Saw a reference when I was looking at Carl Baugh's credentials that he had done a doctoral dissertation for a PhD. (His credentials have been called into question before).
He says on his Carl Baugh website that he
Submitted to Pacific College of Graduate Studies, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Poplar Bluff, Missouri, U.S.A.
By Carl Edward Baugh
Fall, 1989
There's actually a Wikipedia page for Pacific College of Graduate Studies aka Pacific International University
Pacific International University was an unaccredited, conservative, Christian college located in Springfield, Missouri. Carl Baugh, a 1989 alumnus, was the university's president.[1]
Wait, Wait. So, Carl Baugh's doctoral dissertation was done at an unaccredited college.
Notice that Australian Universities Quality Forum of 2004 had this to say about Pacific International University in which they were discussing diploma mills
1. Introduction This paper aims to provide a brief account of the author’s research conducted over the past five years in order to address the increase of unauthorised providers attempting to recruit students and deliver qualifications from, and into, Australia. The paper commences by defining the problem at hand regarding Internet degree/diploma mills, providing an overview of two main types of models and the difficulties encountered when trying to draw exact definitions. An overview of unauthorised providers is then presented, outlining past and present activity, which has been brought to the attention of both state and federal authorities for review. The paper concludes with a range of recommendations for further proactive measures to be employed by both state and federal government officials.
For the purposes of this paper the writer has deliberately refrained from labelling the below-mentioned unauthorised providers of higher education as either degree mills or diploma mills. Each entity possesses its own characteristics, and it is beyond the scope of this paper to analyse each organisation in detail and apply such nomenclature. What is important, however, is the authority (or lack of) to offer and grant degrees in Australia, and is the most important criterion governing the listed organisations. In order to remedy this problem, the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes were enacted in 2000, and have since provided an avenue to prosecute and regulate offshore providers. Prior to the National Protocols, Kemp (1999, p. 5) found, amidst four other major weaknesses in the accreditation/quality assurance framework that there was ‘…a lack of coherence in policies and procedures for the accreditation of institutions and courses’. As such, this promoted the development of the protocols which were endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs on 31 March 2000. Seen to be an integral part of the new national quality assurance framework, the protocols were required to be written into mainland state and territory legislation by 30 June 2001. The protocols were designed to ensure two main outcomes: • to protect the title ‘university’ across all states and territories of Australia and ensure its use is commensurate with a nationally agreed definition • to establish uniform processes for the creation and ongoing accreditation/quality assurance of universities in Australia and for other providers seeking to offer higher education awards in Australia. The following section profiles a range of unauthorised providers that have challenged the new standards and their application by state and territory regulators. ...
The following is, to the author’s best knowledge, a listing of providers that purported to offer degrees from within, and into, Australia from early 1999 to the present day, and have not been authorised via appropriate legislation. The listing has been broken down into past providers that are no longer operating in Australia or have refrained from operating into Australia, and present providers that still have some presence in an Australian jurisdiction. Whilst the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes have now been written into all mainland and territory legislation (Western Australia being close to final approval), it is the author’s understanding that none of the following entities have been prosecuted. Notwithstanding this, it is the author’s aspiration that the listing will become an official register of unauthorised higher education activity, which may be used as a future research tool and maintained as a work in progress. 3.1 Not currently operating in Australia / Offering degrees into Australia:
Oh, look.
Pacific International University (Victoria) http://www.pacificuniversity.com Pacific International University had its roots in Melbourne, Australia, and in 1993 obtained accreditation from the Higher Education Division of Victoria to offer Masters and PhD level qualifications. This accreditation was short lived though, and the university relocated to Missouri, USA. For a period of time it still maintained a Victorian address for correspondence and delivery; however, this was removed due to pressure from the Victorian Office of Tertiary Education and Training. In the USA, where it still operates today, it claims accreditation from the ‘American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions Inc.’, an unrecognised accrediting agency
By at least January 2006, Carl Baugh was president of this unaccredited college, which offered correspondence and no physical location.
As of Nov 20, 2008, the American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions, Inc was listed as a non-recognized agency.
Accreditation constitutes public recognition that an educational program meets the administrative, organizational, and financial criteria of a recognized agency. In the United States, educational standards for schools are set by a network of agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) or the Council on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation (CORPA). USDE and CORPA do not accredit individual schools, but they approve the national and regional agencies that do so. Almost all such agencies are voluntary and nongovernmental.
In addition to nonaccredited schools, there are also nonrecognized agencies. The following entities are not approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Therefore any so-called “accreditation” by these entities should be considered meaningless:
Wikipedia
The university had no recognized accreditation.[6] The university noted it "is in good standing with the American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions, Inc. (North Carolina) and is also a member of the Association of Christian Colleges and Theological Schools (Louisiana)," but for legal reasons made it known that "these memberships do NOT constitute accreditation by the U.S. Office of Education."[7] These accreditations were not recognized by government or accredited institutions because these accreditation agencies were not recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.[8]
The web site listed faculty, but did not mention where the staff received their doctorates, what subjects they specialized in, and whether they were associate professors or have full professorships. Moreover, Baugh received a Ph.D. from Pacific International University in the Fall of 1989.
So what the heck WAS this? A diploma mill with minimum standards? Wikipedia again
The University had an administrative office but no campus, so did not offer physical classes on site. It offered correspondence education and franchised some of its degree programs to other colleges in Australia.[4]
There were no minimum educational requirements to apply for certificate courses other than two references, one academic and one church related. Undergraduate degrees required high school graduation for admission, although exceptions could be made for advanced experience. The admission requirements for junior master's degrees was a bachelor's degree, and admission to senior master's degrees required a junior master's degree. Most doctoral degrees required a master's degree for admission.[5] The fees ranged up to 2,500-3,000 USD for a Doctor of Theological Studies degree.
Okay, so this school that had NO physical campus was some kind of correspondence school, that started in Australia. As you see above, Australia didn't take long to put it on a unaccredited list. Since the school had no mimimum educational requirements, who was deciding who got to be part? Sounds pretty arbitrary, perhaps based on whether the checks cleared. And the degree from an unaccredited school, as the resource notes above, is meaningless.
Say, does this mean that if I go to some other country and open up a correspondence school with no physical location and sell classes, that I can dish out PhD's to MY friends?
It's really absurd or to take an expression from the Wizard of Oz, humbuggery.
For a more thorough look at the side eye you really should be casting on Carl Baugh's credentials, see this. And READ THE WHOLE THING not just the part excerpted below.
Pacific College Incorporated (a.k.a Pacific College of Graduate Studies and Pacific International University)[26], from which Baugh claims a master's degree in archaeology, traces to a small, private, religious school in Australia, whose president is Clifford Wilson.[27] Ian Plimer, a member of the Australian Research Council and professor of geology at Newcastle University, reported that PCI is not accredited or authorized to grant degrees. Plimer stated, "Any degrees from this 'College' are illegal in Australia and are clearly being used fraudulently in the U.S.A.[28]
Clifford Wilson, is--or was--a close associate of Baugh,[29] and evidently was a partner of Baugh in IBC. Wilson's name was listed, along with Baugh's, on the incorporation papers for IBC. Wilson also was originally listed as "Vice President, International Studies" on the letterhead of IBC,[30] and the location of IBC was given as Melbourne, Australia on a metal plaque displayed at Baugh's first "man track" site.[31] Moreover, a recent booklet by Baugh states that Baugh received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the College of Advanced Education in conjunction with Pacific International University (emphasis added).[32] Thus, all of Baugh's alleged science degrees seem to trace circuitously back to Baugh himself and his partner Wilson--through their own unaccredited religious schools and/or branches of them.
Last, there is no evidence that Baugh has even a undergraduate degree in any field of science.
Not having science degrees is no crime; however, misrepresenting one's credentials is another matter. Baugh's alleged science degrees appear to be as dubious as his "man track" claims, and ought to be of serious concern to his fellow creationists.
