Beware Of Unrecognised Degrees You May Not Get A Job
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - Prospective students who wish to embark on degrees, masters or PhD courses offered by foreign institutions via distance or e-learning must check with the relevant authority to ensure such qualifications are recognised or accredited by the local accreditation board.

Education observers said doing so would prevent the obtained qualifications from going to waste.

“There are various private institutions here offering courses via distance or e-learning.

“If such qualifications are not recognised, the holders would only be wasting both their time and money, as they would not be able to use the qualifications to land themselves a job.

“Employees might think such qualifications would entitle them to a better chance at attaining a higher position as well as an increase in their salary,” they said.

Prospective students can opt to obtain degrees, masters and PhD via distance or e-learning, where lecture materials are mailed to students or obtained from the Internet.

Sometimes lectures are held at hotels or - at certain institutions of higher learning - in the form of one-to-three-week long seminars conducted by local or foreign staff. These lectures may be done here or overseas.

Observers added, some foreign universities even claim that their part-time distance and e-learning programmes are recognised by the Education Ministry, when in actual fact, it is the full-time ones that are recognised.

The government would never employ graduates with degrees obtained through unaccredited part-time distance and e-learning programmes, they said.

They suggested that companies or institutions that offer these e-degrees in the absence of accreditation be termed as operating illegally.

“This is necessary in light of the increased number of sub-standard degrees available in the market.

“Such move is not to deny people the right to education but to ensure that qualifications obtained were of the highest quality, which could contribute to national development and progress,” they said. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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