How to recognise a fake university

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A short guide on how to avoid the bad universities out there. Please note that this is a checklist and that a university showing one or some of the characteristics below isn't necessarily fake

1. The name of the university is similar to that of a university in the UK or USA. The name also often contains the words ‘American’ and/or ‘International’. Read more here.
2. The university claims accreditation from an unrecognized accrediting organisation, or downplays the importance of accreditation. Read more here.
3. The university has an address in a province or a country with weak or insufficient legislation in the field of higher education, for example Hawaii, Louisiana and Wyoming in the USA, or smaller islands in the Caribbean or Pacific Ocean. Read more here.
4. The university has one or several campuses in a province or a country with weak or insufficient legislation in the field of higher education, for example in Pakistan, Nigeria, or Somalia. Read more here.
5. The university is registered as a company, for example in a British Overseas Territory or in an island country in the Caribbean. Read more here.
6. The university is recognized by, and/or has a ‘campus’ in a fake or unrecognized country or micro-nation, such as the Hutt River Province in Australia or the Principato di Seborga in Italy. Read more here.
7. The university often moves from one location to another; from Wyoming to Alabama, then from Alabama to California. Read more here.
8. The university’s address is fake, misleading or that of a provider of virtual office solutions. Read more here.
9. The university has no physical address at all and can only be contacted by email or fax. Read more here.
10. Admission requirements are minimal. Read more here.
11. The university emphasizes on its web page that it is not a diploma mill or a fake university. Read more here.
12. Fees refer to the cost for certificates, transcripts, student identity cards etc, not to the cost for tuition. Read more here.
13. It is possible to get a degree on the basis of ’life experience’ only. Read more here.
14. Degree requirements are minimal and it is possible to get a degree within a very short time, in some cases just a few days. “No classes, no books, no course work, no hassle”. Read more here.
15. There are links to samples of transcripts, diplomas, etc on the web site. Read more here.
16. Logotypes of recognized credit card companies are visible on the university’s web-site. Read more here.
17. The certificates can be antedated, making it possible to graduate several years ago. Read more here.
18. The university web site is hosted on a server in another country and uses an unexpected internet top level domain. Read more here.
19. The university’s degrees are advertised through spam and/or sponsored links on search engines. Read more here.

Additional information here.

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to that of a university in the UK or USA.

There is a simple reason for this: Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Stanford are all well known and highly ranked universities. A university using a similar name can fool its customers into thinking that they are actually studying at Stanford, or which is more common, documents from fictious institutions like ‘Standeford University’ or ‘Camebridge University’ can be presented to potential employers as part of an application for a new job, or to universities in connection with applications for further studies or PhD positions.
Words like ‘International’ and ‘American’ in the university name are popular and can be considered a warning sign although there are exceptions: the ‘International University of the North Americas’ is fake (well, sort of. I made the name up), whereas ‘American International University Bangladesh’ is not.

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from an unrecognized accrediting organisation, or downplays the importance of accreditation.

Recognition or accreditation of universities is of importance as it is in many ways a quality control mechanism but the ways in which universities are recognised or accredited differ rather dramatically from each other: in some countries, like the USA, accreditation is a voluntarily process and in the hands of various non-governmental accrediting associations, in other countries, governmental bodies are responsible for the recognition of universities. Fake universities either downplay the importance of accreditation – ‘as an online, international university without a campus, we don’t need any accreditation’ – or acquire accreditation from unrecognised accreditation bodies with impressive names like "The Accrediting Agency for Online and Distance Education Universities, AAODEU”.

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or a country with weak or insufficient legislation in the field of higher education.

Fake universities have a habit of seeking out areas or countries where legislation in the field of higher education is weak or insufficient. At one point in time, the majority of universities operating in the state of Wyoming were unaccredited. In recent times, Alabama and California have seen a rise in the number of fake and/or unaccredited institutions but the situation is likely to change.

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in a province or a country with weak or insufficient legislation in the field of higher education.

War torn countries in Africa and/or countries with a high rate of corruption are popular locations for fake universities. The masterminds behind the Spokane-based St Regis University even managed to bribe a Liberian diplomat and set up a fake web site for the Liberian Ministry of Education in order to secure ‘recognition’ for the fake St Regis and James Monroe Universities. Other countries included Pakistan, Bangladesh and Panama. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the situation has improved recently.

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for example in a British Overseas Territory or in an island country in the Caribbean.

This is quite common, and allows the fake university to run its business from the UK, give courses exclusively in the US and enjoy the advantages of an offshore address. A company can be incorporated in the Turks and Caicos Islands within a few hours.

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...and/or has a ‘campus’ in a fake or unrecognized country or micronation.

This is an immediate warning sign. Interesting as they may be, micronations like Hutt River Province in Australia and Seborga in Italy are not places where you would expect to find dozens of universities.

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...from one location to another

Not too long ago some of the universities operating from or in Wyoming lacked regional accreditation but were able to offer educational programs as they were licensed by the state. The license is a permission to do business but not a recognition of the university and as the laws governing higher education tightened, many of the unaccredited universities packed up and headed for Alabama. Now many are leaving Alabama for California.

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...misleading or that of a provider of virtual office solutions.

A fake university existing only on the Internet does not need a physical address; one reason for this is that it doesn’t want irate customers on its doorstep. An email address is quite sufficient and phone and fax numbers given on the web site may be shared so that the phone rings at a real estate firm or the fax is printed at a restaurant in Wallis and Futuna, a French territoire d’Outre-mer in the Pacific Ocean.

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...at all and can only be contacted by email or fax.

Even recognised completely virtual universities will have a physical address. In general, a University without an address is to be considered suspicious until the opposite has been proven.