UoPeople going for regional accreditation

[indycar]

Why is DEAC considered a lesser accreditation?

Because DEAC is a rebranding of a formerly dead accrediting body (DETC), which accredited UoPeople right away.

On the other hand, WASC has a much more serious accrediting process, which is why WASC did not accredit UoPeople right after the application, unlike DEAC/DETC. See also LINK REMOVED

[sanantone]

Why is DEAC considered a lesser accreditation?

Because DEAC is a rebranding of a formerly dead accrediting body (DETC), which accredited UoPeople right away.

On the other hand, WASC has a much more serious accrediting process, which is why WASC did not accredit UoPeople right after the application, unlike DEAC/DETC. See also LINK REMOVED

DETC wasn't dead. It simply changed its name in 2014. 

The reason why DEAC would be considered "lesser accreditation" by some is because it is a national accrediting agency, which comes with some limitations. The last administration removed the national and regional accreditation designations from the Department of Education website and sent a letter out to accredited institutions to inform them. Whether all or most regionally accredited institutions will stop discriminating against national accreditation remains to be seen.

Generally, it is faster to obtain national accreditation, but University of the People wasn't accredited immediately. The school was established in 2009, the Gates Foundation gave them funding to pursue accreditation in 2012, and they became accredited in 2014. I can't remember exactly when they applied for accreditation, but there are 2013 threads mentioning the application.

[MNomadic]

LOL. You have to be pretty disgruntled to go out of your way to build an entire website to trash talk a college and make new accounts on different forums to point people to your website.

[sanantone]

LOL. You have to be pretty disgruntled to go out of your way to build an entire website to trash talk a college and make new accounts on different forums to point people to your website.

It's one of the strangest things I've seen.

Being a candidate for accreditation doesn't mean your application was rejected; it means your application was accepted. University of the People hasn't claimed that it's going to be accredited by WSCUC; they announced their candidacy. 

University of the People makes it clear from the beginning that the instructor position is a volunteer position that comes with a small honorarium. If the instructor wanted a salary, then he or she shouldn't haven't taken the job. 

There are so many inaccuracies on that website, and I'm getting a hint of anti-Semitism.

[openair]

When considered in isolation, the author makes a couple of good points. However, the whole thing reads like a nasty vent against the University of the People and its perfectly legit accreditor. It's one thing to criticize the peer assessment procedure (I dislike it too), but it seems that he's simultaneously going after the whole accrediting agency and discovering troublesome Jewish influence behind the university operation. It's almost a parody instead of a thoughtful critique. I wonder whether he's aware that DEAC consults subject specialists/assessors from regionally accredited institutions.

[Pats20]

That would be great for a lot of people

[wheresbes]

Very nasty indeed and very inaccurate.
Just as an example, BS students can get a scholarship (hello!) and the partnership with Harvard is real (hello again!).

[SteveFoerster]

LOL. You have to be pretty disgruntled to go out of your way to build an entire website to trash talk a college and make new accounts on different forums to point people to your website.

Even more hilarious, at the bottom of their page they attribute copyright for their nonsense site to the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education with a link to the EU. Talk about fraud! 

[jsd]

mods should probably delete the link to the ridiculous site, even if we leave the initial user post up. no need to boost the site's search rankings.