Comment

Comment by drkoya on March 8, 2010 at 10:43am

Every is welcome ! As this is an adult-oriented forum, active participation and presentations are strongly enouraged and welcome. Thank you very mcuh.

Comment by Kaline on March 8, 2010 at 10:13am

As for our mention of the members of our Fiji-American community who are entrepreneurs yet lack the formal education background, your Professional Organisation and your seminars will avail the avenue to prove to any favourable institution of their choosing of their commitment and discipline with specificity to your guest speakers' expertise at your open forum, in a professional level, less the academic which muddies the objective and intention of the organisation's direction and purpose :) :)

Comment by Kaline on March 8, 2010 at 10:10am

Dr Koya much appreciation for your last entry, for we can now consider this quandary solved and satisfactorily clarified.

We must concur that being a member of professional organisations is often regarded well hence our request for consideration towards a level under the affiliate garnered towards High School students who take Business Studies, Economics and Accounting at High School or AP Level or those who are active Young Enterprisers. Being a member of a Professional Organisation with reputable community mentors opens many doors and allows them to look beyond the school and the faith-based referees for references in their College applications and possible career guidance and advice.

Vinaka vakalevu :) :)

Comment by drkoya on March 8, 2010 at 9:47am

Let's take off all the degree things out of this equation and let's keep it simple as Associate, Members and Fellows accreditation. Like in the cases of Aust Inst of Mgt, NZ Inst of Mgt and Royal Society of Health, the accredited members apply for job just on the basis of those accrediations and they are frequently offered jobs based on those classifications.

Years ago when I was first admitted as an Associtae of Australian Institite of Management, I found it was very significant on my resume and as I landed on more interviews than without it previously. And over the years, it has helped me in significant ways.

It is important to reiterate that AIM is not college or university geared to granting degrees. It is, however, free to equate qualifications of its membership grading to other formal qualifications.

Comment by Kaline on March 8, 2010 at 9:29am

Dr Koya - bula vinaka!

We don't care for any form of shrouding our people, for they struggle enough as it is here in the US. What we were addressing in our exchanges with Raaz with the hope to clarify what wasn't described on the site or in his intro was@certificates and AIM diploma in what we assume would be relevant to Management.

@your mention of "we are not talking of College transfer credits ... We are not in the business of granting degrees ...," our reaction to these statements is nothing short of being understandably appalled for your site and your spokesperson on this site in Raaz clearly stated that you will be offering Honourary PhDs to people you feel deserve it and Raaz's commitment to the 60 College credit equivalent. A PhD is a research degree. Herein lies the fallacy in your statement - unfortunately.

We feel it is better to inform our Fiji-American community of the realism in your certificates and diplomas and their viability of being accepted by accredited Colleges and Universities. The likelihood would be a no and a probable citation of work experience, which is not to say that they wouldn't require them to do some form of qualifying exam and/or a total rejection (as you'd also addressed). We were concerned when we read the mention on your site and by Raaz that participating Fiji-Americans can cite PhD or Fellow after their names which was extremely disconcerting for rationally, being that AIM isn't accredited and licensed by the US/California Department of Education, to do as Raaz and the site implied in brandishing bogus academic qualifications ie a PhD and a Fellow (non academic) would be deemed as fraudulent. This is where we're coming from Dr Koya. This is about Fiji and Fiji in America through Fiji-Americans. It's about our community and the viability and the credibility of our Fiji US communities academic claims. Already as it is, Fijians of other world communities joke about how all too easily degrees can be purchased in America, which is unfair to the majority of us who attained our letters through sheer hard work.

Evidently, your defensive entry in this thread in reply to our prompts as watchdogs has just clarified that your certificates and diplomas will only be recognised by your body and its affiliates.

Much mahaloz!

Comment by drkoya on March 8, 2010 at 8:53am

I must clarify, we are not talking of college trsnfer credit . We do not get involved in that. We give our own equivalency of fornal and actual life experience. It is up to colleges to accept or reject. We are not in the business of granting degrees. We just put everything together, match them with our criteria and give what the equal value is. for more detail discuss please email me at fijisun@gmail.com.

Comment by Kaline on March 8, 2010 at 8:47am

Vinaka Raaz for the prompt reply :) :)

We understand that your body is a professional organisation but this is the State of California and you are in America. If your organisation avails any form of accrediting credits towards College transfers, it will require the issuant (as in you) to be subject to the US Department of Education, regardless of your professional status, subjectivity to State and Federal Laws are applicable. Most especially now with the rampant abuse through diploma/degree mills where persons who'd received such diplomas/degrees are subject to severe embarrassment, not to mention legal ramifications for it is considered fraudulent to impersonate an academic degree or to falsify academic qualifications. That was just our cautionary mention, for we are always watchdogs for our Fiji community here in America. Don't wish you or them harm, only what is proper.

Naturally, AIM would recognise your own certifications. However, we consciously injected the College transfer credits in to this thread to ascertain validity & viability and accreditation of any certificate/diploma provided by your body upon completion of the seminar(s) and its feasibility as a plausible form of academic credit earned. So the answer should've been "No," for you do not nor do you feel it relevant to attain accreditation and/or licensing from the US/California Department of Education.

Much obliged to you Raaz for the progressive parle :) :)

Comment by Raaz on March 8, 2010 at 8:12am

We are a "professional body" a volunteer organization like our counterparts Australian Institute of Management and New Zealand Insitute of Management and what was previousl the Fiji Insitute of Management now AIM ( American Institite of Management). The professional institutes are unheard of in USA. Most so called insitutes are profit0based corporations.

We are distinct from US Colleges and Unisersitis and we do not clash or compare with them and therefore we are not subkect to the same laws and regulations as formal tertiary institute.

We have affiliate programs for srudents and those do not have sufficient work experience at a supervisory level hence for them it is a must to meet our requirements of 8 seminars. The accediting committee wil look into their formal education, work experience, job related training to admit them as professionals terns Assciate (AAIM) members (MAIM and Fewllows (FAIM) These disticntive honors have their own place of recognition and admissibility for job placements.

Yes, we are in aprocee of redoing our site and we will be happy to include some testimonials.

'Thank you !

Comment by Kaline on March 8, 2010 at 7:43am

Must applaud you for your efficiency in updating your site Raaz :) :) Noticed the addition of the affiliates and the other adjustments from when we first wrote you, having sauntered in to privy what it was you were announcing for the Fiji-American community at large.

Another consideration for your establishment if you could at all make it possible, would be in availing some kind of programme for the Fiji-American High School students who study Business Studies, Accounting and Economics or are members of the YE (Young Enterprise) programme. Could your body possibly avail a level under the affiliates? Possibly the Pre-affiliate Programme? It'll bode well for the kids, specifically for their curriculum vitaes and College applications :) :)

We can assume Raaz that what you are saying is, with direct relevance to your committed 60 hours of College credits, that the American Institute of Management Diploma is the equivalent of the duration of a 2 years academic study towards an Associate Degree and that AIM is approved by the CDE under section A-22 for Adult Education and is therefore State and Federal compliant? What we understood having accomplished approval for an application for an educational institution's approval through the Department of Education - NY for institution to issue academic certificates to Masters level degrees and professional licensing. That was our first legal task in this country. Exciting. Scary. New. Many revisions and finally success, so naturally we'll wish y'all the same - eventually.

When you develop your site further Raaz, kindly include your testimonial section where individuals who have your accreditation and have successfully been offered a seat at accredited Universities using their 60 transfer credits may account for it.

@Fellow equivalent for life experience, what is interesting to us as proponents of academia is that Doctoral Degrees aren't trifle matters. It is a degree earned through 3 years of sheer hard coursework and 2 years of research for your specialty where students are monitored every step of the way by an authorised academic supervisor, thereafter prior to receiving your doctorate you are expected to give a viva to defend and display ownership in your field of expertise to an Academic Board of 5 or 6 experts in your field and possibly the campus en masse and professional experts in the field. Then again to a person being accepted in to accredited course programmes of such a demanding academic caliber of excellence - a simple MBA isn't enough for it is not a Research Degree. You can imagine how persons such ourselves and many Fijians of our cynical society regard Honorary Doctorates. It's a tough world being of and from Fiji - as small a nation as she stands, as is exemplified by 3 of Fiji's gentlemen of political distinction, one of whom has passed on and 2 who carry much respect for the world of academia to have refrained themselves from citing their Honourary Doctorates. It was mentioned once and that was it. Doctorates aren't decorative - they're earned. Titans of Industry carry many're Honourary Doctorates but have never dared to cross that line - in devaluing academia by declaring what is not REAL and what was not earned - through academia, but life.

Being that your organisation will be issuing certificates and diplomas which should fall under tangible educational certifications, we must responsibly caution you as members of our Fiji-American community, that if your establishment/organisation fails to qualify your proposed 'academic' professional certifications through the proper channels, our people will deem and categorise 'the well meant' programme as that of a diploma mill and degree mill scam. For the moment, even Massey University and Hong Kong University are declared as inferior tertiary institutions - Go figure but that is what is and how it is of our community at large and their perceptions, whether they themselves are formally educated or not.

Comment by Raaz on March 8, 2010 at 4:51am

Thanks for your comments and questions. The certifcate are for those who attend the seminars. If a participant accumalates at least 8 certificate he/she is eligble for AIM Diloma which is equalavnt to 60 college credits. Where direct participtaion in our ongoing seminars is not possible, work experience, on the job training and other formal education will help a candidate obtain an AIM Diploma. In some cases, academic committee may ask to write and additional paper on a given area of management akin to hi/her work situation.

There is a professional accreditation process for will please visit www.americaninstituteofmanagement.com

We request you to look at the equvalancy status. An important fact to consider is that in most cases it takes at least a PhD to be a FELLOW of an Institute of Society. However, this prequisite is also accritted thorugh a combination of formal qualification and intensive life exprience. So where a candiadte, for example, is admitted as a FELLOW, AIM considers he/she has the PhD equivalancy. It automatically yield to an honorary PhD and the candidate is entitle to use Fellow and PhD after his/her name.

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