The vast majority of universities serving the global community do not have formal classroom requirements for their students. Course work is generally transmitted by telephone, telefax, courier, post, video or satellite.
Even though strict academic standards are enforced, and high quality curriculum and instruction mandated, it is virtually impossible to obtain accreditation for such schools in the United States. While Europe maintains a wide variety of standards to qualify its institutions of higher learning, the United States accepts only regional accreditation by institutions serving the various sections of the country. Unless a university follows the conservative standards of the past regarding classroom attendance, required numbers of books in the library, building size and location, and a variety of other regulations, accreditation becomes impossible. Academics who understand the system are aware that many accredited institutions offer less than adequate programs while many authorized but unaccredited schools feature outstanding faculties and programs which serve students on a worldwide basis.
In light of the important developments in the global university concept over the past decade, it is imperative that a new accreditation association, or several associations, devote themselves solely to developing standards of academic achievement for their students in the global marketplace.
Some years ago the famous educator Dr. John Goodlad, of U.C.L.A., wrote a book entitled "No More Mondays". In this book, Dr. Goodlad advocated that students obtain a basic education through grade three, after which time they could be set free from the confines of the classroom to learn through computer terminals available in the neighbourhood. Dr. Goodlad was one of many educators who recognized that sitting in a classroom is not a guarantee of education and that other options were just as viable for large numbers of students. Dr. Goodlad's recommendations, as well as the excellent suggestions of today's globally aware educators, could be used as a basis for the new accreditation association, whose standards would not lack discipline or academic validity, but would instead meet the needs of the global institution, whose classroom spans many continents.
One such accreditation association has recently been formed and is directed by international educator Dr. Franklin Burroughs. The World Association of Universities and Colleges (WAUC) has as its aim the accreditation of any global university who meets the agreed upon standards of the association's members. It may take many years before common ground is reached among institutions of higher learning. The purpose of WAUC is not to develop a stereotyped uniformity for all institutions, but rather to find common ground applicable to the communication systems used by global universities, which also can be reconciled with the principles and practices of sound education at the university level. The need to develop standards is great, since education is an unknown quantity for entering students. How beneficial it would be for students all over the world to feel confident that the university of their choice is closely supervised and allied with others of high academic calibre. Nothing would bring universal education closer than an accreditation association which served the needs of the world's students and the academic community. (...)
Currently WAUC is requesting interest in membership from qualified
colleges and universities. If you believe your institution merits
inclusion in WAUC, or if accreditation in an association with high
academic standards would be of an advantage to your institution, please
write us immediately regarding details of membership.
We look forward to hearing from you and will answer all correspondence
in a timely manner.
Sincerely,
Dr. Maxine Asher, Vice President
World Association of Universities and Colleges
Phone: 504-363-6880 ; fax: 504-367-2632
World Association of Universities and Colleges (WAUC)
2025 Whitney Ave.
Gretna, Louisiana 70053
U.S.A.
Address all mail to:
P.O.Box 2317
New Orleans, LA 70053
U.S.A.
(Dr. Burroughs can be contacted by phone or fax at (510) 935-6960)
Return to GLOSAS News Contents for this issue.
URL: http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/globeres22.html
May 1992 -- Presented via the World Wide Web April 1999 by
Tina Evans Greenwood, Library Instruction Coordinator, and Mark Deavors, Library Instruction Assistant,
Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado
GLOSAS NEWS was orinally posted to the WWW at URL: http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/cont.htm by Tina Evans Greenwood, Library Instruction Coordinator, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado 81301, e-mail: greenwood_t@fortlewis.edu, and last updated May 7, 1999. By her permission the whole Website has been archived here at the University of Tennessee server directory of GLOSAS Chair Dr. Takeshi Utsumi from July 10, 2000 by Steve McCarty in Japan.