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An accreditation mill is an organization that purports to award educational accreditation to higher education institutions without having government authority or recognition from mainstream academia to operate as an accreditor. Implicit in the terminology is the assumption that the "mill" has low standards (or no standards) for such accreditation. Accreditation mills are much like diploma mills, and in many cases are closely associated with diploma mills. The "accreditation" they supply has no legal or academic value, but is used in diploma mill marketing to help attract students.〔Luca Lantero, (Degree Mills: non-accredited and irregular higher education institutions ), Information Centre on Academic Mobility and Equivalence (CIMEA), Italy.〕 Some institutions obtain accreditation from an independent group with low standards. In other cases, the institution sets up its own seemingly independent accreditation board and then accredits itself.〔( Diploma mills provide phony credentials ), By Helena Andrews, ''The Capital Times''/Medill News Service, February 14, 2005〕 This gives the appearance that an outside group has approved the education that is offered at the school. In many countries, accreditation is a government function. In the United States, governments normally do not accredit academic institutions, but federal education authorities recognize about 18 private accrediting organizations for institutional accreditation of higher education institutions〔 and more than 60 other private organizations for accreditation of specific educational programs.〔(Recognized Accrediting Organizations (as of August 2010) ), CHEA website, accessed November 21, 2010〕 While standards vary from organization to organization, without recognition from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) (a non-governmental organization) or the United States Department of Education, the claims made by independent groups hold no value in the academic community. ==Characteristics== CHEA has published a list of attributes of accreditation mills to help consumers identify them. According to CHEA, an accreditation operation might be a "mill" if it:〔(Important Questions About Accreditation, Degree Mills and Accreditation Mills (April 2005) ), CHEA website, accessed November 21, 2010.〕 *Allows accreditation to be purchased *Allows institutions to attain accredited status in a very short period of time *Does not conduct site visits or interviews of key personnel as part of its accreditation process, instead reviewing institutions solely on the basis of submitted documents *Grants “permanent” accreditation, with no requirement for later periodic review *Claims recognition from an authority such as CHEA without appearing on lists of accreditors recognized by that authority *Has a name that is very similar to the name of a recognized accrediting organization *Publishes a list of institutions or programs that it has accredited without the knowledge of the listed institutions and programs *Publishes few or no standards for quality *Publishes claims for which there is no evidence. Verifile's Accredibase notes that some accreditation mills do not reveal their locations, which makes it difficult to determine whether they are legitimate. Some other mills have been found to use the same addresses as the education providers that claim accreditation from them.〔Eyal Ben Cohen and Rachel Winch (Verifile Ltd.), (Diploma and accreditation mills: Exposing academic credential abuse ), 20 January 2010. Retrieved from UK Higher Education International Unit website, November 21, 2010.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Accreditation mill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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