Pete the Dog’s Phony MBA Brings the Diploma Mill Back into Spotlight

In this latest controversy, it seems the American University of London has been taking advantage of a legal loophole in the UK. The UK parliament has to recognize an institution for it to be able to award degrees. However, it is not illegal to give an impression that a university operates in the UK, when it is in fact based overseas; the American University of London bases its operations in St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.

Stricter measures would go a long way to fixing the threat posed by the diploma mill to the reputation of higher education in the UK, but this is sometimes easier said than done. Another suggestion is to implement penalties for anyone caught trying to gain benefits, such as securing a job, with a fraudulent qualification. This type of law exists in Texas in the US, for instance.

However, while mills such as the American University of London don’t require the submission of any work, some diploma mills do make students submit work. Therefore, would this type of law really be fair on those who are genuine victims of a diploma mill scam?    

Those considering applying for an online MBA program need to be particularly alive to the diploma mill. You can read more about the common tricks employed by an online diploma mill here.

One key point to focus on is the importance of understanding the correct business school accreditation bodies and whether the school you are looking at is fully accredited by them. Diploma mills are known for simply making up legitimate-sounding business school accreditation agencies.

For instance, in the case of the American University of London, membership of an accrediting agency is listed, however, a quick look at the agency website provided points out that ‘membership’ does not mean ‘accredited’ at all. In addition, the agency itself features on Wikipedia’s list of unrecognized higher education accreditation organizations.

Confused? Well, there’s no need to be really. There are three principal business school accreditation bodies to which the vast majority of leading schools subscribe and they are the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) and the Association of MBAs (AMBA). There is an in-depth look at each of these three here.

Outside of these are institutions that tend to be particular to a specific country or region. For example, India has a Distance Education Council (DEC) by which online MBA programs in the country must be accredited. One reason for this is that accreditation governance differs from country to country. Despite this, leading institutions will hold business school accreditation from at least one of the three main bodies above regardless, if only as an internationally-recognized sign of quality standards being met.

It seems unlikely that Pete the Dog – ‘MBA’ alumnus of the American University of London – would be able to secure a position onto an online MBA program run by an accredited school, let alone the resultant degree. Even if his CV had not been fabricated and he was indeed a dog of very high working caliber and experience, he would still have to prove his mettle alongside his fellow applicants in what is an extremely competitive admissions process at leading business schools around the world.