Type | Unrecognized higher education accreditor |
---|---|
President | Maxine Asher |
The World Association of Universities and Colleges (WAUC) is an institutional educational accreditation body not recognized by the United States Department of Education. [1] It is run by Maxine Asher, director of the American World University, an unaccredited school. [2] WAUC's website claims that "laws in the U.S.A. prohibit the recognition of global accreditation associations". [3]
According to Maxine Asher's American World University, World Association of Universities and Colleges was started in 1992. [4]
In March 2001, WAUC was reported to be using an executive suite in Henderson, Nevada as its address. [5]
In 2004, Asher was forced to close down the World University of Iowa, a Hawaii-based institution similar to American World University and accredited by World Association of Universities and Colleges. [6] As part of a summary judgement, she was ordered to cease operations, refund tuition money to all students, and pay $240,000 in damages. [6] The action came as part of a statewide crackdown on unaccredited schools, as many had relocated there after 1999 in an effort to evade regulation in the mainland United States. [6] During court proceedings, Asher refused to provide school documentation such as a list of students. [6]
In June 2007, the organization's website listed an address in Beverly Hills, California and WAUC listed 57 accredited schools and 28 nonaccredited "members only" schools. [7] In 2010, it offered accreditation for limited time offer at $500. [8]
As of September 2011, WAUC's website was offline. [9]
In 2012, the World Association of Universities and Colleges claims "a membership of forty universities, with dozens of other worthy institutions in the process of application.". [4]
As of 2008, WAUC listed the following as accredited members: [10]
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 or degree mill is a business that sells illegitimate diplomas or academic degrees, respectively. The term diploma mill is also used pejoratively to describe any educational institution with low standards for admission and graduation, low career placement rate, or low average starting salaries of its graduates.
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".
Maxine Klein Asher was an Atlantis researcher who founded and operated American World University, an institution which sold academic degrees, and the World Association of Universities and Colleges, an institution which "accredited" American World University, as well as other universities selling mail-order degrees which paid for accreditation by that body. Neither institution is accredited by any accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education.
The Universidad de las Américas, Asociación Civil is a university located in Mexico City, Mexico. It was founded in 1940 as the Mexico City College (MCC). In 1963, its name was changed to the University of the Americas and in 1968 to the Universidad de las Américas.
Suffield University is an unaccredited internet school specializing in what it calls Life Experience Degrees, issued upon payment, with life experience assessment based on the word of the applicant. Suffield is not accredited by any accreditation body recognized by its country. According to the US Department of Education, unaccredited degrees and credits might not be acceptable to employers or other institutions, and use of degree titles may be restricted or illegal in some jurisdictions.
American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions (AAATI) is a Christian nonprofit organization based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It was founded by Cecil Johnson, president of Christian Bible College, a distance education Bible college based in Rocky Mount North Carolina.
Pacific International University was an unaccredited, evangelical, Christian diploma mill college located in Springfield, Missouri. Carl Baugh, a 1989 alumnus, was the university's president.
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.
Madison University is a non-accredited distance learning college located in Gulfport, Mississippi. The state of Mississippi considers Madison an "unapproved" college. Madison is also listed as an unaccredited and/or substandard institution by four other U.S. states. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Madison University has been referred to as a diploma mill by the state of Oregon.
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.
The International Accreditation Agency for Online Universities (IAAOU) is a self-styled "accreditation" board based in the United States. It has no status with the United States Department of Education (USDE) or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Without USDE and CHEA recognition, its "accreditations" are essentially meaningless.
St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine was a medical training establishment in Luton, England, as a college within the University El Hadji Ibrahima Niasse of Dakar, Senegal. The Luton, England campus was closed in 2011.
Unaccredited institutions of higher education are colleges, trade schools, seminaries, and universities which do not have formal educational accreditation.
Columbus University is an unaccredited distance education institution that has been based at different times in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The University of San Andrés is a private university located in Victoria, Buenos Aires, Argentina on the shores of the Rio de la Plata, in the metropolitan area of Greater Buenos Aires. It is a small institution, with approximately 900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students.
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.
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