Another questionable higher education proposition

Dr. Edward Lam of the American World University and NMC president emeritus Agnes McPhertes, consultant for a group of foreign investors, recently presented a proposal to Gov. Juan Babauta regarding the establishment of a postsecondary institution of higher education on Saipan offering Master of Business Administration, as well as nursing degrees. Lam conveyed to the media that “the goal of AWU and the investors is not focused on profit, but rather to give Asian students the opportunity to study in a U.S.-accredited school.” He went on to say that AWU and the investors were “education oriented” and once AWU receives a license from the Board of Regents, they will begin marketing their educational programs in Indonesia, China, Korea, and Japan.

According to information from media sources on the Internet, the American World University was founded in 1990 by Maxine Asher. It began in Iowa and when the Iowa standards for postsecondary institutions could not be met, it relocated to Pascagoula, Mississippi in 2000.

The Daily Iowan based in Iowa City, Iowa, described AWU in depth in an article entitled “Stealth U. in Iowa City duped many, experts say.” According to the article, Michael Lambert, the executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Distance Education and Training Council, said Asher applied for accreditation for AWU with his organization in 1996. He said she complained about the requirements and the paperwork regarding accreditation and challenged him to visit her in person. He recalls flying to Iowa City and meeting her in a few empty rooms that were the headquarters of AWU. Subsequent to a 30-minute meeting, Asher withdrew the application for accreditation.

The article in the Daily Iowan also mentioned the experiences of a student named John Shaw who says he received specific assurances from Asher that the master’s degree he was seeking would be acknowledged in Saudi Arabia. When he applied for a job in that country, he was told that neither the degree nor the university were legitimate.

The same thing would happen to any “nursing students” who receive a nursing degree from AWU and tried to secure employment with a legitimate hospital and/or clinic in the Marianas or United States, that accepts nothing less than individuals with valid educational credentials from higher education institutions that are accredited by organizations like the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Liaison on Medical Education.

AWU is not officially accredited by any institutional accrediting body, e.g., WASC, recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. It is listed as an accredited university by the World Association of Universities and Colleges, an organization that is also run by Maxine Asher.

Asher describes AWU to be an “institution of postsecondary education.” However, it has no physical campus anywhere in the United States or internationally and purports to offer a college education and awards college degrees. Moreover, higher education authorities in the U.S. consider it to be one of the numerous “diploma mills” in existence. As of November 2004, it was offering a doctorate program for $1,600 as a “holiday special.”

As with many “diploma mills,” AWU offers people the opportunity to earn college credits based on work and life experience, and to take courses at home through distance education. John Bear, author of Bear’s Guide to Earning Degrees through Distance Learning, disputes AWU’s claim that they provide legitimate academic services and distance learning stating, “Academically, there’s nothing there.”

I know of no MBA or nursing program affiliated with any legitimate and accredited college or university in the U.S. that gives students “credits” akin to credits granted subsequent to successfully passing a course, because of their work and life experience. Generally speaking, work and life experience are taken into account by institutions of higher education when a student submits an application for admission; but credits toward the fulfillment of the requirements for a degree program come strictly from attending classes and successfully passing the examinations for the courses.

According to Asher, AWU caters especially to students outside the U.S. and allows students to complete assignments in their primary language rather than English. Legitimate and accredited schools by agencies recognized by the USDE do not allow students to complete requirements for an academic degree in their primary language rather than English. Moreover, in order for foreign students to be admitted to a legitimate accredited institution of higher education in the U.S., they must successfully pass the exam (TOEFL) to demonstrate they have a strong command of the English language verbally and in writing.

In January 2004, the State of Hawaii’s Office of Consumer Protection won a lawsuit against AWU; the judgment enjoined AWU from “providing any postsecondary instructional programs or courses leading to a degree” or “acting as or holding themselves out as a ‘college’, ‘academy’, ‘institute’, ‘institution’, ‘university’, or anything similar thereto.”

Because AWU is “not an institution of higher education with legitimate accreditation, then Dr. Lam’s statement made to the media—“to give Asian students the opportunity to study in a U.S. accredited school, is in direct conflict with the organization’s apparent status.

Why would any “qualified” Asian student who meets the criteria to attend a university like the University of California, Berkeley, desire to attend an institution in the CNMI that is suspect in terms of having legitimate accreditation credentials?

It is necessary and imperative that Dr. Lam and Agnes McPhertes produce documentation reflecting legitimate accreditation from approved organizations of the USDE like WASC and LCME that can be verified and confirmed. If the accreditation documents cannot be produced, then the only conclusion that can be drawn by the island community and people in higher education is that AWU is “another questionable institution of higher education proposition” that will place students in a predicament simply because the degrees they work for and earn will not be legitimate and accepted by legitimate organizations in the private sector and medical community, e.g., businesses, corporations, hospitals, and clinics. Like Mr. John Shaw, students will find out that the MBA or nursing degree they earn from AWU will not be worth the paper it is written on. The time and money the students will lose at AWU will be on the same plane as what the students of the defunct Saipan University encountered.

Dr. Jesus D. Camacho
Delano, California