- Rushmore University
Rushmore University is an unaccredited institution of higher learning offering master's and doctoral degrees in a variety of business-related fields, exclusively via
distance learning .History
Rushmore was started in
1996 inSouth Dakota by Michael Cox (1952-2006), who is said to have held a PhD in Accounting fromOklahoma State University and to have previously taught seven years at theUniversity of Arkansas andSam Houston State University . [ [http://www.rushmore.edu/Faculty/InMemoriam/tabid/104/Default.aspx Rushmore University: In Memoriam] ]As of June 4, 2006 Rushmore had a mailing address in the
Cayman Islands . [ [http://www.rushmore.edu/ Rushmore University website] ] The Maine Department of Education lists it as having been located in South Dakota,Wyoming , Georgia, and the Cayman Islands. [Maine Department of Education, [http://www.maine.gov/education/highered/Non-Accredited/pa-ru.htm Non-Accredited Colleges & Universities] ]Accreditation
Rushmore's promotional material claims that the conventionally recognized system of
educational accreditation in the United States is irrelevant and that Rushmore has instead attained "independent accreditation," as measured solely by the success of its graduates. [ [http://www.rushmore.edu/TheRushmoreStory/Accreditation/tabid/68/Default.aspx Rushmore University: Accreditation] (accessed June 20, 2007)] [Joseph Georges, [http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i06/06b01601.htm Putting the 'Education' Back Into '.edu'] , "The Chronicle of Higher Education", October 4, 2002. Article states that "until recently" Rushmore's website said "academic accreditors force those schools who seek their approval to work like aMcDonald's fast-food franchise."] In the past, Rushmore had claimed approval from a variety of agencies, none of them recognized [John Bear , "Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning", Ten Speed Press, 2001] by theUnited States Department of Education (USDE) or theCouncil for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). [ [http://www.chea.org CHEA website] ] TheOregon State Office of Degree Authorization has no evidence that this is an accredited or otherwise acceptable provider of postsecondary education meetingOregon standards. Oregon employers should consider degrees from this supplier to be substandard unless each degree program is evaluated in detail by an external evaluator acceptable to ODA. [Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization, [http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/unaccredited.aspx Unaccredited Colleges] ] The Maine Department of Education and State of Michigan also list Rushmore as non-accredited. [Maine Department of Education, [http://www.maine.gov/education/highered/Non-Accredited/pa-ru.htm Non-Accredited Colleges & Universities] and State of Michigan, [http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Non-accreditedSchools_78090_7.pdf Colleges and universities not accredited by an accrediting body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation] ]ee also
*
List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
*List of unrecognized accreditation associations of higher learning
*School accreditation References
External links
* [http://www.rushmore.edu/ Rushmore University] – Official website
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