When seeking higher education, avoid the 'diploma mills'

By Donna K. Woodward

MEDAN (JP): Many students from developing countries, including Indonesia, are eager to pursue an overseas education. Students and their families sometimes choose foreign schools because they have more confidence in overseas education systems.

Other reasons why families prefer an overseas education include they believe that a foreign university degree is more marketable than a local degree and will lead to a better salary later.

Long-distance foreign university education programs have recently started to gain in popularity in Indonesia and other developing countries, especially since the start of the krismon, the monetary crisis.

Local branches of overseas universities are particularly attractive. They promise a quality education, a foreign degree, ease of admission and a lower price tag. They will become more popular as overseas universities take advantage of Indonesia's liberalized rules for establishing their presence here.

Because of this, students may need to exercise caution to avoid becoming victims of "diploma mills".

While the following comments apply specifically to American universities, the caveat to Indonesian students to do some research beforehand seems valid with respect to any foreign university.

Diploma mills are unaccredited institutions that issue diplomas and degrees without delivering the quality education that is the basis of a legitimate degree.

Would you like to become a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Business Administration, or maybe a Doctor of Philosophy?

Bisa diatur -- It can be arranged -- to cite a phrase for almost any interest here.

In the last few years several institutions with American- sounding names have appeared in Indonesia's major cities, claiming to offer accredited U.S. university degrees through a local partner-institution.

Some of these may be legitimate. For example, the Duke University MBA program is what it claims to be, a thoroughly first-class, credible, accredited program.

But other programs operating in Indonesia are not what they claim to be. They misleadingly promise applicants a degree from an "accredited" U.S. university.

They are in fact exploiting students' lack of information about American education. To understand why their claims are misleading, one needs to understand something about accreditation of schools and universities in the U.S.

University accreditation is to education what ISO 9000 is to manufacturing, a means of verifying quality.

The earliest educational accreditation programs in the U.S. began in the early 1900s, when medical professionals decided it was important to ensure the quality of medical schools.

They developed standards for judging the quality of medical education, and then they recognized or "accredited" those schools which met the established standards.

This is what university accreditation is: recognition by a body or board of respected experts or professionals that a university meets certain minimum standards of excellence.

Over the years, many university accreditation agencies sprang up in the U.S. Eventually two bodies, one governmental and one nongovernmental, were recognized as having legitimate responsibility for evaluating the many educational accrediting agencies throughout the U.S.

One, the U.S. Department of Education, is a unit of the federal government. The other, COPA, the Council On Postsecondary Accreditation, is a private group.

These two bodies do not accredit universities; they instead accredit the accreditation agencies, as it were.

An accredited university is one which has been accredited by an accreditation agency approved by either COPA or the U.S. Department of Education.

Some institutions in Indonesia claim they are licensed or incorporated in the U.S. and are therefore "accredited".

Those considering an association with these schools should understand the difference between being incorporated or licensed in the U.S., and being accredited.

Unless a university is accredited by an accrediting agency as explained above, they are not recognized as accredited, even though they may be licensed.

In the U.S. it is lawful for an educational institution to operate without becoming accredited, so long as it does not falsely claim to be accredited.

Accreditation is not about legality. It is about recognized educational excellence. To be fair, there are some unaccredited institutions which offer good courses.

But as a rule, degrees from unaccredited universities will not give the expertise or entry into a professional career or the respect that a degree from an accredited university will give.

A degree from an unaccredited university is worth little in the U.S. A degree from a nonaccredited university will not be accepted by an accredited graduate school or by the best corporate employers as evidence of an acceptable U.S. education.

If an employer is not fussy about credentials, then perhaps this degree will work. But for further higher education at a recognized university, or employment with the better companies, degrees from unaccredited universities will not carry a person very far.

Moreover Europe, Canada and Australia also recognize the difference between accredited and unaccredited American universities.

Justify

Directors of these unaccredited schools commonly justify them by saying that if a student possesses any kind of foreign credentials this will help him/her get better employment in his/her home country.

Or they say that the students are bound to learn something if they are taking courses. Thus, they say, the programs have some value.

The point is that these schools are claiming to give degrees that signify an accredited high-quality university education.

That is what the student is paying for and expecting. But that is not what the student is getting.

Should the student's education or credentials later be questioned, there may be embarrassment for the student and his/her family.

Those who are academically qualified for admission to an American university, but who for financial or other reasons cannot study full-time in the U.S., have alternatives.

Many accredited U.S. universities offer legitimate nonresident programs, which permit students to complete course requirements for a U.S. degree from overseas countries.

These programs are structured, regulated, and monitored by the parent university; they meet certain standards. They are accredited. Students are required to pass English language and standardized academic tests before being admitted to the programs. Fees are lower than they would be for attending university in the U.S., but the tuition is not cheap.

There are 10 COPA -- or U.S. Department of Education -- approved university accrediting agencies. In addition, there are national agencies which accredit professional educational programs: law, medicine, business administration, psychology, etc.

And because of the U.S. federal system, each state also has an agency to set minimum educational standards for schools within its borders.

But there are also dozens of unapproved accreditation agencies in the U.S. Universities "accredited" by one of these nonapproved agencies are not considered accredited.

How can a student learn whether or not a university program is legitimately accredited? The surest way is to contact one of the 10 approved accreditation agencies in the U.S., or COPA or the U.S. Department of Education.

The American Indonesian Education Foundation (AMINEF) in Jakarta will be able to provide the names and addresses of the these agencies.

Finally, a note about the claims of some local institutions that their programs are "legalized" by an Indonesian Consulate General abroad. Whatever this may mean, it does not mean that a school is accredited in the sense explained above.

This may instead be a procedure used by the Consulate General for it's own reasons.

As we say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. An institution which promises a BS or MBA or even PhD degree from an accredited American university but does not require English language proficiency, does not conduct lectures and tests in English, employs as lecturers persons whose credentials would not be accepted by accredited universities in the U.S., and requires only a few hours of classes a day for several terms, is too good to be true. Question this.

The writer is advisor to American Alumni Association of Medan.