February 02, 2005 | Dodgy Degrees

Today's Wired News has the low down on a new government effort to fight the proliferation of diploma mills on the Internet by providing a searchable database of all accredited schools.

How bad is it? Hard to say in terms of money, but note that the schools even use the phrase "diploma mill" to drive traffic to their sites (note the ads in this Google search).

The agency created the database in response to calls for action from Congress in 2004 following revelations about high-level government officials holding questionable degrees and concerns that diploma mills are using the internet to deceive would-be students.

"Obviously diplomas become a growing concern as the internet has made it easier for these schools to proliferate," said Education Department spokeswoman Jane Glickman. "The department has no direct way to shut them down, but we want people to know what's a legitimate school and what's not."

The white-list database could be a useful tool for would-be students and prospective employers who do not know how to distinguish between Hamilton University, a diploma mill in Wyoming, and Hamilton College, a small, distinguished and legitimately accredited liberal arts school in New York.

Such a tool could be invaluable for those tempted to judge a school by its website.

For instance, Kansas State University's digital learning program's website looks to have been designed in 1998, while Almeda University's public face features roll-over drop-down menus and an online chat feature.

But Kansas State offers legitimate classes, while Almeda University, which is not accredited by a recognized agency, grants degrees based on life experience.

Full story here.

For a different take on degrees based on life experience, look at this post on a blog about life experience degrees.

UPDATE: A Wired News reader wrote in to tell me that Google is placing ads for diploma mills underneath the story on the wired.com site. Ahh, the interweb does have a sick sense of humor sometimes.

Posted by Ryan Singel at February 2, 2005 09:19 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.secondaryscreening.net/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/109