Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica

[Gus Sainz]

Mr. Strazzeri, I don't know if you are just naive and being duped, or whether you are a willing accomplice.

On the one hand, you seem sincere and are just passing along information that William Zamora is feeding you. On the other hand, you have had extensive experience with, and have avidly promoted, a questionable school before (Century University). You also intentionally omit facts, misquote laws, and translate things erroneously to suit your purposes.

So, if you would be so kind, please answer the following questions.

Dr. William Zamora send me a copy to explain me about the business.

Dr.William Zamora? He is still the owner, correct? My understanding is that an American still owns Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica. Is Dr. Zamora in Phoeniz, Arizona?

Also, why would he send you a document to explain the business? I know he is a member of this forum. Is he reading this thread and then just sending you stuff, or are you requesting corroboration from him? If he is reading this thread, why doesn’t he answer our questions and concerns himself?

If you are requesting material from him, why are you doing that? Do you now have personal doubts about the validity of your degree, or are you just requesting “ammunition” in order to help him defend and promote his institution?

I ask him about UNEM accreditation and he told me about it.

UNEM doesn’t have accreditation. It is not a member of SINAES, and, consequently, it does not appear on its list of accredited universities. UNEM has legal authority to grant just three degrees—a B.A. in Business, a B.A. in Accounting, and a M.B.A..

For international degrees Conesup do not sign it.

We all know this. CONESUP does not have the authority to regulate higher education outside of Costa Rica. It does, however, have the authority to regulate what degrees a private Costa Rican university can legally issue.

But private universities are authorized to do business outside Costa Rica only, to grant Bachelors, Masters and Doctorates, and that is legal.

AUTHORIZED? By whom?

According to my knowledge they are fine, I have been working hard for many years to get it.

Fine. Forget the law, for now, and help us understand UNEM. Tell us about your personal experience. You studied at UNEM for three years. Did you receive a Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate in that time frame?

[Hungry Ghost]

Here's something else that's kind of interesting.

It's from a 2010 University of Pennsylvania doctoral dissertation by Silvia P. Castro entitled 'Costa Rican Higher Education, Its Universities and Students'

On pp. 46-7, she writes:

Moreover, three private universities and one public university will not appear [in her study]...

...The Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica (UNEM) was founded in 1997 as a special-focus institution in business, and reported no graduates in 2007. These institutions have not been included in the study as neither enrolled new students in 2010; thus, these institutions have been classified as inactive.

http://www.ulacit.ac.cr/doc/Silvia_Cast ... tation.pdf

This suggests that the Costa Rican B&M school with the three approved business programs is most likely defunct. If that's true, then about all that remains of UNEM appears to be the unapproved overseas DL degree programs and the "validation" of European-American University.

[Gus Sainz]

If Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica has been inactive since at least 2007, how does one explain the promotional video uploaded by “unem2009”to YouTube on November 28, 2008 entitled Empresarial University in Costa Rica UNEM in English?

The video is described as “Empresarial University in Costa Rica UNEM Promotional Video,” and there’s a Spanish version as well.

From the video:
“We offer programs leading to Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorates in Administrative Sciences, Education and Humanities, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Biological Sciences, and General Science.”

[Gus Sainz]

Remember Global Academy Online (a.k.a. DiUlus Institute and University) run by Fred DiUlus (see Unwanted Export?)?

Here’s how it bills itself:
“Global Academy Online, Inc., (the Academy), is an international online education university builder. The Academy is a premier provider of private label online education curriculum and instructionto colleges, universities, eLearning, and distance online education institutions on four continents.”

At one time, the eminently questionable WIDU (World Information Distributed University ), whose U.S Vice President is the commiserable Robert Ray Hill, established an "agreement concerning of [sic] accreditation and recognition" with the DiUlus Institute.

Guess who else has partnered with this entity refereed to by some as a diploma mill?
According to THIS 2008 press release, “Empresarial Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica has partnered with Global Academy Online, Inc. (the Academy) of Washington DC, USA to offer an online international MBA in both English and Spanish.”

Once again, we see the same misleading statements:
“With students and former students from 20 nations, Universidad Empresarial is accredited by the National Council of Higher Education for Private Universities (CONESUP) of the Costa Rican Ministry of Education. The university is authorized to grant Bachelors, Graduate (Licensure), Masters, Professional Specializations and Doctoral Degrees.” [empahsis added}

Interestingly, on Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica’s own Web site, the same press release in Spanish reads a bit differently:
“Con estudiantes y ex-estudiantes de 20 naciones, la Universidad Empresarial recibió la aprobación del Consejo Nacional de Educación Superior Privada (CONESUP) del Ministerio de Educación costarricense. La Universidad está autorizada para conceder los grados de bachillerato y maestría, y muy pronto licenciaturas y grados doctorales.”

TRANSLATION (differences from the English version in red)
“With students and former students from 20 nations, Universidad Empresarial has received approval from the National Council of Higher Education for Private Universities (CONESUP) of the Costa Rican Ministry of Education. The university is authorized to grant Bachelors, Masters and very soon Graduate (Licensure), and Doctoral Degrees.”

[Hungry Ghost]

Remember Global Academy Online (a.k.a. DiUlus Institute and University) run by Fred DiUlus (see Unwanted Export?)? ...

At one time, the eminently questionable WIDU (World Information Distributed University ), whose U.S Vice President is the commiserable Robert Ray Hill, established an "agreement concerning of [sic] accreditation and recognition" with the DiUlus Institute.

Universidad Empresarial "validates" European-American University.

http://www.thedegree.org/accreditation.html

A noted ecclesiastical figure:

The Most Revd. John Kersey, OCR, DD (Tau Eleutherius, Ep.Gn.)

http://innerchurch.wordpress.com/

is E-A-U's President and Director of Academic Affairs:

http://www.thedegree.org/administration.html

Kersey in turn is an associate of Sheila Danzig's, the famed credential evaluator and former proprietor of MIGS. MIGS in turn bore an uncanny resemblance to UNEM.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=116&p=942

It's a small world, Gus.

[Jack]

I do no have the information that you asked me.

The name of the university with international agreement is on the back of the diploma.

Since the information is on the back of the diploma, why don’t you look on the back of your diplomas and tell us what it says? What does it say on the back of your Ed.D.?

I've just read through this entire thread and I'd like to thank Gus, HG and Lukeness for their research on this topic. The only small contribution that I might make is express my disbelief that Mr. Strazzeri does not know/remember the name of the institution that is allegedly printed on the back of his diploma. I can only think that you must have been well aware of which school was responsible for your degree (after all, if not for this school there would be no degree, correct?) You must have know the name of this school from the very beginning and now you can't remember it? It's beyond belief. I'm thinking that either there is no name printed on the back or it's a name like Knightsbridge (in which case you might be better off with no name printed on the back).