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
6) Western Association of Schools and Colleges
"Licensed by Wyoming State Department of Education
(USA)" as stated in the advertisement is NOT considered
regional accreditation, or any other accrediting agencies
as advertised in Preston's website.
The following is a link to the website of Preston University.
The university did not claim to have any form of regional
accreditation, see this link for details: http://www.prestonuni.org/accredit.htm
For clarification,
on the part whereby Preston University claimed to be a
member of ACBSP, please note
that it is an "organisational
member" i.e. it can be any company or organisation,
but it's not an government-recognised university or college
i.e. "institutional member". Being a member of
ACBSP is NOT equivalent to receiving accreditation by ACBSP.
-----
TRIDENT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (USA)
Dear Fellow Forumers,
The above-mentioned "university" is offering Bachelor,
Advanced Diploma and Diploma-level qualifications in Singapore
via distance-learning through its local agency - Tyndale
Business Schools.
The advertisement appears in the 21/10/2002 issue of the
Straits Times, Home section, page H4.
Read This Please:
Oregon State Government's Office of Degree Authorisation
(ODA) has a comprehensive list of bogus or illegal "universities".
The degrees
awarded by these "universities" are
outlawed in the State of Oregon, USA.
Preston University and Trident University of Technology are
in this list.
See http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/unaccredited.html
Please understand that I have nothing against you, but the
purpose of this thread is not to serve to discredit distance-learning
courses, but rather to warn the prospective students who
wish to have an undergard or postgrad education against unscrupulous
scams posing as universities.
There are many reputable private institutions in S'pore
e.g. MDIS, SIM and PSB Academy to name a few, that offer
undergrad and postgrad courses with degrees awarded by reputable
and well-accredited universities like:
1) U.Nottingham
2) U.Bradford
3) U.Adelaide
4) Monash U
5) Loughborough U
6) Oklahoma City U
7) Curtin U of Technology
8) RMIT
9) and many others.........
We shouldn't forget that even the highly regarded U. Chicago
MBA course offered in SG is also another form of distance-learning,
though I have to admit that without a central authority overseeing
these courses, the quality varies greatly.
There are more and more of our own S'poreans that get their
degrees from distance-learning courses, this is a fact that
we cannot ignore and they, like full-time students, have
put in a lot of efforts in their studies too, and often more
in view of their dual role as a student and a worker.
Sincerely
Jayan, Hardwarezone.com
Oct 20, 2003
http://www.littlespeck.com/content/education/CTrendsEdu-031020.htm
