When genuine Doctors fail to address degrees properly!

When the web sites of higher education are to be designed,
for it is the online facade for the institution to outer world,
extra care should be taken. Public universities in Myanmar
are well regarded and they are subsidized by the state and
they offer adequate education for free. They have been on
the path of transforming into research intensive universities
from teaching only universities. However, there are rooms
to improve. Following is an example. Professor Daw Khin
San Yee is whom I respect well. But her employer web site
wrongly address her credentials as below:

'Dr. Khin San Yee
B.Com (A.A), M.Com, DAC, Ph.D (Germany)
Pro-Rector of Yangon Institute of Economics
MBA Programme Director'
http://www.mba-mm.com/res/about/faculty1.html

Germany has strict rules for PhD. If someone has earned
double PhDs, the proper way to write his name will be
"Dr. Dr. XYZ".  For a professor who has earned a PhD,
then the proper way to write her degree in an academic
environment in Germany will be "Professor Dr. XYZ".
In Germany, Austria, and also in the Netherlands (they
are Germanic countries), only PhDs can use Dr. prefix.

So it should be as follows:

'Professor Dr. Khin San Yee,
B.Com (A.A), M.Com, DAC, Ph.D (Goettingen),
The pro-Rector of Yangon Institute of Economics,
MBA Programme Director.'

As you may notice I am trying to ramp up my blog as
I will later try to publish in local media.

Wanna be "ပေရာ္ဖက္ဆာေဒါက္တာဆိတ္ဖြား" for 1500$?

Do you want to be called as "ပေရာ္ဖက္ဆာေဒါက္တာဆိတ္ဖြား"
by spending 1500 bucks? Then possibly be honored by this
blogger in this "Hall of Shame"? Then read the article below:

'Psst. Wanna Buy a Ph.D.?

By THOMAS BARTLETT and SCOTT SMALLWOOD

It was a revelation rich in irony: A member of a college accreditation
board holds a Ph.D. from a "university" that sells doctorates to anyone
with $1,500. This year The Chronicle reported that Michael Davis, a
member of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools,
received his doctorate from Saint Regis University, which claims recognition
from the government of war-torn Liberia and requires little, if any, academic
work. He has since been booted from the board.

Most people in higher education probably dismissed the news as a laughable
aberration. Regrettable and embarrassing, but nothing more.

It turns out there are plenty of others like Mr. Davis, at all levels of higher
education: A wrestling coach in Wisconsin. A librarian in Texas. An assistant
dean at a Baptist university. Not to mention dozens of professors who hold
degrees from unaccredited colleges, some of which require nothing more
than a credit-card number and a mailing address.' read more below:

http://chronicle.com/article/Psst-Wanna-Buy-a-PhD-/24239

Stephen Thein, Ph.D., Pacific Research Network

I am not sure I should put this guy as he is not residing in Burma.
Got another tip from a Burmese living in California about a fake
Burmese PhD who has bought his PhD from a diploma mill. See:

'STEPHEN G. THEIN, Ph.D.
EDUCATION
1974 Ph.D: Professional Psychology, United States International University
1972 MA: Human Behavior, United States International University
1971 BA: California Western University'
[Source:http://www.prnsd.com/CVs/Thein.pdf]

But "United States International University" and "California Western
University" are diploma mills. Another statement in curriculum vitae,
he claims to be the first author of an academic research paper titled
"Galantamine in AD A 6-month randomized, placebo-controlled trial
with a 6-month extension" but the author list does not include Thein.
The quotation below shows actual author list which does not include
any Stephen nor Thein:

"M.A. Raskind, MD, E.R. Peskind, MD, T. Wessel, MD, W. Yuan, PhD
and the Galantamine USA- Study Group*"

[Reference: http://www.neurology.org/content/54/12/2261.abstract]

(Phoney) Dr. Tin Latt, Management & Accountancy Training

When I started this blog, I did not expect to find more than 3 fakers. But now I got another
fish. This time, phoney PhD is Mister Tin Latt who calls himself Dr. Tin Latt. He wrote his
own biography as follows:

'Dr Tin Latt holds a PhD and a Masters in Business Administration from Ansted University,
British Virgin Islands and a Bachelor of Commerce from the Institute of Economics in Yangon,
Myanmar.'

If you see BVI, which is an abbreviation for British Virgin Islands, then you know it ought to
be a diploma mill. An online discussion about how easy it is to set up an organization in BVI [2].

'"Hi Johann, your are right. It's just a SALES GIMMICK -Ansted hands out stuff to largely unsuspecting people at good schools (who should know better, i.m.o), to get good P.R. that connects their worthless
name positively with these schools!

If the head of schools or recipients of so-called Social Responsibility International Awards found out what kind of outfit Ansted is.... they will definately shy away.

Do Ansted has the DEGREE GRANTING authority?
Ansted is incorporated in the British Virgin Island and BVI do NOT have the degree granting authority.

Any Tom. Dick and Harry can incorporate a so-called University for a fee of US$1,275. Please visit http://www.bvi-corporations-ibc-inco...prices_in_usd/. That is the reason WHY BVI is famous for DIPLOMA MILLS.'

And the following is quoted from his school, MAT's web site reproduced below [3]:

'Personal Profile of Dr. Tin Latt -B.Com, CPA, ACCA, ACMA, MBA, DBA ( UK)
(Managing Director of Management & Accountancy Training Limited)....
He was awarded Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 1997 and Doctor of
Business Administration (DBA) degree in year 2000 from Ansted University – (British Virgin
Island – UK). '

Therefore it can be concluded that he has bought not a Ph.D but MBA and DBA.

References:

[1] Dr Tin Latt, Principal Consultant, Myanmar, biography of year 2005 attendant,
http://www.asean100forum.com/profiles_participants_details.php?participantid=188&pyear=

[2] A thread about that Ansted University from BVI from Degree Discussion forum
http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7294

[3] Strategic Strength of MAT
http://www.matglobal.com/profile.ht

Why should we care about phonies or fake PhDs?

We should care and we should expose them not only because
it is a breach of trust, an insult to our intelligence. If we do not
expose them, we are showing the whole world that not only we
lack courage and competence to question the authority but we
are telling the whole worlds that we are fools. And once this
trend set root, we will see all crooks, from real estate agents,
tuition teachers, private school principals and businessmen will
start paying about 6000 dollars to con-men to get a piece of
paper that is worthless. So we need to stop this trend and we
need to expose those fakers and forgers who want to lie to us.

What is an ABD? Can they use the prefix "Dr".?

ABD stands for All But Dissertation. That means a PhD candidate who has
completed the coursework requirements for PhD but who has not completed
thesis component. Since PhD dissertation, it is called PhD thesis counts 50%,
an ABD is only 50% PhD. An ABD is still in the pipeline and she cannot call
herself "Dr. X", she is still "Ms. X". So the ABD status is not equal to a PhD
as she may still end up without a PhD. If an ABD claims he or she has earned
a PhD then that is not an innocent mistake but a serious breach, that will tell
the integrity of a man. Some graduate schools may offer Master of Philosophy
to a PhD candidate whose work which is reported in the PhD thesis is not up
to the work of a PhD. But ABD is not a PhD.

See the Wikipedia entry below for the definition of ABD status:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy

Diploma mill degrees accredited by accreditation mills

There are some fools who still claim that the university from where they bought
fake pedigree papers is accredited by an accreditation body such as "Accrediting
Commission International (ACI)".

The first question to be asked is whether "The accreditation is from another mill"?
Not all degrees from unaccredited programs are diploma mills and there are real
universities which run accredited bachelor degree programs also run unaccredited
professional degree programs. But here we are not talking about those lesser than
gold standard degrees but we are talking about real phony degrees, degrees from
lowest of the lowlife criminal con-men and fools who paid thousands of dollars to
fool others thinking that all of their countrymen can be fooled. I set up this weblog
to expose such Burmese and Foreign nationals who try to con us, Burmese people.
See below reproduced Fact Sheet for definitions of diploma mills and accreditation
mills.

'DIPLOMA MILLS
If the answers to many of these questions are “yes,” the operation under consideration
may be a “mill”:
• Can degrees be purchased?
• Is there a claim of accreditation when there is no evidence of this status?
• Is there a claim of accreditation from a questionable accrediting organization?
• Does the operation lack state or federal licensure or authority to operate?
• Is little if any attendance required of students?
• Are few assignments required for students to earn credits?
• Is a very short period of time required to earn a degree?
• Are degrees available based solely on experience or resume review?
• Are there few requirements for graduation?
• Does the operation charge very high fees as compared with average fees charged by
higher education institutions?
• Alternatively, is the fee so low that it does not appear to be related to the cost of
providing legitimate education?
• Does the operation fail to provide any information about a campus or business location
or address and relies, e.g., only on a post office box?
• Does the operation fail to provide a list of its faculty and their qualifications?
• Does the operation have a name similar to other well-known colleges and universities?
• Does the operation make claims in its publications for which there is no evidence?
ACCREDITATION MILLS
If the answers to many of these questions are “yes,” the operation under consideration may
be a “mill”:
• Does the operation allow accredited status to be purchased?
• Does the operation publish lists of institutions or programs they claim to have accredited
without institutions and programs knowing that they are listed or have been accredited?
• Are high fees for accreditation required as compared to average fees from accrediting
organizations?
• Does the operation claim that it is recognized (by, e.g., USDE or CHEA) when it is not?
• Are few if any standards for quality published by the operation?
• Is a very short period of time required to achieve accredited status?
• Are accreditation reviews routinely confined to submitting documents and do not include
site visits or interviews of key personnel by the accrediting organization?
• Is “permanent” accreditation granted without any requirement for subsequent periodic
review?
• Does the operation use organizational names similar to recognized accrediting
organizations?
• Does the operation make claims in its publications for which there is no evidence?'

Reference:
Important Questions about “Diploma Mills” and “Accreditation Mills”
May 2003
http://www.chea.org/pdf/fact_sheet_6_diploma_mills.pdf