While Preston had to maintain a minimal presence in Wyoming, was it ever an American university? I really don't know. I appears to have its focus overseas.

Hi -

Preston has a bigger presence in Pakistan than in India, but it appears to operate in both countries. (3 Indian affiliated schools, 10 campuses in Pakistan.)

"While Preston had to maintain a minimal presence in Wyoming, was it ever an American university?" - Dennis
"Well, sorta...maybe." - Johann

If you go here: http://www.preston.edu/affiliated.html#namerica you'll find Preston still has an American address, in Alabama, where it is still State-licensed. How long that license will prevail is a matter for conjecture, given the recent, ongoing crackdown on unaccredited schools in that State. I guess the Alabama license gives Preston some small claim to being an American school - quite small, more like "maintaining a minimal presence" to use Dennis Ruhl's apt expression.

Preston University
2520 Fairlane Drive, Ste. 360
Montgomery, AL 36116
Phone: 1-334-422-4424
Fax: 1-334-375-4672
Toll Free: 1-866-460-0486 within the U.S.
E-mail: admissions@preston.edu

In its blurb, Preston states that its being licensed by the State of Alabama makes its degrees legal. (For what purposes?) It also tosses out this little gem:

"Preston University is formally
affiliated with more than fifty schools
across the globe that administer
Preston’s curriculum and enable award
of Preston degrees through joint enrollment
agreements.

These are rigorous, legitimate paths
to gaining a sound education and a
valuable degree from a U.S. school. (emphasis mine - Johann)

So, is it/was it an American school? Founded by an American, anyway (Jerry Haenisch). I dunno. Maybe it's still sort-of American; at least it wants to be perceived as such. Does that make it a school where I'd want to send money? I don't think so.

Johann

By any standard Preston University is the oldest and the largest University in the Private sector in Pakistan. Established in 1984, Preston today has the largest network with nine campuses throughout the country with total enrollment exceeding 5500 students.

[http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/iss...ue33/etc5.htm]


Preston University Pakistan was first established in 1984 as the School of Business and Commerce offering university level courses in the private sector for the first time in the history of Pakistan.

[http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/iss...3/cover11.htm]

If I might make an assumption, it seems that this "Dr." Abdul Basit dude apparently set up this university in Pakistan and may have hooked up with Jerry Haenisch to give his university some "American credibility" since it is often hard for institutions in Pakistan to get a charter from the government. Today, Preston has this accreditation for some of its campuses in Pakistan while the majority of them remain unaccredited by the Pakistani government.

Jerry Haenisch probably set up "Preston University" in Wyoming to lend credibility to Abdul Basit's endeavours. It would be interesting to know how many "graduates" of Preston University actually graduated from the main American campus (Wyoming/Alabama). From what I hear, the bulk of its income comes from its Pakistani "campuses" and their campus in Ajman in the United Arab Emirates. From what I hear, they recently moved into a campus that once housed the Ajman University of Science & Technology (The latter having moved to a bigger and newer campus). So it looks like they're doing quite well fiscally.

Hi Mystique -

I'd agree that your assumption is probably pretty accurate. Somewhere (see the postscript) I read that Preston's income was more than 80% derived outside the US and that at least 50% of the total was from Pakistan operations. Preston (U.S) appears to have been incorporated in Wyoming in 1994 - here's a link to the incorporation info (showing Basit as President).

http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_9zb9j6

And you're absolutely right -Basit's association with what became the first Preston (Pakistan) campus goes back ten years earlier, to 1984.

I also managed to find some student numbers that support your view. According to this Wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_University, in 2001 Preston claimed about 18 students at the Wyoming school and about 8,000 overseas, mostly in Pakistan.

What I also discovered, almost by accident, is that Abdul Basit (President of Preston - both US and Pakistan) was once a VP of WAUC (don't WAUC -run), the unrecognized "accreditor" owned by Dr. Maxine Asher. That was in WAUC's Louisiana days, I believe. At one time, WAUC was Preston (Wyoming)'s "accreditor."

Basit must have a LOT of political clout - or something - to have somehow taken Preston's Pakistan campuses from the "Fraud List" to HEC approval in a relatively short time.

You can read about Dr. Asher, WAUC etc. here - only if you want to, of course...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxine_Asher

Johann

PS. Finally located the article that quotes Jerry Haenisch re Preston's income, enrolment etc. It's here: http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i28/28a03401.htm . It also includes some comments on WAUC.

My God!!! Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! Man I'm literally going to split my sides laughing... So Abdul Basit was once a VP of WAUC!!! I wonder if he too shares the "Atlantean" views of Maxine Asher... I really wish the governments of their respective countries would prosecute these people and hang them out to dry... Robbers & crooks! Who knows how many gullible and naive people they've duped into paying large sums of money for unaccredited degrees.

The problem is that there is no proper warning system on the internet that people can consult regarding these institutions. I wish sites like geteducated.com would have in-depth articles regarding these bogus institutions.

Btw, I've noticed that this post is appearing as a prominent link when you Google for Preston...I pray it helps people know the truth about this bogus institution and they refrain from dishing out their money to these frauds especially in Pakistan and Ajman.


As for Abdul Basit's clout, the world knows that Pakistan is one of the world's most corrupt nations...He's probably dishing out a wee percentage of Preston University's profits to the numerous corrupt politicians who're in charge of running the affairs of that country.

mystique

An opinion but hardly fact. Perhaps you have some evidence?

Preston is not anywhere on my list of potential schools and it has made no reasonable attempt to acquire legitimacy in the US.

Since mystique seems to believe that corruption in Pakistan is the reason for its acceptance there, I'm sure he must have some real evidence or is it simply conjecture? I can answer that - conjecture.

The assumption that everything American and European is good and everything else is defective is part of the problem for everyone. It makes a Pakistani school look to set up or affiliate with a school in a US state with minimal requirements to gain credibility. It is also the reason people like mystique make the automatic assumption that there is corruption in the Pakistani education system when it is by no means a common assumption.

Quite possibly Preston is a credible institution in Pakistan but nothing done on the American side of things would indicate an effort to attain legitimate accreditation.

there are dodgy schools that are accredited, and dodgy schools that are unaccredited. What seems 'too much to take' when a school is unaccredited becomes understandable and easily stretched within 'reasonable' limits, courtesy of huge payments to politicians, lobbies and their cronies.
So quackery and corruption are everywhere, yet to engineer a 'presentable-enough-for-the-sucker' university scam in Liberia, Congo and the like takes infinitely less money than a hypothetical scam in the west.
In other words, dodgy or millish accredited 'universities' in the west are typically millionaire or billionaire operations, while dodgy schools from 'exotic' locations may amount to a couple guys with a printer and a few thousands to spare to bribe some exotic hoodlum into stealing blank embossed paper to grant accreditation.

Hi -

I've read blogs etc. by Pakistanis who said corruption was firmly entrenched in their higher ed. system - but I didn't see anything that qualified as proof. Maybe that's because the quacks et al. are smarter than I am, who knows?

What I do know is:

People often forget that Pakistan is a big country. It has a population of around 160,000,000. It has many good schools, plus some horribly bad ones. Sound familiar? Fraud and misdeeds could certainly occur - and I think they probably do. (They've certainly been documented in ALL North American governments!)

Again, I can offer no proof of any such fraud involving Preston -or any other Pakistan-based school. If anyone can, please report it to Dennis! I DO know it would have to be done in a WAY more sophisticated manner than bribing an "exotic hoodlum" to steal embossed paper - something I agree is close to the process that worked well in other countries e.g. Liberia.

For info purposes only -- nothing to do with quackery etc. or its absence, here's a bio. on the current Education Minister of Pakistan - he did his grad work at Wharton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahsan_Iqbal

Cheers!

Johann

The difference is the consequences of getting caught. In North America you lose your job and probably go to jail. That's not the case in Pakistan. The worst that may happen is you have to emigrate to North America and operate a gas station.

__________________
Mort

You might be right here, but I rarely believe much of what I read. Pissed-off people can assume many personas.