A diploma mill is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fake), or misrepresented. These degrees may claim to give credit for relevant life experience, but should not be confused with legitimate prior learning assessment programs. They may also claim to evaluate work history or require submission of a thesis or dissertation for evaluation to give an appearance of authenticity. Diploma mills are frequently supported by accreditation mills, set up for the purpose of providing an appearance of authenticity. The term may also be used pejoratively to describe an accredited institution with low academic admission standards and a low job placement rate. An individual may or may not be aware that the degree they have obtained is not wholly legitimate. In either case, legal issues can arise if the qualification is used in resumes.
The Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) is a private, voluntary, non-profit and non-stock corporation which was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines. It is a service organization which accredits academic programs which meet commonly accepted standards of quality education.
The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), formerly the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, was established as an organization to represent quality assurance and accreditation organisations from the European Higher Education Area and internationally.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order to certify the quality of higher education accrediting organizations, including regional, faith-based, private, career, and programmatic accrediting organizations.
An accreditation mill is an organization that purports to award educational accreditation to higher education institutions without having government authority or recognition from mainstream academia to operate as an accreditor. Implicit in the terminology is the assumption that the "mill" has low standards for such accreditation. Accreditation mills are much like diploma mills, and in many cases are closely associated with diploma mills. The "accreditation" they supply has no legal or academic value but is used in diploma mill marketing to help attract students.
The Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ), (HKCAA) is a statutory body established under the HKCAAVQ Ordinance which came into effect on 1 October 2007.
The University of the Aegean is a public, multi-campus university located in Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, Syros and Lemnos, Greece. It was founded on March 20, 1984, by the Presidential Act 83/1984 and its administrative headquarters are located in the town of Mytilene, on the island of Lesvos.
The German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) is a private university in Halban, Oman. It was established in 2007 in Muscat in collaboration with RWTH Aachen University in Germany, one of the leading and top-ranked universities of technology in Europe. GUtech was one of the first universities in Oman to receive international accreditation for all its BSc and BEng programs. In the Academic Year 2019 more than 2200 students were enrolled in GUtech's programs. GUtech is now one of the best universities in Oman.
The Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) is the national quality assurance and regulatory agency responsible for evaluation and accreditation of higher educational institutions and universities in the United Arab Emirates. Established in 2000, it comes under the country's Ministry of Education.
Harokopio University of Athens, HUA is a public research university based in Kallithea, Athens, Greece.
The Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Education (OAAAQA), formerly the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA) is charged with assisting in the development of the higher education sector in Oman through institutional quality audits and institutional and program accreditation processes. Also, in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, it has responsibilities for establishing academic standards, and providing training and networking opportunities.
Educational accreditation is a quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated and verified by an external body to determine whether applicable and recognized standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the appropriate agency.
Higher education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of post-secondary educational institutions or programs are evaluated to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the agency.
The Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) is recognised accreditation body in all German speaking countries (Germany-Switzerland-Austria), FIBAA was founded in 2002 to accredit schools of business. Since the launch of the European Bologna Process, along with the transition to bachelor's and master's programs and the growing independence available to higher education institutions (HEIs) in designing their degree programs, the call for the HEIs to establish and advance sound and transparent quality assurance systems has grown continuously.
October 6 University (O6U) is a private university located in Giza, 6th of October City, Egypt. It was established by the Republican Decree no. 243 in 1996.
The ADRI approach to evaluation of an organization's effectiveness considers the following:
- Approach: what processes, strategies, and structures have been developed and reasons why they have been selected;
- Deployment: how these processes, strategies, and structures have been implemented;
- Results: what trends are indicated by the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how this is assessed; and
- Improvement: what process is used for reviewing the appropriateness and effectiveness of the Approach and Deployment above.
