THE Straits Times yesterday made it clear that it was not about to apologise

to Preston University for telling its readers the truth about its credentials - or rather, its lack thereof.

Said editor Han Fook Kwang: 'We stand by our story. I am satisfied that our journalist was accurate in her reporting of Preston University.'

In newspaper advertisements it took out yesterday, Preston University Chancellor Dr Jerry Haenisch confirmed that the university had no accreditation from any US Department of Education body - 'but, a degree mill, absolutely not'.

It did not apply for accreditation, he said, as 'the restrictive nature of the US accreditation system precludes widespread international operations'.

The term - degree or diploma mill - has been used by United States government bodies and newspapers round the world to refer to 'substandard or fraudulent colleges that offer potential students degrees with little or no serious work'. They range from those which are simple frauds: a mailbox to which people send money in exchange for paper that purports to be a college degree to those that require some nominal work from the student but do not require college-level course work that is normally required for a degree.

Preston was taking issue with an ST article on Aug 29 by journalist Sandra Davie, headlined 'At least 218 here have off-the-shelf degrees'. She reported that Preston University was an unaccredited institution and dubbed a degree mill in the US.

Two Singaporeans who graduated from the university were also named, including an options trading expert who said he submitted a thesis and was granted a doctorate within 16 months. He paid $18,000 in fees.

On average, it takes four to six years to earn a doctorate degree from an accredited university.

Ms Davie said yesterday her report was backed up by checks with accreditation boards, the highly regarded US-based Chronicle of Higher Education as well as American newspaper reports.

Oregon state's office of degree authorisation has Preston described as a 'degree supplier' in its database.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board also lists Preston as one of the institutions that offer 'fraudulent or substandard degrees'.

In 2001, the Chronicle reported that Preston University, then based in Wyoming, had invented more than half of its faculty list. The university later admitted that only 15 of the 49 faculty members listed on the institution's website actively teach its students or serve as mentors.

Last year, US media reports said Preston University was forced to move its operations to Alabama because of the crackdown of diploma mills in Wyoming state.

Further checks by ST turned up a commentary in May this year that appeared in the Chronicle.

Mr Alan Contreras, director of Oregon state's office of degree authorisation, had this to say about Preston setting up a campus in Finland: 'Who would bother to establish a substandard-degree provider in the depths of Finland?

'The Americans who own Preston University would. That unaccredited supplier was flushed out of Wyoming and has gone to ground in Alabama, from where it has established what I will generously call a relationship with a Finnish degree supplier called Firelake University, which doesn't appear on lists of genuine Finnish colleges.

'Preston operates all over the world from its base in Alabama, which has the worst degree-programme oversight in the United States.'

ST's checks found more detail about its 'base' in Alabama. In July, Dr Haenisch reportedly admitted to a newspaper that Preston is a distance-learning operation in the US, without a physical campus.

Ms Davie also noted that Ms Karen Kaylor, director of the United States Education Information Centre in Singapore, had written to ST's Forum page, urging parents and students to apply only to accredited institutions in the US to ensure that the degree earned is deemed valid and legitimate worldwide.

In her letter published yesterday, Ms Kaylor noted that 'nearly all colleges and universities' would apply voluntarily for 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,' she added.

Contacted yesterday, Mr Richard O'Rourke, regional coordinator of Education USA, disputed Preston's claim that being an accredited university would limit its expansion abroad.

He noted that more accredited US institutions were setting up campuses or offering their programmes overseas. In Singapore alone, there are at least six such universities, including Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New York University.

The Straits Times contacted the Centre for Professional Studies which placed the newspaper ads.

One of its directors, Dr Juergen Rudolph, said the centre, which is registered as a private school with the Education Ministry, used to offer Preston University courses. The ad was placed as a 'gesture of goodwill' to Preston University graduates here, some of whom contributed to the costs of the ad.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 6, 2008.