St. Linus University

VALIDATION
 
Through validation and articulation agreements, all programs of St. Linus University (SLU) is validated by École Supérieure Universitaire St. Linus (ESUSL®) by way of Validation des Acquis de l'Expérience (VAE). However, we do not offer courses on regulated professions. 

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Accreditation is not compulsory. We do not claim to posses any sort of external accreditation or its equivalent (including ISO 9001:2015 QMS certification); and it should not be misconstrued as such. The logos in our website are for promotional purposes only (with due regard to the 'Fair Use' limitations of the US copyright law). It does not constitute or imply endorsements from their part; rather, we posted them for their intrinsic value. We chose not be accredited on purpose due to its high cost. Accreditation does not guarantee success or provide enough of the perceived benefits. The US Department of Education categorically states that "Accreditation does not provide automatic acceptance by an institution of credit earned at another institution, nor does it give assurance of acceptance of graduates by employers. Acceptance of students or graduates is always the prerogative of the receiving institution." The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) says that "If an institution or program is not accredited, it should have some other means of quality review." Thus, notwithstanding the stigma, we regularly conduct self-accreditation. According to Harvey (2004), "Self-accreditation is a process or status that implies a degree of autonomy, on the part of an institution or individual, to make decisions about academic offerings or learning." 

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Forbes Magazine, a leading global media company, states that "college accreditation is built on bad incentives." Click here for the write-up. Similarly, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan research institute, believes that "accreditation is a cartel." Click here for the write-up. Hallak & Poisson (2007) defines 'academic fraud' as "the use of public office for private gain in the academic field, especially regarding accreditation of courses and institutions, examinations for access and for transfers between institutions, certificates and diplomas, university/college research and publications." Click here for the write-up (see page 112, Box 1.7.2). Because ignorance excuses no one, and it causes a great deal of harm, naysayers may do a fact check and are free to directly take it up with the main source of information (which are aforementioned herein) instead of barking up the wrong tree, and do a witch-hunt against those who disagree that accreditation is best for all time and is for everyone. 

Interestingly, for reasons best known to itself, the US Department of Education does not accredit colleges and universities, but it does maintain a database of accredited schools and recognized accrediting agencies. In fact, there is no single authority in the US for the recognition of foreign degrees and other qualifications (see the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement or SARA: an agreement among the regional education compacts: SREB, WICHE, MHEC, and NEBHE and their member states). Comparatively, the UK does not operate an accreditation system in the way it is understood in the US. Education institutions cannot simply be "accredited" or "unaccredited." Accreditation for professional degrees is carried out by statutory or professional bodies and is awarded on a course-by-course basis, they accredit to their own standards. Personally, we believe that accreditation is not indispensable, although it has its relative importance. No country or mainstream accrediting agency elsewhere or anywhere (public or private) has the universal jurisdiction or legal monopoly (that is protected by international law from competition), let alone a universal authority (which even the UN does not posses, or claim to possess, an all-encompassing sovereignty), over independent HEIs from another country operating via the Internet--a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide.

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Caveat Emptor: We do not claim in any way, shape, or form that by enrolling or by graduating from this institution, it will help you with job promotion, visa application, credit transfer and the like! As previously mentioned, the acceptance and rejection of our degree, albeit legally awarded, is always the prerogative of the receiving party. Thus, due diligence should be first conducted before registration. You are responsible to find out for your self if your intended recipient(s) will honor our academic degree. Because of internet fraud, such as: spam, scams, spyware, identity theft, phishing and the like, we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Lastly, the  data protection and privacy laws in Dominica forbid us to answer incriminatory questions that would cause us unnecessary harm.