Here's a list of a few guidelines to students who intend to pursue higher education in the US. It is important that students do due diligence to land up in a genuine college.
The news of California-based Tri-Valley University (TVU) duping Indian students created quite a stir back home. What you can do to avoid the same fate.
* Who is the accreditor? A mere accreditation doesn’t mean it is a quality institution. Just as there are diploma mills churning out fake degrees, there are accreditation mills that sell accreditation.
* Visit CHEA’s website: It has a database of accredited institutions and programmes. Apart from CHEA, a few websites have names of some non-accredited schools. click here to view example partial listing of non-accredited schools.
* The notion that suffixes like ‘.edu’(education) and ‘.ac’(academic) is for legitimate academic organizations, is false. Noted US-based writer John Bear also cautions edu being in the domain name. He says, ”There are many degree mills that insert ‘ edu’ into their domain name, but not as suffix for example. ‘schoolname_edu.com”.
* Check if the attractive building or a huge campus on the college’s website is indeed the college’s property and not rented for a ceremony. One of the clever marketing techniques is false depiction of the campus.
* Only virtual presence-Some fake institutions may exist in the world of Internet only. There is no real infrastructure and changing addresses is easy.
* Get regular updates on dedicated blogsites like Diploma Mill News.
* Checking out the rankings is also a good way of knowing about credibility of an institution. Website of ‘US News & World Report’ and ‘Princeton Review’ is a good idea, suggests Vivian Doskow, a 2010 graduate student from New York.
* States like Idaho, Hawaii, Montana and California have low or doubtful standard academic institutions.
* Some US states like Oregon gives a list worldwide schools unacceptable to them. For e.g., “Schools that are not Authorized to Offer Degrees in the State of Oregon” .
* Alumni descriptions: If the school boasts of an impressive list of alumini or produces a long list in its short existence, it should ring an alarm bell.
* US-bound students can also consult educational advisers at the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF). Says Adam J. Grotsky, Executive Director, “USIEF is ready to assist students and parents in their endeavour to identify US institutions where they will have a satisfying experience.” Details of their services to students are available at www.usief.org.in
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