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A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or official document of diplomacy.
Saint Regis University sometimes styled as St. Regis University was a diploma mill operation that was one of about 120 connected institutions operated by an American fraud ring from about 1999 until 2005, when it was shut down by U.S. government authorities. The operation was known as "Operation Gold Seal".
A diploma mill is a business that sells illegitimate diplomas or academic degrees. The term diploma mill is also used pejoratively to describe any educational institution with low academic admission standards, low job placement rate, or low average starting salaries of its graduates.
George D. Gollin is an American physics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Besides his work on particle physics and the International Linear Collider, he has since 2003 made numerous efforts in fighting institutions which are considered to be diploma mills, which has caused him to receive significant public attention. Gollin placed second in the 2014 Democratic primary for Illinois's 13th congressional district.
Belford University was an organization that offered online unaccredited degrees for "life experience". The organization maintained a post office box in Humble, Texas, but its certificates were mailed from the United Arab Emirates. Along with many similar websites, it was owned by the Karachi-based company Axact, the main business of which, according to an investigation by The New York Times, is "to take the centuries-old scam of selling fake academic degrees and turn it into an Internet-era scheme on a global scale". In July 2018, Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, the CEO of Axact was arrested and sentenced to prison for 20 years for his role in perpetuating this scam.
Rochville University was an online diploma mill offering a "Life Experience Degree, and Certificate Program" without coursework or prior transcript evaluation. The State of Texas classified it as an "illegal supplier of educational credentials" whose degrees may not be used in Texas. The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization lists it as "fake". Its operation is believed to be centered in Pakistan, and its diplomas and degree certificates have been mailed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Along with many similar enterprises, it is owned by the Karachi based company, Axact, whose main business, according to a New York Times investigation, is "to take the centuries-old scam of selling fake academic degrees and turn it into an Internet-era scheme on a global scale".
Buxton University was an accredited vendor of distance education that used a postal address in the United Kingdom. It is associated with the Instantdegrees.com website.
University Degree Program (UDP) is or was an unaccredited consortium of diploma mills run by Americans Jason and Caroline Abraham beginning in the 1990s. In 2004, The Chronicle of Higher Education called UDP the "granddaddy" of diploma mill operations.
Almeda University was an unaccredited for-profit online university registered on the Caribbean island of Nevis. It offered illegitimate degrees including online certificate programs, general "Life Experience Degrees", and doctorates in religion and theology. Almeda was accredited by the Council for Distance Education Accreditation, the Interfaith Education Ministries (IEM), and the Association for Online Academic Excellence (AOAEX), none of which were recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Almeda University is widely regarded as a diploma mill. It was owned and operated by Pakistani software company Axact.
Operation Dipscam was a series of separate investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the General Accountability Office, the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and other United States agencies from 1980 to 1991. It led to more than 20 convictions and the closing of 39 diploma mills.
The American University of London (AUOL) is an online diploma mill. The company disputes the label and instead describes itself as a for-profit unaccredited educational institution offering undergraduate and graduate degrees solely by distance learning. It is a different organization than the American University in London.
Unaccredited institutions of higher education are colleges, trade schools, seminaries, and universities which do not have formal educational accreditation.
Fairfax University was an unaccredited distance-learning institution established in Louisiana in 1986 and discontinued in 2004. Prior to losing its state of Louisiana license in 2001, it held graduation ceremonies in the US. Its president was the British academic Alan M. Jones, PhD. In 2005 the University was relaunched as Fairfax University Institute with Alan Jones still as its President. In June 2007 several news media sources reported that it had relocated to the Cayman Islands where it was operating under its new name.
Columbia State University was a California-based diploma mill that operated from the mid-1980s until its court-ordered closure in 1998.
The Isles International University/Université (IIU), formerly known as Irish International University and European Business School, is an unaccredited university operating currently in Ireland.
Diploma mills in the United States are organizations that award academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without academic approval by officially recognized educational accrediting bodies or qualified government agencies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit. These degrees are often awarded based on vaguely construed life experience. Some organizations claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved accrediting bodies set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity.
In the United Kingdom a bogus college is a fake college or university used as part of an immigration and visa scam, whereby people from overseas can apply for a British student visa and illegally reside in the United Kingdom. They have also been set up as a money making scam, selling fake qualifications which have no official accreditation, often at the taxpayer's expense.
Axact is a Pakistan software company that runs numerous websites selling fraudulent academic degrees. The company used to own the media company BOL Network.
References
- ↑ "About us". Hedd. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ↑ David Batty (2 August 2016). "More than 30 fake UK universities closed by watchdog". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ↑ Jayne Rowley (18 July 2012). "Degree fraud: detection as deterrent". The Guardian .
- ↑ Sean Coughlan (2 April 2014). "Degree checks 'uncover grade fraud'". BBC News . Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ↑ Caitlin Doherty (8 July 2016). "Students being warned of the dangers of posting graduation selfies". The Independent . Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ↑ "Fake university degree websites shut down". BBC News . 3 January 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ↑ "Prospects signs agreement on degree verification between UK and China". OnRec. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2018.