Buxton University was an accredited vendor of

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

that used a postal address in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It is associated with the Instantdegrees.com website.George Brown
Fighting Credential Fraud: A Brief Critique of Australian and American Approaches to Qualification Verification and Authentication
''World Education News & Reviews'', Volume 18, Issue 5, October 2005, retrieved from website 24 May 2007 and 16 February 2009Amy Rutledge
Buying phony degrees online
, WATE-TV (Knoxville, Tennessee), November 15, 2004

Charter and accreditation status

The institution did not hold a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

, which is required for an institution in the

to call itself a "university", per the

Further and Higher Education Act 1992 The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 made changes in the funding and administration of further education and higher education within England and Wales, with consequential effects on associated matters in Scotland which had previously been ...

. However, the institution does not advertise itself as a university in the UK and uses a commercial (instead of academic)

internet domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

- buxtonuniversity.co.uk. The domain, however, is registered to a "Camford Institute Subang Jaya" in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Buxton claimed accreditation by the

World Online Education Accrediting Commission The World Online Education Accrediting Commission (WOEAC) is an entity with no identified geographic location that represents itself as an accrediting organization for Online colleges, online degree providers. It is not List of recognized accredit ...

, as well as the Board of Online Universities Accreditation (BOUA), but neither agency is recognized as a higher education accreditor by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

or the

Council on Higher Education Accreditation The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order t ...

. Buxton University is on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board list of "Institutions Whose Degrees are Illegal to Use in Texas."

History

On its website, Buxton University stated that it was established in 1991 and had awarded a total of 54,000 degrees by 2002.About Buxton
Buxton University website, archived April 11, 2008 In August 2004, a

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, television station investigating bogus academic credentials had an employee order a degree from the InstantDegrees.com website. The station reported that the employee received a Buxton University master's degree,

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

, by mail within a few days after submitting an order. Questionable Degrees: Too Easy To Get?
WOAI.com (San Antonio, Texas), August 24, 2004. Archived March 1, 2006. In November of that year, a

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

, television station reported a similar experience in which an employee ordered a Ph.D. from InstantDegrees.com and received a back-dated Buxton University diploma by mail just five days after paying $160. Both stations reported that the university was identified as being in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, but the mail had come from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Also in 2004, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' reported that a

hypnotist Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

, William R. Runnells Jr., had called himself "Doctor" and that his degree was from the American Institute of Hypnotherapy and Buxton University.Sandra G. Boodman
Risen From the Ashes: Founders of Phoenix Method One Say Their Hypnosis Treatment Can Cure Addictions
''

'' April 13, 2004; Page HE01 In that article, the Post wrote, "...repeated Web searches and several calls to overseas operators did not turn up a listing for a Buxton University." On November 29, 2006, the web version of NBC 4 in Columbus, Ohio, posted a transcript of a Target 4 Investigates program in which Kyle Anderson stated that "Five days after placing that order, I received this in the mail - global priority mail from Portugal. Inside, two signed and sealed diplomas from Buxton University in London, England. So for a few hundred bucks, I've got a Ph.D. in counseling, a master's of divinity in religion, some pretty official-looking letters from Buxton University, and their prospectus, which looks like it's printed on an ink-jet printer."Anderson, Kyl
"Fake Diplomas Could Put Your Career At Risk"
Target 4 Investigates ''NBC, Channel 4'' Columbus, Ohio, December 1, 2004 Transcribed: November 29, 2006 (Internet Archive) Buxton University has no web presence and appears to have ceased trading. According to the Higher Education Degree Datacheck website, Buxton University is not a valid UK degree awarding body.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Buxton University official website
Unaccredited institutions of higher learning Distance education institutions based in the United Kingdom

Charter and accreditation status

History

See also

References

External links