International Open University (IOU)

GT95

Hello, has anyone heard of International Open Universitry? Their web site is http://www.iou.edu.tf/about.html

I have been leaving messages & emails with them but haven't got any response to date.

I'm just wondering are they a genuine setup or not?

Has anyone out there studied one of their courses & if so how did they get on during their studies?

Thanks,

bnt

.edu.tf URLs are free URLs that anyone can get, with optional redirection - they do not guarantee there's a school of any sort behind it, as would be the case in the USA (.edu) or the UK (.ac.uk). If you go to http://www.unonic.com/ you can register your own right now for free e.g. gt95.edu.tf. So, while I could be wrong, I seriously doubt there's a bonafide university there on the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. :cool:

edit: I've been to their website, and can see that they also have another domain name, iouni.info, and an email address info@iouni.info. I did a WHOIS lookup on that and can see that it's someone in Wellington, New Zealand. No name, no street address, just a PO Box.

They say they're accredited by the American Association for Higher Education & Accreditation, Inc. (AAHEA), and have a certificate. The AAHEA website doesn't appear to be up, and their domain is registered to a domain host, not to an organisation i.e. there's no name or address there for AAHEA themselves. So I Googled AAHEA, and found this:

From inspection of the AAHEA web site and a little additional digging, it might be the case that AAHEA is run to some extent by a fellow who calls himself "Prof. Erantha De Mel Ph.D., D.Sc." De Mel claims to be a clinical psychologist, a "certified clinical hypnotherapist," a " pioneer in the area of developing Computer-based Psychometric Test Instruments incorporating adaptive questioning techniques with built-in lie-scales," and the managing director of a Sri Lankan software company called QNETsoft, which also provides some of the server tools for the AAHEA.org web site. But its Washington DC phone number is answered by a woman with an American accent who called over a supervisor who also has an American accent, without the least trace of foreign origin.

Basically, you could buy AAHEA accreditation for $99 per year ... they were trying to piggy-back off a genuine organisation, AAHE, which didn't do accreditation and which no longer exists. Yeah, I don't think I'll be sending IOU (!) any money. :eek:

WeeBushy

That's some nice investigatin' The website itself looks a bit dodge as well.

bnt

I'm having great fun looking though all their claimed accreditations. For example: "Oxford Association of Management" has a website with a long list of recognised institutions: most of them genuine, and with the "International Open University" among them. Again, WHOIS is a useful tool, and oxim.org is registered to "Wild West Domains Inc." in Scottsdale, Arizona.

There's an email address for queries, which points to an "Accreditation Syndicate" in Malaysia! They also have a long list of accredited institutions - IOU not on it - and an accreditation application form. These guys are a bit more expensive: they'll sell you an accreditation for US$ 3,000 per year.

Maybe I should go in to the Accreditation business ... hey, I have a degree from UCD, I'm qualified! :pac:

Dr Strange

IOU - You pay in the belief you will get an accredited cert/dip/degree: definitely owned!

WeeBushy

They offer a PhD through distance learning :eek:

GT95

Thanks bnt for the research.

I have done more research on IOU since & they do not look good.

Thanks.