IOND University

Last updated

IOND University is an unaccredited supplier of distance education based in Japan and registered as a domestic nonprofit corporation in Hawaii. [1] It is considered to be a diploma mill operation by experts in Japan. [2]

The university dates its beginnings to April 12, 1999. Its name is an acronym for International Organization for Nontraditional Distance Learning. [3]

IOND's programs include studies in Japanese traditional culture for students who are United States citizens. [4] Other areas of study offered include liberal arts, hypnosis, international relations (including defense, religion, and political economy), art, music, management, sciences, engineering, English, Japanese sword, Budō, unknown phenomena research (including UFOlogy, ESP, and paranormal phenomena), environmental sciences, and marine sciences. [5] Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. degrees are offered. [6]

The university states that its "first motto" is "We care about what you know, not where you learned it." [6] This motto refers to the university's practice of awarding academic credit for life experience. According to IOND's website, "We assess and evaluate the student's personal experience and convert it into university credits... The professor scientifically assesses and evaluates the student's personal experience and achievements. The professor then provides the technical and methodological learning direction so as to change the student's personal experience into knowledge. We issue degrees to students according to their level of achievement of their learning paradigm." [6]

IOND's website states that the institution has academic partnerships with Mindanao State University and "Univaersidad De Manila" (possibly referring to Universidad de Manila) in the Philippines and with the University of Łódź in Poland, [7] but the Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization (ODA) states that there is "no evidence of legal authority to issue degrees valid in Philippines" and that the University of Łódź denies being affiliated with IOND. [2] [8] The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board states that IOND has claimed to be approved by the Philippines, but "that appears to consist of a claim of affiliation with some Philippine universities, which does not constitute approval to operate". [9]

The State of Hawaii filed an official complaint against IOND University charging violation of state consumer protection laws. Trial was conducted in October 2008 [10] and the judge issued an oral summary decision on October 17, 2008. [11]

Related Research Articles

Bronte International University is an unaccredited post-secondary educational institution formerly in South Dakota. It is widely considered to be a diploma mill, operated from an unknown location. Its website offers "fast" degrees for "life experience."

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.

Honolulu University of the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, or just Honolulu University, is an unaccredited institution of nontraditional higher education.

American World University (AWU) is an unaccredited institution offering post-secondary education programs by distance learning. It has no physical campus. It awards academic degrees. In January 2000 American World University offered "all degrees" for $1,000 as a "New Years Special".

Hamilton University was an unaccredited institution based in Evanston, Wyoming. According to the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, it was first established in Hawaii as American State University. It has since been closed by court order in Wyoming and has relocated to the Bahamas under the name Richardson University.

Breyer State University, also called Breyer State University-Alabama, is an unaccredited distance education, for profit, private university that formerly operated in the U.S. states of Idaho and Alabama and now reports a location in Panama. It has been described by The New Republic magazine as a diploma mill that "claimed official-sounding accreditation to attract hundreds of people to obtain degrees". Breyer State University disputes this categorization.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochville University</span>

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".

American Central University (ACU) was an unaccredited distance learning private, for-profit university licensed by the state of Wyoming in 2004. The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization stated that the institution may be run from Malaysia.

Rushmore University is an unaccredited institution of higher learning offering online degrees in a variety of business-related fields, exclusively via distance learning. It has been described as a diploma mill, providing illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee.

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.

Pacific Western University (Hawaii) was an unaccredited university that closed in May 2006 following a lawsuit filed by the State of Hawaii a year earlier.

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 from the American University in London.

Cambridge State University was a diploma mill, formerly operated in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Hawaii, then relocated to Mississippi, which offered university-level degrees via distance education. It is not a state school but a proprietary private university.

Washington International University is an online unaccredited institution of higher education founded in 1994 and currently incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. It describes itself as a "cyberspace university" and a "university without borders", serving clients from around the world online. The university website states that WIU's graduates have come from 112 countries.

Bienville University was an unaccredited institution that was based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was run by Thomas J. Kirk. Bienville University was referred to as a diploma mill or degree mill in a 2003 article by KVBC News 3. It was never recognised or approved by any accreditation agency and was not approved by the US Department of Education nor the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and has been closed by the State of Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diploma mills in the United States</span>

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.

Warren National University, previously known as Kennedy-Western University, was an unaccredited private distance learning university that claimed to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in the United States from 1984 to 2009. It has been described by federal investigators and news sources as a diploma mill, a designation it has disputed. Its administrative offices were located in Agoura Hills, California.

The Management Institute of Canada or Institut Canadien de Management (MIC) is a Canadian professional school based in Montreal, authorized by the government of Quebec. MIC is an unaccredited non-degree business school in Quebec, offering online programs in business administration.

References

  1. ↑ IOND UNIVERSITY BREG Online Services, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs,the State of Hawaii. (accessed March 2, 2008)
  2. 1 2 List of unaccredited schools and diploma mills Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization website (accessed January 26, 2008)
  3. ↑ IOND University Hawaii Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine website
  4. ↑ Special Offer, IOND website (accessed January 26, 2008)
  5. ↑ Educational Programs Which Promote Success, IOND website (accessed February 19, 2008)
  6. 1 2 3 The Education Ideals and the Purpose, IOND website (accessed February 19, 2008)
  7. ↑ IOND University website, accessed January 26, 2008
  8. ↑ Also see University of Łódź webpage with information about IOND University (in Polish).
  9. ↑ Institutions Whose Degrees are Illegal to Use in Texas Archived 2017-07-12 at the Wayback Machine , Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (accessed February 19, 2008)
  10. ↑ IOND University Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine , State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (accessed October 30, 2008)
  11. ↑ Transcript of Court's Decision in the State vs. IOND University, State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.