I've been wondering about this for a while, how can there be two unrelated universities using exactly the same name? We have the well known and fully accredited York university in Toronto, Canada and down south in Alabama, U.S. an unknown and completely unaccredited entity using exactly the same name http://yorkuniversity.us/. And this "university" is licensed by the state of Alabama.

This Alabama York "university" seems to also operate in Connecticut and California. Worst of all, this entity offers its "programs" in other countries - including Canada!!! - through its affiliated "campuses".

In their accreditation page, they mention among other things that, "York University is also recognised by BRAINTRACK, the world's most complete education index, jointly sponsored by Harvard University and the Directory of US state universities." Recognized by Braintrack??? This together with the reference to Harvard and the Directory of U.S. state universities, is one of the worst misleading statements I've ever come across in degree mills' websites.

It's obvious that their name and references such as the above are specifically designed to mislead potential students in other countries, as I don't believe anybody in the U.S. would be so ignorant as to enroll in a "university" recognized by Braintrack.

I think all the signs are there that York "university" Alabama is a particularly dangerous diploma mill. Other diploma mills have been using names that sound similar to well known universities (like Stradford, etc.), but, to my knowledge, they are the first to use exactly the same name as a well known university. Also, other degree mills claim "accreditation" from fake accrediting agencies, claiming "recognition" from Braintrack is a novelty.

I wonder how they got their license in Alabama?

Roman

Alabama does not have very high standards for school licensure.

__________________
Theodore Lamar Heiks
BA, History/Political Science, Western State College of Colorado, 1984
MBA, Entrepreneurship, City University of Seattle, 1992
MBA, Marketing, City University of Seattle, 1993

Another school with similar name is University of York, U.K.

Columbus University, a well known diploma mill, also got their license in Alabama.

Maybe, but foreigners often think that a license from a state dept. of education is the same as recognition or accreditation. Someone should alert the Alabama state authorities about this entity using the name of a large, fully accredited university and claiming recognition from an index in which anyone can be listed. All you need to do is just register. And, also implying approval by Harvard and the Directory of U.S. state universities.

I've heard that Alabama have been straightening their act. Recently, they refused license renewal to Breyer State.

Roman

Yes, there's some new person at the helm in the Alabama Department of Education who is going to go for stricter enforcement of the laws that are on the books, or so they say. Unfortunately, you have all these sorry ass mills that have already been approved. I'm not sure what to say about foreigners perceiving state approval as being the equivalent of accreditation, other than that if one is going to study at a foreign university, it would be prudent to understand that country's education system (with particular attention to accreditation).

__________________
Theodore Lamar Heiks
BA, History/Political Science, Western State College of Colorado, 1984
MBA, Entrepreneurship, City University of Seattle, 1992
MBA, Marketing, City University of Seattle, 1993

Hi -

I was preparing to send something angry (which I'll get around to) to the Dept. of Education in Alabama when I saw this on the York website!

"Transfer of Credit from Other Schools

Academic credits earned at recognized institutions with a grade of "C" or better may be transferred toward Preston degree programs."

Looks like they

(a) might be affiliated with the reputedly unwonderful Preston U - formerly of Wyoming, now trolling in Asia.

(b) share the same website-monger with Preston

Bad sign, either way!

Johann

Or they are the same people who own Preston, they just forgot to change the name. This happens quite often with diploma mill owners running multiple phony operations.

This is bad, very bad.

I wonder, are the people at York university Canada aware of this?

Roman

Hi Roman -

I'm reasonably close to York University (Canada) - about 40 miles. I'll make sure they know, (at least by e-mail) sometime today. I'll do the same for the licensing people in the Great State of Alabama. Looks like those folks in 'Bama are serious - they recently declined to renew Breyer State's licence! Good move, imo!

By the way, I doubt Preston and York are under the same ownership. Preston is a partnership of Jerry Haenisch and Abdul Basit as far as I know, and I failed to see either name on the York (Alabama) website. Preston is a school that moved from Wyoming once all schools there had to become accredited. I believe it's been operating in Alabama, Pakistan and Cambodia. Preston was on the Pakistan HEC "Fraud List" when I last looked. We have this old thread and others on it:

http://online.degree.net/accredited-...sity-2148.html

Haenisch and Basit created, or attempted to create, another school - Fairmount International University, also in Wyoming. It was once an applicant for DETC accreditation but it is no longer listed as such and there is no website etc. As I said, nothing I can see to tie these two to York (Alabama). Probably just a "borrowed" website template.

Johann

Hi

I just sent the Registrar of York University (Canada) full details of the "Sorry Sister" school in Alabama.

Johann

How is it possible to be in their FRAUD list, when preston is figuring in "their institution" list? check this: http://app.hec.gov.pk/universityfina...niversity.aspx


here also http://www.digitallibrary.edu.pk/Private%20Uni.html but i don't know if this one is real.
thx