Title mill

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As title mills ( English diploma mill or degree mill , actually meaning title factory ) are institutions that, in return for the payment of fees, award the payer with certificates that appear like recognized academic degrees , but are not associated with a scientific education. They are part of what is known as title trading .

General

Title mills either offer bogus diplomas directly for sale or advertise that they can award academic degrees for life experience, which is intended to convince gullible prospects of the alleged legality of the award. There are also title mills to which work - based on the model of diploma theses or dissertations - should be submitted and an actual examination is simulated. Here, the required performance is generally out of proportion to the corresponding performance requirements at recognized universities . For example, (generally unrecognized) Bachelor or Master degrees are awarded after distance courses of a few weeks or months, and papers that are supposed to meet the requirements of a dissertation have a length of a few pages.

In many countries, such as numerous states in the United States, the word 'university' and the designations of academic degrees are not protected by law. In the USA, the accreditation of the respective university (e.g. universities on the Carnegie list ) is decisive, whereby many US title mills set up their own accreditation committees, from which they are accredited.

The degrees of title mills are not recognized in most countries of the world, depending on the legal situation, the use of such pseudo-titles is even made a criminal offense. In Germany, only foreign academic, state or church degrees awarded following an actually completed course of study at a state-recognized university in the home country are permitted, stating the awarding educational institution. Degrees from states of the European Union can be carried without an addition of origin. Anyone who has academic, state or church degrees in Germany that is awarded by universities that are not recognized by the state or acquired through title purchase is liable to prosecution under Section 132a of the Criminal Code ( misuse of titles, job titles and badges ). The use of non-academic "doctoral degrees" from some religious communities that are actually recognized as a church in the USA (e.g. Doctor of Theology or Doctor of Gospel Music ) is also punishable in Germany if this can lead to confusion with academic titles (§132a StGB) . These titles of recognized religious communities in the USA are legally de facto purely within the church relevant honorary designations and in no form academic degrees. This also applies to pure fun titles such as (e.g. Doctor of Aromatherapy , Doctor of Ufology or Dr. hc of Exorcism ). There are more than 3,000 title mills, most of them in the United States . A US expert estimates the number of bogus degrees awarded annually worldwide at more than half a million.

Accreditation of title mills

The International Commission on Academic Accreditation, Inc. (ICAAI) was founded in Rogers, Arkansas , as an accreditation option for "title mills" . B. has also accredited the Mave University mentioned below .

According to its own website, the ICAAI has specialized in Bible schools, institutions, seminars and other educational establishments. However, the ICAAI is not recognized by the United States Department of Education .

countries

Germany

In Germany, the terms ' university ' as well as ' university ' and ' university of applied sciences ' are protected by law, so that pure title mills or educational institutions that appear as universities without state recognition cannot act legally unmolested.

In Germany, however, many institutions of continuing vocational training use consciously academic expressions such as ' Studium ', ' Diplom ', ' Zwischenprüfung ' and 'at university level'. This is legally permissible as long as it is not given the impression that it is actually a university degree. As a parody of this behavior, the "Wissenschaftsakademie Berlin" was founded in 1997, which continued until 2007 after participating in seminars lasting several days. B. was awarded a so-called science diploma via the Schabrackentapir .

Since the Ministries of Education and Culture no longer have separate management permits for foreign degrees and there is also no legal basis for their content assessment, everyone who holds a foreign academic degree is responsible for checking the legality of the management and must, if necessary, have to and to face criminal consequences in case of unlawful conduct.

Advertisements from so-called title mills appear regularly in German media such as Wirtschaftswoche or Junge Karriere and, due to the seriousness of the magazines, tempt you to misunderstand the institution being advertised as serious.

Austria

In Austria, too, the deliberate use of a "name peculiar to the domestic or foreign higher education system" as well as the unauthorized awarding, mediation or use of domestic or foreign academic degrees are threatened with an administrative penalty of up to 15,000 euros. The district administrative authorities are responsible for the prosecution. The implementation is not very effective. In autumn 2005 the Austrian Accreditation Council reported the International University Vienna to the competent authority for the illegal use of the word 'University'. The conviction was only issued on October 21, 2008, which is why the subsequent appeal could not be completed in time and had to be suspended due to the statute of limitations (the limitation period is three years). Since an offense that is committed continuously during an ongoing procedure is considered a permanent offense , the offender may no longer be prosecuted for further offenses.

Switzerland

  • The Free University of Teufen was a private-sector institution founded in Switzerland in 1985 , which was one of the distance learning institutions . This was a title mill, which according to the Swiss University Funding Act (UFG) Art. 2 and 12 was not a “recognized Swiss university”, had no right to award doctorates and was not allowed to award diplomas or bachelor / master / doctoral degrees. It ceased operations on December 31, 2009. According to current German case law, the degrees awarded may not be used in Germany. The previous website now refers to a European Academy ("EURACA").
  • EURACA has recently been organizing its business in such a way that “dissertations” that have been submitted to the “ Department of Economics Network EURACA Instituto Superior de Educación a Distancia SL Malaga / Kharkov National University VN Karazin Kharkov ” are posted on the website grin.com should. The theses are written in German and are supposed to be used to acquire the degree Dr. rer. oec. to lead. Both the “kandydat nauk” and the “doktor nauk” from the Ukraine are not allowed to be Dr. or Dr. rer. oec. be guided. Such a degree - if it should be genuine - can only be used in the form in which it was awarded, stating the awarding university. In the case of foreign fonts, the lent form can be transferred (transliterated) into the Latin script and the abbreviation permitted or commonly used in the country of origin can be used and a literal translation added in brackets.
  • The Free University of Zug has almost the same offer as the Free University of Teufen . It is probably an offshoot of this facility.
  • The Free University of Herisau also awarded corresponding degrees for over twenty years . It was closed at the beginning of 2019 “as a result of the amendment to the federal law on the promotion of universities and coordination in the Swiss higher education sector and the interpretation of case law”.

In Switzerland, titles from federal universities ( ETH Zurich , ETH Lausanne ) and those from universities of applied sciences are protected by federal law. Furthermore, unfair competition with “incorrect titles or job titles” is punishable under federal law, but mere possession or use of such titles is not. In cantonal law, depending on the Swiss canton

  • all titles and awards are protected
  • academic / university titles are protected
  • only titles from the canton's own universities are protected (e.g. diplomas from the University of Education in Graubünden)
  • no titles are protected

In 2005, laws intended to protect the titles of “psychologist”, “psychotherapist” and those of the medical professions were in consultation .

United States

The US is the state with the most title mills. For example, the now closed was Californian Columbia Pacific University on the part of the California Justice called "a diploma mill". Columbus University , Atlantic International University , American World University , Clayton University in St. Louis , Academia Scientia Church , Cosmopolitan University, Paulson University and Richond Union have a similar reputation . Sometimes title mills have a name that resembles a recognized university; so that is Clayton State University is a recognized public university that Clayton University , however, a diploma mill.

Other countries

  • The Open International University for Alternative Medicine (OIUAM) in Kuthalam offered a Masters degree in Alternative Medicine [MD (AM)] for 12 years by distance learning for US $ 750, the Doctor of Philosophy in Alternative Medicine [Ph. D. (AM)] for $ 850 and a PhD in Alternative Medicine [D. Sc. (AM)] for $ 900. For the master’s degree, five examination documents were sent by post and had to be returned. For the doctorate, a document of at least 300 pages had to be submitted, instructed by a person or institution that had previously been accredited by the Open International University for Alternative Medicine . In January 2019, the police closed the OIUAM as a "fake university".
  • In the British Virgin Islands , the has Mave University established. It also offers academic degrees for a corresponding fee.
  • The University of the Duchy of New Zealand (NZL) ( State University Duke David of New Sealand - SuDoNS ) occupies a special position , as this self-proclaimed duchy does not have its own territory but resides on a ship. This so-called duchy, a so-called micronation, should not be confused with the Principality of Sealand .
  • In Nigeria there is an official warning against more than 55 degree mills / title mills.
  • New York Times journalists accuse Pakistani company axact of running hundreds of profiles of bogus educational institutions, including certification bodies and related telephone services, for the purpose of selling fake titles.
  • In the UK , the Higher Education Degree Datacheck (Hedd) authority announced the closure of 40 title mill websites at the beginning of 2017.

literature

  • NB Wagner: About degrees, titles and human vanity. In: Bundeswehrverwaltung 2010, pp. 94-102.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Malte Wicking: I sell doctorates for 39 euros. In: Bild Zeitung, April 19, 2012. [1] Retrieved December 16, 2015
  2. ↑ Benjamin Schischka: Doctorate hc for 39 euros at Groupon. In: PC world. (March 2, 2012). [2] Retrieved December 16, 2015
  3. ↑ Rudolf Neumaier: Aren't we all a bit of a doctor? In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of April 27, 2011. [3] Accessed December 16, 2015
  4. ↑ a b Alexandra Zykunov: Degrees from fake universities: Dr. Dodel. Spiegel online, April 5, 2015, accessed April 5, 2015 .
  5. ^ Parody: Former website of the "Wissenschaftsakademie Berlin". Accessed June 9, 2020.
  6. ^ Austria: Universities Act 2002, § 116, p. 99
  7. ↑ Die Presse: Self-proclaimed "University": Operators go unpunished, from: January 27, 2009
  8. ↑ tagesanzeiger.ch of February 25, 2010: “In fact, the institute has apparently already ceased operations. At least that's what Margit Fülöp, the only registered director of the operating company Cosmos AG, says. "
  9. ↑ Examples
  10. ↑ HSchulG HE § 22
  11. ↑ cessation of operations. Retrieved October 9, 2019 . Academic titles for a fee: Herisauer Schein-Uni has to close. On: tagblatt.ch from February 8, 2019.
  12. ↑ Section 38 of the ETH Law
  13. ↑ § 22 University of Applied Sciences Act
  14. ↑ § 3 and 4 UWG
  15. ↑ a b Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA: Title protection
  16. ^ Fake varsity sealed after operating for 12 years. On: thehindu.com from January 11, 2019
  17. ↑ 55 (+8) diploma mills: List of Approved Universities in Nigeria and List of Illegal Degree Awarding Institutions (Degree Mills) ( Memento of December 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Berlin, March 14, 2014
  18. ↑ Declan Walsh: "Fake Diplomas, Real Cash: Pakistani Company Axact Reaps Millions," New York Times, May 17, 2015
  19. ↑ Camilla Turner: "Dozens of fake degree certificate websites shut down amid crack down on bogus awards" The Telegraph of January 32, 2017