Job Discussion Forums

[Jared]

Hello. I was wondering if any of you took the TESOl course at Canadian Institute of English? www.cie.ca. I'm thinking of doing a course through them and possibly getting a degree through them. they're affiliated with Weston Reserve University and the Degree and Transcripts are also issued from that University. They switched universities 3 times in such a short period not too long ago. I hear that the TESOL course is great but I'm a little weary of the degree program. It looks a little too easy to get. All you need is 4 years or 2000 hours of teaching experience and you need to speak another language, then you have to complete some actual studying which CIE says takes most students no more than 12 months. And the price is around $3500CAD if i remember correctly. I am teaching in china right now and I want a degree that will work in korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Do any of you have any thoughts on this? I'm trying to decide whether to get a degree either through CIE or TEFL International. www.teflintl.com. The degree program at www.teflintl.com costs around $4000 CAD. They say that the Degree program through TEFL International the studying takes almost 3 years to complete. I know that Korea, Japan, and Taiwan will only accept certain degrees. I don't wanna waste my time trying to get a degree that won't be accepted in those countries. I also heard a rumor that some distance degrees are never accepted. Any thoughts on this would really be appreciated. Thanks.
Jared

[Gordon]

It looks like a diploma mill to me, way too easy. I doubt it would be regarded very highly. Who ever heard of a degree only being $3500, the PhDs are not much more.
I don't think there is anything wrong with a distance degree, but choose one which has a real school. What is Western Reserve? I doubt it is an actual university with a campus.

[verity]

Ditto the above comment and for your own amusement note:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_Reserve_University

Weston Reserve University is an unaccredited institution of higher learning which claims accreditation by the Royal Family of Kuwait to award degrees for "vocational experience" and course work, although it appears to operate mainly in the United States and Canada. It does not appear on UNESCO's list of accredited universities in Kuwait, or on the databases of accredited institutions in the USA or elsewhere.

Ok, interesting that:
"This TESOL course is recognized as part one of a fully accredited B.Ed. or M.Ed. through The Autonomous University of the State of Mexico."

Also:
"Please Note: Our degrees are available only outside the province of Ontario."

Well, why might that be?

Also, if you ever loose your certificate you can get one via a Cdn contact number or address, but the mailing address for the actual admin. of the thing is in Spain.

Hmmm...

[Jared]

It's just wierd. I even emailed a Korean embassy to find out if the degree would be accepted. In fact they replied saying that it wouldn't be accepted. And what's worse is that when I checked with the Better Business Bureau, there's no report on CIE at all. I would like to see some complaints filed so that CIE will either get their act together and actually find an actualy accredited university or either that just confess that issuing degrees aren't a strong point for them and get rid of the degree program all together. Not only that, I emailed CIE a couple days ago asking why they say their university is an accredited university and yet the Korean Embassy won't accept it. I even asked them to email me the address of the Weston Reserve University, and guess what? They didn't respond. I personally think it's a diploma mill just like Gordon said. Now if there's anyone out there who actually got a degree with CIE and their so called accredited university and actually got a work visa with it, please step forward.

[william wallace]

nil

[verity]

I haven't lost faith in the education system of the country. That would be a cynical generalization. I posted the above 'holes' in the whole concept to emphasize what a laughstocking it is.

I wouldn't waste time contacting them or asking other org'ns to validate their credibility. These days there are unfortunately even more 'credential mills' out there.

Credible distance or online study options are available. You're better off getting something from a reputable place, by googling their name, and going to their home page, rather than opting for the convenience of a weblink you stumble across that's for some joint no one's ever heard of.

[prof]

Why pay tuition to a school you will always have to "explain" to employers?