Washington International University
Encyclopedia
Washington International University is an unaccredited
institution of higher education
founded in 1994 and currently incorporated in the British Virgin Islands
. It describes itself as a "university without borders," serving clients from around the world via distance education
. The university website states that WIU's graduates have come from 112 countries.
The name "Washington International University" is used in promotional materials for other unaccredited distance learning institutions. There are no known accredited institutions by this name, but at least four accredited Washington universities exist: the University of Washington
, Washington State University
, Washington University in St. Louis
and George Washington University
(see "Similarity of names" section, below).
and engineering.
The school offers "traditional" and "accelerated" degree
programs. The traditional programs require students to complete just ten courses for a bachelor's degree and eight for a master's, along with a senior research project. The accelerated degree program allows completion of any degree within one year. For the accelerated program, according to the university's website, "There are no textbook
s to read, curriculum
to follow or formal exams to take." For either a bachelor's or a master's degree, a student must submit three book reports on books selected by the student's advisor and a research paper on a topic related to the student's field of study. For the doctorate, students must complete a thesis
under the guidance of an instructor.
The university points out on its Web site that its course materials "use simple language so that an average person can understand what is written."
The school's website lists seven faculty members, including two with doctorates, one with Ed.D, three with master's degrees and one with a J.D. degree
. According to a newspaper report in 2002, Karademir called the faculty "advisers", not "professors".
and does not have a campus
. As of March 2010, the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization states on its website that WIU is located in the British Virgin Islands and that its degrees are not recognized.
Lack of accreditation has consequences for WIU degree holders in some circumstances. For instance, the Michigan Civil Service Commission lists WIU among unaccredited institutions "from which degrees will not be accepted [...] to satisfy educational requirements indicated on job specifications."
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
(THECB) lists degrees awarded from WIU as "substandard," meaning according to the THECB in this case, "a degree... conferred outside the United States by an institution that the Coordinating Board determines is not the equivalent of an accredited or authorized degree." The THECB describes WIU as having "[n]o accreditation from a CB (Coordinating Board) recognized accreditor. British Virgin Islands does not have postsecondary oversight capability."
in Hawaii
and the British Virgin Islands, although it was based in Pennsylvania
and owned by Yil Karademir, of Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, who ran the university with his wife. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Hawaii location was meant for forwarding mail and telephone calls to the school's location on the mainland. As of 1998 a building pictured on WIU's website was "where the head of Washington University receives mail and messages", but a two-story house on a residential street in Bryn Mawr was the school's registrar's office where a staff of four took calls from students. Karademir explained to the Inquirer that we "We are entrepreneurs, we are not educators."
Before 1998, the institution now called "Washington International University" used the name "Washington University," but Karademir added "International" to the name in June 1998 as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by Washington University in St. Louis
. Lawyers from the latter institution had accused Washington International of being "nothing more than a diploma mill
", but Mr. Karademir of Washington International University disputed this characterization.
The institution's incorporation in Hawaii was dissolved March 1, 2000. Earlier, the state of Hawaii had brought legal action against the school, alleging that it had deceived consumers by failing to disclose its lack of accreditation. The parties settled the case in 1999; one of the requirements of the settlement was that Washington International dissolve its Hawaii corporation and not promote itself as being incorporated in or registered by the state of Hawaii.
According to Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, Washington International started listing a South Dakota
mailing address in mid-2000. In 2002 the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
reported that the school had a "small, broom closet-sized office" in that city but no employees. The school used a local secretarial service to answer the telephone and forward mail, and a local lawyer as an agent. For some period thereafter, completed applications to the institution were requested to be forwarded the Student Communication Center in Pennsylvania
. Similarly, as of February 2008, the university asks prospective students to forward completed application forms to the Washington Educational Organization in Wilmington, Delaware
, and the form states that it is incorporated in British Virgin Islands.
but using an address in Kowloon, Hong Kong, marketed itself on the Internet beginning in 2002.
Another Washington International University, based in Encino, California, advertises itself on the Internet as a distance education
provider, offering associate's, bachelor's, and MBA programs, all in the field of business. Its website domain, losangelessoftware.com, does not match the institution name and is not on the .edu TLD.
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
institution of higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
founded in 1994 and currently incorporated in the British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...
. It describes itself as a "university without borders," serving clients from around the world via distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
. The university website states that WIU's graduates have come from 112 countries.
The name "Washington International University" is used in promotional materials for other unaccredited distance learning institutions. There are no known accredited institutions by this name, but at least four accredited Washington universities exist: the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
, Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
and George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
(see "Similarity of names" section, below).
Academic programs
The school offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in business, liberal artsLiberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
and engineering.
The school offers "traditional" and "accelerated" degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
programs. The traditional programs require students to complete just ten courses for a bachelor's degree and eight for a master's, along with a senior research project. The accelerated degree program allows completion of any degree within one year. For the accelerated program, according to the university's website, "There are no textbook
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s to read, curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
to follow or formal exams to take." For either a bachelor's or a master's degree, a student must submit three book reports on books selected by the student's advisor and a research paper on a topic related to the student's field of study. For the doctorate, students must complete a thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
under the guidance of an instructor.
The university points out on its Web site that its course materials "use simple language so that an average person can understand what is written."
The school's website lists seven faculty members, including two with doctorates, one with Ed.D, three with master's degrees and one with a J.D. degree
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
. According to a newspaper report in 2002, Karademir called the faculty "advisers", not "professors".
Accreditation status and recognition of degrees
The university has not sought educational accreditationEducational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
and does not have a campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
. As of March 2010, the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization states on its website that WIU is located in the British Virgin Islands and that its degrees are not recognized.
Lack of accreditation has consequences for WIU degree holders in some circumstances. For instance, the Michigan Civil Service Commission lists WIU among unaccredited institutions "from which degrees will not be accepted [...] to satisfy educational requirements indicated on job specifications."
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is an agency of the Texas state government that oversees all public post-secondary education in Texas. It is headquartered at 1200 East Anderson Lane in Austin....
(THECB) lists degrees awarded from WIU as "substandard," meaning according to the THECB in this case, "a degree... conferred outside the United States by an institution that the Coordinating Board determines is not the equivalent of an accredited or authorized degree." The THECB describes WIU as having "[n]o accreditation from a CB (Coordinating Board) recognized accreditor. British Virgin Islands does not have postsecondary oversight capability."
History and locations
The school was founded in the mid-1990s and, as of 1998, was incorporatedIncorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and the British Virgin Islands, although it was based in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and owned by Yil Karademir, of Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, who ran the university with his wife. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Hawaii location was meant for forwarding mail and telephone calls to the school's location on the mainland. As of 1998 a building pictured on WIU's website was "where the head of Washington University receives mail and messages", but a two-story house on a residential street in Bryn Mawr was the school's registrar's office where a staff of four took calls from students. Karademir explained to the Inquirer that we "We are entrepreneurs, we are not educators."
Before 1998, the institution now called "Washington International University" used the name "Washington University," but Karademir added "International" to the name in June 1998 as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
. Lawyers from the latter institution had accused Washington International of being "nothing more than a diploma mill
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
", but Mr. Karademir of Washington International University disputed this characterization.
The institution's incorporation in Hawaii was dissolved March 1, 2000. Earlier, the state of Hawaii had brought legal action against the school, alleging that it had deceived consumers by failing to disclose its lack of accreditation. The parties settled the case in 1999; one of the requirements of the settlement was that Washington International dissolve its Hawaii corporation and not promote itself as being incorporated in or registered by the state of Hawaii.
According to Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, Washington International started listing a South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
mailing address in mid-2000. In 2002 the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...
reported that the school had a "small, broom closet-sized office" in that city but no employees. The school used a local secretarial service to answer the telephone and forward mail, and a local lawyer as an agent. For some period thereafter, completed applications to the institution were requested to be forwarded the Student Communication Center in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Similarly, as of February 2008, the university asks prospective students to forward completed application forms to the Washington Educational Organization in Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, and the form states that it is incorporated in British Virgin Islands.
Prominent graduates
- Joseph KabilaJoseph KabilaJoseph Kabila Kabange is a Congolese politician who has been President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2001. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila...
, President of the Democratic Republic of the CongoDemocratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world... - Linda WestLinda WestLinda West is a Canadian administrator, activist and politician. She is perhaps best known as an advocate for increased private health provision within Canada's public health system...
, private health-care activist and political candidate in ManitobaManitobaManitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... - Andrew K. Bashaija, Judge of the Uganda High Court, Judiciary of the Republic of Uganda
Similarity of names
According to Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, a different institution calling itself Washington International University, stated to be registered in DelawareDelaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
but using an address in Kowloon, Hong Kong, marketed itself on the Internet beginning in 2002.
Another Washington International University, based in Encino, California, advertises itself on the Internet as a distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
provider, offering associate's, bachelor's, and MBA programs, all in the field of business. Its website domain, losangelessoftware.com, does not match the institution name and is not on the .edu TLD.