Silicon Valley University (SVU) was a private, non-profit

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...

al institution located in San Jose,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The university was

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) is a non-profit education corporation that was recognized until 2021 by the United States Department of Education as an independent and autonomous national accrediting body. ...

(ACICS) at the bachelor's degree and master's degree levels until December 7, 2017. On April 5, 2018, the state regulators of California ordered SVU to close and refund students' money within 45 days. On May 24, 2021, SVU was granted an Approval to Operate for an Institution Non-Accredited by the

California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education The California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) is a unit of the California Department of Consumer Affairs charged with regulation of private postsecondary educational institutions operating in the state of California. The BPPE is ...

(BPPE) by the State of California.

History

Silicon Valley University was founded in 1997 by Feng-Min "Jerry" Shiao (also spelled "Shao") and Mei Hsin "Seiko" Cheng, a married couple from Taiwan. Between 2008 and 2014, it had an average of 300 students; in 2015 it relocated to a larger location in an office park and recruitment expanded. That year enrollment increased to more than 3,600; the university reported 3,983 students in 2016, mostly graduate students in computer science and almost all from foreign countries. In a

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

study published in 2014, when SVU offered bachelor's, master's, and doctoral studies, it was one of the five institutions in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

enrolling the largest numbers of international students. Shiao, who served as chairman and president, subsequently fell out with Cheng, who was chief financial officer, and her younger brother Kevin Cheng, the registrar; the couple divorced in 2017, and the university's board removed Shiao as president. Each side has accused the other of financial irregularities: the Chengs have accused Shiao of understating the university's income and of appropriating funds for personal use, while Shiao has accused Cheng of using university funds to buy real estate through a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

registered in her name, OnPlus, which owns the office building where the university is located. Following student complaints, ACICS revoked its accreditation of the university on December 7, 2017, for failure to provide audited financial statements. On December 27, 2017, the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education filed a fifteen-point complaint against SVU, for alleged violations including improper recruitment of students; hearings are scheduled for June 2018. After the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' notified the agency of the revocation of accreditation, the state notified SVU on April 5 that it must immediately cease operations, formulate a closure plan, and give students a list of institutions where they could enroll and refund their money within 45 days.

Academic programs

Graduate programs

*Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS)

References

External links

* Universities and colleges in San Jose Educational institutions established in 1997 Educational institutions disestablished in 2018 Defunct private universities and colleges in California 1997 establishments in California {{SanJoseCA-struct-stub