# Kensington university



## Mje1 (May 20, 2013)

In one of the earlier posts kimonas has mentioned that the KYSATS in Cyprus has recognised degrees earned from Kensington university.
I would like to know where this claim was based on and if any proof of the statement exists.

Additionally I need to clarify that the local colleges and universities are accredited and are operating following very strict evaluation procedures.


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Mje1 said:


> In one of the earlier posts kimonas has mentioned that the KYSATS in Cyprus has recognised degrees earned from Kensington university.
> I would like to know where this claim was based on and if any proof of the statement exists.
> 
> Additionally I need to clarify that the local colleges and universities are accredited and are operating following very strict evaluation procedures.


Readers of the original thread will note that I have been involved in the HE sector and have expressed an opinion that KYSATS has yet to reach its potential, especially as it relates to the Bologna accord and the wider European Higher Education Area. The comments relating to recognition of awards should not be taken out of context from the thread in which they first appeared. For those interested the recognitions to which I referred related to KYSATS approved CVs where qualifications had been vetted for the purposes of validation of collaborative programmes. I have also had the rather unpleasant task of informing Cypriot applicants for academic posts that their qualifications are null and void, produced as they were by we'll known diploma mills but such applicants had applied for their qualifications to be recognized by KYSATS with positive results. The original thread however concerned the reputations of two private colleges and KYSATS was not the focus of the thread. I have confidence that KYSATS is undergoing reform and reacting to the various recommendations as part of the European framework for the recognition of qualifications, but it is frustrating that after six years of work Cyprus still lags behind other European nations in reaching self certification of having reached step 10 of the processes required to meet the Quality Assurance protocols of the EEA (at the last report it was still at stage 4).


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## Mje1 (May 20, 2013)

*Kensington*

Dear Kimonas,

I thank you for your reply.
What I still don't understand is how do you know that kysats has recognised qualifications from Kensington, or similar universities, when the Kensington is not in their list of recognised institutions.
I am certain from your reply that you know what you are talking about and I wish we could privately communicate.
Moreover, I would like to inform you that the Bureau for private postsecondary education of the State of California, that is the approving agency, states that the KU was indeed approved to offer bachelor, master and doctoral degrees as well as that degrees earned during those years, are valid and legal.
Even after it relocated to Hawaii the Court closure decision provides that degrees earned prior to 2003, that was the closing year there, are valid and legal.
As for kysats and the general accreditation situation now in Cyprus, I am in a position to know that, as I have mentioned in my previous post, all private colleges and universities, have gone through a very rigorous evaluation and have raised tremendously their academic standards. 
Do hope you can privately contact me.
Thank you


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Dear Mje1

It should be possibe to PM following a threshold number of posts, and I would be willing to engage in discussion as I have a keen interest in Cyprus fulfilling its promise as an international hub for HE (critically important as a stimulus to the economy following the current crisis and need to diversify income streams). The KYSATS date stamps and the qualifications on the CV approvals that I have dealt with postdate the withdrawal of Kensington's accreditation which could be put down to a clerical error, but others such as Pacific Columbia are less defensible. I would agree with your point that the standards of private HEIs in Cyprus are generally high - what has to happen now is less interference and less restrictions from Cypriot Authorities as the arbiter of standards and recognition in cases (for example, in collaborative provision arrangements) when overseas awarding bodies have clearly better, more rigourous and EAA compliant QA mechanisms (and at the moment Cyprus does not have a functioning QA authority). The European Commission has already issued warnings about the Cypriot Authorities questioning other EU awards counter to various agreements to which Cyprus has entered. The point of the original thread to which you refer was that the OP had asked for opinions about reputations of colleges that degenerated into a point scoring and veiled advertisment for a college that had local accreditation which in the view of the member I was debating with was better than UK degrees because of local accreditation. I was merely pointing out the counter view that local accreditation has to be put into the context of the Cypriot Authority's need to conform to and abide by the Bologna accord and to establish the QAA mechanisms that are currently in process but not as yet functioning. I would make the point that a degree from a UK University (earned in collaborative provision with a private provider in Cyprus) has more cache and international currency than a locally accredited Cypriot degree (especially in the case of an international student where issues of local accreditation are largely meaningless).


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## Mje1 (May 20, 2013)

*Kensington*

Dear Kimonas,
Thank you for replying.
My position is that a degree is meaningful when the student really works for it, yet I agree with you that collaborative degrees are an option that can be beneficial mainly because the student can come in contact with the culture , educational as well as social, of at least two countries.
As for the Bologna agreement, again I can tell you that the private universities here, have started applying the ECTS system and other requirements.
We need, though, to allow them the benefit of still being relatively young, so a few more years will be needed until they complete this process.
As you might have realised I need to talk to you about KU, so please consider again if we can privately communicate, or even personally meet, as I am now in Cyprus.
Thank you


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Dear Mej1

I have left a message on your profile page and hope we can discuss further through PM as it is likely that much that we might discuss would not necessarily be of interest to wider forum members - but if we touch on issues that might help members make informed decisions regarding access to tertiary education we should air them on the forum.

Hope to hear from you.


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## Mje1 (May 20, 2013)

Dear kimonas,

I have read your last message but it seems I cannot reply in the PM section as I am still a junior member of the site.
Anyway I still need to privately contact you.
Any suggestions?


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Dear Mej1,

I think I am right in thinking that new member restrictions are lifted following 5 good posts/contributions (at the moment you have four) so if you reply to this, you should then be able to PM forum members. It is against forum rules for me to give personal data within the public forum, so PM once activated would be the best route.

Hope that helps...


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## Mje1 (May 20, 2013)

Hi again Kimonas,
Do hope the PM feature will be activated after this.


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