What is a diploma mill?
The term ‘diploma mill’ (or ‘degree mill’) is an internationally accepted term for any type of person or organization that sells diplomas and academic degrees purely for profit and without requiring any serious academic achievement or study. Diploma mills come in various shapes and sizes, ranging from fully-fledged diploma production lines to small-scale internet traders. Have you ever got an unsolicited e-mail from someone offering university qualifications or academic degrees with a range of pricing options? If you have, there’s an extremely good chance that the offer came from a diploma mill.
Accreditation
Every country has a formal procedure for officially recognizing or accrediting educational institutions or study programmes. Accreditation means that an officially appointed body (a government department or an independent authority) has evaluated the institution or programme in question, and guarantees that it has met a set of minimum standards. Diploma mills, on the other hand, and the diplomas they sell, are not officially accredited or recognized either in the country where they are based or elsewhere.