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COMMON ATTRIBUTES OF DIPLOMA MILLS Diploma mills are frequently named to sound confusingly similar to those of prestigious, Accredited Academic institutions. Despite the fact that Trademark Law is intended to prevent this situation, diploma mills continue to employ various methods to avoid legal recourse. In their marketing and advertising campaigns, the mills will often misleadingly claim to be "accredited" when, in fact, many are found to have been endorsed by "dummy" accreditation boards set up by company affiliates. In an attempt to appear more legitimate to potential students, Accreditation Mill s based in the United States may model their websites after real accrediting agencies overseen by the Council For Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Some may even advertise services for transcript notation and diploma verification in order to seem more legitimate. Another typical ploy is for mills to claim to be internationally recognized by organizations such as UNESCO . UNESCO, however, does not possess the mandate to accredit or recognize institutions of higher education or their programs and diplomas. As diploma mills are typically also "licensed" to do business, it is also common practice within the industry to misuse their business license to imply government approval. Compared to legitimately accredited institutions, diploma mills tend to have drastically lowered or practically non-existent requirements for academic Coursework , with some even allowing their students to purchase credentials rather than earn them. Students may be required to purchase textbooks, take tests, and submit homework, but degrees are nonetheless conferred after little or no study. Many diploma mills may claim to offer qualifications on the basis of life experience or completed coursework, but most require payment prior to issuing a diploma, degree or certificate. The mills do not evaluate academic documents or potential. Buyers use the diplomas to claim academic credentials for use in securing employment (e.g., a Schoolteacher may buy a degree from a diploma mill in order to advance to Superintendent ). Some diploma mills claim to be based outside the country they get customers from. This is common with "offshore" jurisdictions. CHARACTERISTICS OF DIPLOMA MILLS Characteristics of diploma mills that differentiate them from respected institutions include the following:
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS Degrees and diplomas issued by diploma mills have been used to obtain employment, raises, or clients. Even if issuing or receiving a diploma mill qualification is legal, passing it off as an accredited one for personal gain is a Crime in many jurisdictions. In some cases the diploma mill may itself be guilty of an Offense , if it knew or ought to have known that the qualifications it issues are used for fraudulent purposes. Diploma mills could also be guilty of Fraud if they mislead customers into believing that the qualifications they issue are accredited or recognized, or make false claims that they will lead to career advancement, and accept money on the basis of these claims. Some unaccredited institutions include disclaimers in respect of accreditation in the small print of their contracts. Fake degrees are risky for buyers and consumers, says Australia In Australia it is a criminal offense to call an institution a university, or issue university degrees, without authorization through an act of federal or state parliaments. Under the Higher Education Support Act 2003, corporations wishing to use the term "university" require approval from the Minister for Education, Science and Training. The corporate regulator [http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf ASIC] places strict controls on corporations wishing to use the term "university" and the name must not imply a connection with an existing university (e.g. University Avenue Newsagent Pty Ltd) and the applicant does not intend to provide education services. The Corporations Regulations 2001 lists the 39 academic organisations permitted to use the title "university". The use of higher education terms (such as "degree") is protected in state legislation, e.g. Higher Education (Qld) Act 2003. Specific penalties are given within the individual acts and more generally are also covered by the "Misleading and Deceptive Conduct" provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974, permitting fines in excess of $10M AUS. Canada In 2006 the Canada Border Services Agency reported concerns about "visa mills," fraudulent universities operated for the sole purpose of helping foreign nationals obtain student Visa s to allow them to enter Canada . Student visas used as ticket into Canada , Chad Skelton, CanWest News Service, Vancouver Sun, July 31, 2007 Germany In Germany it is a criminal offense to call an institution a university, a Fachhochschule , or issue academic degrees, without authorization through an act of the respective State's Ministry of Education. It is also a criminal offense to falsely claim a degree in Germany if it does not meet accredited approval. Some corporate training programs in Germany use the English term "corporate university". Although such use of the term might be argued to be illegal, in practice it is tolerated since everyone understands that such programs are not actual universities. Hong Kong It is illegal under Hong Kong law's Chap. 320 ''Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance'' Sec. 8 to use the word 'University' unless approved by Chief Executive in Council. Under HK Laws. Chap 200 ''Crimes Ordinance'', Section 73, anyone who knowingly used false documents with the intention of inducing somebody to accept it as genuine, "is liable for a 14 years imprisonment term". Section 76 outlines that anyone who make or possess machines that creates false documents are also "liable for 14 years jail time". India The University Grants Commission Act 1956 explains, "the right of conferring or granting degrees shall be exercised only by a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, or a State Act, or an Institution deemed to be University or an institution specially empowered by an Act of the Parliament to confer or grant degrees. Thus, any institution which has not been created by an enactment of Parliament or a State Legislature or has not been granted the status of a Deemed to be University, is not entitled to award a degree." {Link without Title} Ireland Legitimate higher education qualifications in Ireland are placed on, or formally aligned, with the National Framework of Qualifications. This framework was established by the National Qualifications Authority Of Ireland in accordance with the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act (1999). It is illegal under the Universities Act (1997) for any body offering higher education services to use the term "university" without the permission of the Minister for Education and Science. It is likewise illegal under the Institutes of Technologies Acts (1992-2006) to use the term "institute of technology" or "regional technology college" without permission. Mexico In July 2007 a Mexican newspaper reported that the , Pacific Western University , Endicott College , Alliant International University , United States International University , Newport University , Universidad Nacional De Educación A Distancia , Westbridge University , West Coast University , Bircham International University , and Vision International University . The Secretariat announced a public relations campaign to warn employers, students and parents of prospective students against this form of fraud. In the future, Mexican private universities would be required to include official government registration information, including numbers and dates, in all publicity materials. SEP alerta sobre universidades “patito” , ''Correo'', El Diario del Estado de Guanajuato, July 20, 2007 (In Spanish) New Zealand The New Zealand Education Act prohibits use of the terms "degree" and "university" by institutions other than the country's eight accredited universities. In 2004 authorities announced their intention to take action against unaccredited schools using the words "degree" and "university," including the University of Newlands, an unaccredited distance-learning provider based in the Wellington suburb of Newlands . Other unaccredited New Zealand institutions reported to be using the word "university" included the New Zealand University of Golf in Auckland, the online Tawa-Linden and Tauranga Universities of the Third Age, and the Southern University of New Zealand. Newlands owner Rochelle M. Forrester said she would consider removing the word "university" from the name of her institution in order to comply with the law.David Cohen, [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:vUu58qS6vAcJ:chronicle.com/daily/2004/08/2004082603n.htm+Mississippi+ready+to+crack+down+on+diploma+mills&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us New Zealand Vows a Crackdown on Diploma Mills in Wake of Unusual Defamation Lawsuit], ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'', August 26, 2004 South Korea It is illegal to falsely claim a degree in South Korea if it does not meet accredited approval. For example, in March 2006 prosecutors in Seoul were reported to have "broken up a crime ring selling bogus music diplomas from Russia, which helped many land university jobs and seats in orchestras." x yahoo, March 20, 2006 People who falsely used these degrees were criminally charged. Sweden In June 2007 the Swedish Minister for Employment, Sven-Otto Littorin , was discovered to have an MBA degree from Fairfax University . Aware that claiming a MBA from this diploma mill would be illegal in many states in the USA, Littorin tried to convince the Swedish media and people that the MBA was granted to him in good order. Probably due to the fact that he did not let anyone peer review his thesis, he was eventually forced to remove the reference from his official CV , but he remained in office.See article in Swedish Wikipedia , entry in Swedish blog Friktion , and article Minister's MBA 'came from degree mill' , by James Savage, ''The Local'', June 19, 2007. Switzerland In federal law qualifications from federal Institutes of Technology ( ETH Zurich , EPF Lausanne ) and those from Fachhochschule -institutions are protected and it is a criminal offense, under Unfair Competition legislation, to claim any unfounded academic or occupational qualifications. There are three notable diploma mills in Switzerland: ''Freie Universität Teufen'', ''Freie Universität Herisau'' and ''Freie Universität Zug''. United Kingdom In the UK it is illegal to offer something that may be mistaken to be a UK degree unless the awarding body is on a list maintained by the Department For Education And Skills . This is difficult to enforce on the Internet, where a site may be based abroad. However, UK Trading Standards officers have had notable success in countering a large diploma mill group based abroad that was using British place-names for its "universities". {Link without Title} United States of America The United States does not have a federal law that would unambiguously prohibit diploma mills, and the term "university" is not legally protected. As a result, the United States is a diploma mill haven from a global viewpoint. The United States Department Of Education lacks direct Plenary Authority to regulate schools and, consequently, the quality of an institution's degree. Under the terms of the Higher Education Act Of 1965 , as amended, the U.S. Secretary Of Education is required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies that the Secretary determines to be reliable authorities on the quality of education or training provided by the institutions of higher education that they accredit. Diploma mills are mainly found in the U.S. jurisdictions which have not adopted tough laws to prohibit them. However, some degree mills take advantage of the Constitutional Division by establishing themselves as Ersatz Bible College s which can legally offer degrees in religious subjects without government regulation. Nevertheless, some religious colleges and Seminaries have been fined for issuing degrees without meeting educational requirementsAssociated Press, " Texas Supreme Court to review seminary case ", December 3, 2004. In fact it has been noted that: Although the DipScam operation in the 1980s led to a decline in diploma mill activity across the United States, the lack of further action by law enforcement, uneven state laws, and the rise of the Internet have combined to reverse many of the gains made in previous years. A 2002 '', New Jersey , and North Dakota have adopted tough laws that include fines and jail time for using fake degrees to gain employment." {Link without Title} In 2004, a Housecat named Colby Nolan was awarded an "Executive MBA" by Texas -based Trinity Southern University . The cat belonged to a deputy attorney general looking into allegations of fraud by the school. The cat's application was originally for a Bachelor of Business Administration, but due to the cat's "qualifications" (including work experience in fast-food and as a paperboy) the school offered to upgrade the degree to an Executive MBA for an additional $100. As a result of this incident, the Pennsylvania attorney general has filed suit against the school. In February 2005, the The state of , a law that took effect in July 2004 made diploma mill degrees illegal, but the state does not have an agency or authority to investigate.Amy Rutledge, Buying phony degrees online , WATE TV-6 November 15, 2004. Similarly, Wyoming passed a law requiring a post-secondary institution granting degrees to Wyoming citizens to be accredited, or to be a candidate for accreditation. (There is an exemption for religious schools.) {Link without Title} In June 2006 the "'' exposed University High In Miami ." Currently, there are 22 schools that are under review to make sure they meet NCAA requirements.[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060707/ap_on_sp_ot/bkh_diploma_mills Government jobs scandals and GAO investigation In 2004, Laura Callahan resigned from the United States Department Of Homeland Security after it was learned that she had received her doctorate from the unaccredited Hamilton University (not to be confused with the fully accredited Hamilton College in Clinton, New York ). Callahan had previously been a senior director at the DHS and held supervisory positions at the United States Department Of Labor and within the Bill Clinton White House. According to an article in '' Reason '' magazine, “The (Callahan) scandal raises serious doubts about the government's ability to vet the qualifications of public employees on whom the nation's security depends.” The Callahan scandal caused a public outcry that stimulated an 11-month congressional investigation into fraudulent use of and reimbursement for non-qualifying academic degrees by government workers, the first such major inquiry since (GAO) detailed a pattern of widespread and ongoing abuse by numerous federal employees, based on information provided by three unaccredited schools that cooperated with the initial probe. The institutions, California Coast University , Kennedy-Western University , and Pacific Western University , represented a small fraction of the dozens of suspected diploma mills in existence nationwide. The particular concern addressed was that the regulations allowing Federal funding of degrees mandate that the program must be ''accredited''. Note that California Coast University has since gained national accreditation and is fully accredited by the DETC, which has Department of Education approval to accredit degree programs. 463 federal employees were discovered to have been enrolled in the three schools at the time of the inquiry. The Department Of Defense had the highest number of enrollees, with 257 employees registered. The GAO also found that the government itself had paid at least $170,000 for questionable "coursework" by federal employees at California Coast and Kennedy-Western alone, and believed that even this amount had been significantly understated by the institutions involved. The GAO report revealed that at least 28 senior-level employees had obtained their degrees from diploma mills or unaccredited universities, while cautioning that "this number is believed to be an understatement." The implicated officials included three unnamed National Nuclear Security Administration managers with emergency operations responsibility and top "Q level" Security Clearance allowing access to sensitive Nuclear Weapon s information. In May of 2004, NNSA spokesman Brian Wilkes told reporters that "the {Link without Title} conditions of employment did not rest on the education that they were claiming," and that the revelations would not affect their job status.1 Many of the federal officials implicated in the scandal were never publicly named, and their status remains unclear. Charles Abell, the principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, was identified by the press as having obtained his master's degree from Columbus University of New Orleans, an unaccredited distance learning school. Daniel P. Matthews, Chief Information Officer for the Department Of Transportation (which oversees the Transportation Security Administration ) was reported to have received his $3,500 bachelor of science degree from Kent College , a diploma mill in Mandeville, Louisiana . In spite of these revelations, both remained in their positions and continued to hold security clearances.2 Abell continued in his Defense Department job until August 2005, when he joined the staff of the United States Senate Committee On Armed Services , where he remained until 2007.'' The Washington Times '', The Gertz File , August 5, 2005, and McCain likely to run from atop defense panel , by Rowan Scarborough, January 2, 2007. Terrorism worries On December 15 2005 , CNN aired a report on diploma mills and terrorism. The report explained that " H-1B Visa s can be issued to anyone who is highly skilled and can get a job in the U.S. McDevitt is concerned a phony advanced degree could be the first step for someone in a terrorist sleeper cell." {Link without Title} The report explained, the Secret Service "bought their own degree for a perfect terrorist candidate, although theirs was fictional." The person was Mohammed Syed with no formal education, but training in chemical engineering with the Syria n army. "The Secret Service even added to Syed's application that he needed a degree quickly, so he could find employment and obtain an H-1B visa, allowing him to stay in the US." Furthermore, "In less than a month, the imaginary Syrian army expert was notified, James Monroe University was awarding him three advanced degrees in engineering and chemistry, all for $1,277." {Link without Title} THE IRISH TIMES 1998 LIST OF TWELVE FAMOUS DIPLOMA MILLS In November 1998, The Irish Times listed with commentary the following twelve education businesses in an article entitled, ''A dirty dozen - 12 famous diploma mills.'' The Irish Times (November 24, 1998) ''A dirty dozen - 12 famous diploma mills.'' Education & Living section. # ''. # La Salle University , Louisiana: Claims to be restructuring itself after its founder president was jailed and the premises were raided by the FBI. The biggest institution of its kind in the United States. Advertises in ''The Economist''. # , who also founded Clayton College Of Natural Health , a Non-accredited Distance-learning Naturopathic college based in Birmingham, Alabama .Adam Jones. State’s diploma mills draw academic ire. ''Tuscaloosa News'', Feb. 11, 2007Bob Lowry. Beware of online diploma mills. ''Huntsville Times''. Thursday, January 25, 2007 # American State University , Hawaii: Recently offered an American reporter a bachelor's degree in journalism for $1,890 and a thesis of a mere 2,000 words. # American International University , Alabama. # Columbus University , Louisiana. # Monticello University , Kansas: Advertises in ''The Economist''. # Frederick Taylor University , California. # '' and ''The Economist'', offering to "match your position with a legal degree and transcripts." PWU was shut down for several months in 1996 and was allowed to reopen only after it cancelled its graduate programmes in education. # . # Kennedy Western University , Hawaii. (Name has changed to Warren National University.) # Trinity College And University ; operates from South Dakota, USA and the UK. In February, 2007, several United Nations staff were fired from their jobs after it was discovered they had padded their resumes with Trinity "degrees". {Link without Title} SEE ALSO
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