Bronte International University
{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#if:|Template:Main other }}{{#if:|Template:Main other }}{{#if:|Template:Main other }}{{#invoke:check for unknown parameters|check |unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox university with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|mapframe_args=y | academic_affiliation | academic_affiliations | academic_staff | accreditation | address | administrative_staff | affiliation | affiliations | athletics_affiliations | athletics_nickname | athletics_nicknames | budget | campus | campus_type | campus_size | canton | caption | chair | chairman | chairperson | chancellor | city | closed | colors | colours | coor | coordinates | country | dean | director | doctoral | embedded | endowment | enrollment | established | faculty | footnotes | former_name | former_names | founder | founders | free | free1 | free2 | free_label | free_label1 | free_label2 | head | head_label | image | image_alt | image_name | image_size | image_upright | language | latin_name | location | logo | logo_alt | logo_size | logo_upright | map_size | mascot | mascots | module | motto | mottoeng | motto_lang | mottoeng | name | native_name | native_name_lang | nickname | nrhp | officer_in_charge | other | other_name | other_names | other_students | parent | postalcode | postcode | postgrad | prefecture | president | principal | province | provost | pushpin_label_position | pushpin_map | pushpin_map_caption | rector | region | religious_affiliation | sporting_affiliations | sports_free | sports_free1 | sports_free2 | sports_free3 | sports_free_label | sports_free_label1 | sports_free_label2 | sports_free_label3 | sports_nickname | sports_nicknames | state | students | superintendent | top_free | top_free1 | top_free2 | top_free_label | top_free_label1 | top_free_label2 | total_staff | type | undergrad | vice_chancellor | vice-president | vice_president | visitor | website | zipcode }}{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check | template = Infobox university | cat = Template:Main other | image; image_name | other_names; other_name | former_names; former_name | founders; founder | academic_affiliations; academic_affiliation | academic_staff; faculty | campus_type; campus | other_students; other | location; address | location; city | location; address | location; canton | location; prefecture | location; province | location; region | location; state | location; country | location; postalcode | location; postcode | location; zipcode | postalcode; postcode; zipcode | coordinates; coor | colors; colours | free_label; free_label1 | free; free1 | athletics_nicknames; sports_nicknames; athletics_nickname; sports_nickname; nickname | athletics_affiliations; sporting_affiliations | affiliation; affiliations | mascots; mascot | nrhp; embedded; module }}
Bronte International University (formerly known as Trinity College and University<ref name="ODA">Template:Cite news</ref>) is an unaccredited post-secondary educational institution formerly in South Dakota. It is widely considered to be a diploma mill, operated from an unknown location.<ref name="ODA" /> Its website offers "fast" degrees for "life experience."
The Trinity College and University that was based in South Dakota and later became Bronte International University is currently based in Tortola, the British Virgin Islands,<ref>International Commission for Higher Education Template:Webarchive website, accessed March 24, 2009</ref> and is registered as a corporation with the United Kingdom.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Location
The Skeptical Inquirer described it as "a British institution with no building, campus, faculty, or president, and run from a post office box in Sioux Falls, South Dakota."<ref name=gardner>Martin Gardner, "'Dr' Bearden's Vacuum Energy", Skeptical Inquirer, Vol 31.1, Jan/Feb 2007</ref> According to the Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization, it is "probably" operated in the Caribbean and "also operated in Louisiana and maybe elsewhere."<ref name="ODA" />
Academics and accreditation status
The institution claims to be accredited by the Association for Online Academic Excellence (AOAE), but this is not a recognized accreditation association of higher learning.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It has been listed as a diploma mill by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Course descriptions found on the institution's now defunct website were copied verbatim from the course offerings of Thomas Edison State College of Trenton, New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Other institutions with similar names
Bronte International University was originally known as "Trinity College and University." It should not be confused with a number of mainstream academic institutions with similar names (see Trinity College).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Trinity College and University offered bachelor's degrees on the basis of "Prior Learning Assessment," advertising that a degree awarded on this basis could be completed in as little as two days' time. Bachelor's degrees were priced at $675.<ref>Creola Johnson (2006), Credentialism and the Proliferation of Fake Degrees: The Employer Pretends to Need a Degree; The Employee Pretends to Have One, Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal, Vol. 23, 2006; Ohio State Public Law Working Paper Series No. 79; Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies Working Paper Series No. 52. Available at SSRN: [1]</ref>
The name "Trinity College and University" is also used by a distance education institution based in Dover, Delaware, United States, with offices in Málaga, Spain and Islamabad, Pakistan.<ref name=TCUPKabout>About Us Template:Webarchive, Trinity College and University website, accessed March 17, 2008</ref> This institution is a known diploma mill now.<ref name="FiredTCU">Template:Cite news</ref> and advertises that it awards degrees "in any subject"<ref>Degrees Template:Webarchive, Trinity College and University website, accessed March 17, 2008</ref> on the basis of "practical experience".<ref name=TCUPKabout/>
United Nations scandal
In February 2007, the Associated Press reported that several employees of the United Nations had lost their jobs when it was revealed they had listed Trinity College and University degrees on their resumes.<ref name="Fired">Template:Cite news</ref> A representative of the UN was quoted as saying that one staff member's misrepresentation of his Trinity credentials as being from a legitimate university was considered "serious misconduct."<ref name="Fired" /> The article described Trinity as a "diploma-sales business" and noted that the institution was "actively pursuing the soldiers in Iraq" as customers for college degrees.<ref name="Fired" />
See also
References
External links
- Bronte International University website, archived September 28, 2007