Anaheim University Receives DETC Accreditation

Apparently, Google is still picking up old versions of posts about Anaheim University. I am reposting this in an attempt to assure that readers get the most current information about the school’s accreditation.

Anaheim University has informed me they now have accreditation from the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). I last wrote about Anaheim back in 2005. It was an unaccredited, on-line university offering graduate degrees in business and TESOL. Despite this, it had affiliation with significant figures in the TESOL world such as David Nunan, Rod Ellis, and Ruth Wajnryb.

David Bracey, who is the school’s Chief Communication Officer, wrote to me describing recent developments at the school.

…our accreditation status has changed and on January 17th, 2009 Anaheim University gained full national accreditation from the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), an educational accreditation agency founded in 1926 located in Washington, D.C. The DETC is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the United States Department of Education as an accreditor of institutions of higher education.

In the past, my blog has featured significant debate about unaccredited degree programs (also see here). At the time, I had seen no convincing evidence of high quality unaccredited degree programs. When I was asked about Anaheim University, to be honest, I was surprised they did not have accreditation. One reader pointed out to me that accreditation often stipulates continued operation for an amount of time, and as such new schools can not get accreditation from authentic accreditation bodies. It appears this was the case with Anaheim.

I’d like to thank Mr. Bracey and Anaheim University for keeping me and my readers informed with their most recent developments. Good luck