I APPLAUD the recent series of articles by Ms Sandra Davie on diploma mills. Students and parents considering tertiary study in any country should apply only to accredited institutions to ensure the degree earned is valid and legitimate worldwide.

In the United States, nearly all colleges and universities participate in a voluntary process of accreditation to establish their status. Accreditation, a process of peer review, is usually seen as the key to determining whether a degree programme meets generally recognised academic, fiscal and structural standards.

Institutional accreditation involves the evaluation of the institution as a whole to determine its educational effectiveness. The institution must have educational objectives appropriate to that institution; resources appropriate to achieve its objectives; and proof that it is achieving and will continue to achieve its goals. Once accredited, institutions are re-examined every 10 years.

There are two simple ways to check accreditation of institutions in the US. The database maintained by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (www.chea.org) has information about quality assurance and accreditation organisations from 48 countries, including the US, and contact information for each organisation. Inquiries may also be directed to the EducationUSA advising office at the US Education Information Centre in Singapore at www.useic.org.

Karen Kaylor (Ms)
Director, US Education Information Centre
EducationUSA Singapore

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 5, 2008.