A message from John C. Stacey-Hibbert, Chairman of the Board of Regents.

At one time, British Universities were considered the best in the world and even today, Oxford and Cambridge are the envy of many countries, as in America who have the world recognised Harvard and Yale, and these still produce the creme of academia.

Sadly, over the past 15 - 20 years, education in the UK has deteriorated. The traditional school leaving qualifications of GCEs at ‘O’ and ‘A’ level have become a political tool, meddled with to such an extent that the GCSE became the exam that no one should fail and ‘A’ levels threatened with extinction because they are unfair to the less gifted.

The two-tier system of Universities and Polytechnics merged and became indistinguishable, paving the way for the political ‘no one should fail’ mentality, which was cemented by the dictum that 50% of all school leavers must have a University education and Degree, regardless of whether they have the aptitude or not. This resulted in the doubling of the University population and the consequent devaluing of standards and the proliferation of absurd degrees such as golf-studies and windsurfing! The pass grade for an Honours degree in most UK Universities can be as low as 30% and because of this and because of the sheer number of graduates across the spectrum, the Degree of today has become equivalent to the ‘A’ level of yesterday. On top of this, the introduction of ‘Foundation Degrees’ has muddied the waters even further.

Sadly, the average Graduate leaves University and enters the workplace after three years with perhaps a lesser advantage than a person who went into work straight from school and studied for qualifications through evening classes at a Further Education College. They would have three year’s experience and no £20,000 student loan debt.

My experience of young graduates who come out of University with a Law degree is that they are just not equipped to be able to deal with their disappointment at not being able to obtain a training contract and do not have the necessary aptitude to diversify into other options.

Compared with this, the approach of Southern Eastern University can possibly produce a higher grade Graduate than the average University student from whatever country they come from.

The average SEU undergraduate is more mature, not only in years but in the work ethic. They have achieved experience in their chosen field in the workplace and they have already achieved a recognised qualification. They are unable to register onto Part 2 of the programme and have obtained or been exempt from a certificate in study skills.

Part 2 then develops their skills in research, investigation and discovery, confidence and competence, self determination, communication, dissemination and the like. In the writing of the Dissertation they develop additional skills, such as analytical thought, writing and construction, reasoning and explanation.

The SEU way is no ‘easy’ way to obtaining a Degree, but it does enable those who would otherwise find it impossible, due to family or work commitments, to achieve proven excellence in their chosen field. SEU does not devalue standards; just the opposite - it raises them and exercises strict quality control to ensure this. This is evident in the excellence of the work produced by Graduates, which, on the whole, never ceases to amaze me!

It must be emphasised that all degrees are granted by Southern Eastern University (USA), which is not a UK institution. They are not UK granted degrees. This Notice is given to comply with the requirements of s.214(1) and s. 214 (4b) The Education Reform Act 1988.