Affiliate Commissions: Reason Why University’s Fees Vary

Most universities engaged in distance learning program appoint Affiliates responsible for providing tuitions and collections of fees from prospective students and remit payment to the institutions after deducting their commissions as contained in the contract signed by both parties.

The institutions would normally give  a considerable rate to all affiliates but the cost of  tuition and other fees  charged by individual Affiliate vary greatly from one Center  to another based on economic factor.  

Like most products and services in the market place, wherever the demand is high, the price also will be high. The high demand to earn a foreign degree makes the cost  higher in some Affiliate Centers than others.  Areas of high demand are those that are densely populated and with busy commercial activities and full of industries and people looking for job opportunities and promotions at job places  and at the same time others are looking for job opportunities overseas in order to earn hard currency.

 Take for example, the link to Europe by sea route  is the Mediterranean  sea linking Libya and Italy and you can see the thousands of people including both women and children drowned in the Mediterranean  Sea every year and yet the rush continue; many are embarking on  such dangerous journey caring  along  their certificates in order to secure foreign  jobs.

Consequently,  with the desire of foreign jobs, so many are enrolling with several distance learning programme in order to earn foreign degrees from foreign institutions  whose academic standard is considered equivalent or more in those foreign countries where employment opportunities abound.

As  unemployment continue to rise in their various countries,  people are looking for opportunities to travel to abroad with valid certificates so that they are not stranded overseas or to do the kind of job they ought not to do as they would not in their own country.  

 These and other factors constitute  the high demand of foreign degrees since most national universities  degrees are devalued abroad and cannot make good use of it over there.

Against this background, those Affiliates operating in those densely  populated  and  commercial busy   Center charge higher than those in other Centers with less commercial and industrial activities.

We at Delcan Distance Learning Consult do share part of our commissions with our prospective students on enrollment by reducing the fees to an affordable level in order to gain their patronage; consequently, our prices are one of the least among the Affiliates  while you earn the same degree through us  from the same university like other Affiliates Centers and you are free to contact the university at any time even after your enrolment through us.  

Contact us for Application Forms /Student Guide and other details and you will be glad you did!

You may contact us from any part of the world and we shall attend to your inquiry.

See the contact information at the right hand side of this web page.

The various Forms of University Accreditation

               

Some universities are government accredited while some are accredited by Royal Chartered and  by various processional Associations.

Accreditation  does not has specific  international   recommendable  standard unlike  manufactured products that must conform to internationally  acceptable standard which is the major function of the International Standard Organization (ISO) with  global Affiliations and Representatives. 

Consequently,   products are produced to be consumed locally  based on national standard grade, others are produced for exports based on the international acceptable standard.

  But education does not conform to any international acceptable standard; consequently, the  degree awarded to a graduate will be acceptable in any part of the world  provided the university is registered and accredited in the country of origin and  does not based on curriculum for global acceptability. Consequently, it is possible  to export educational programme to any part of the world  without conforming   to  international standard.

The accreditation of any university or  tertiary institution is based on the required  quality of educational standard   which is based on various factors determining its quality of standard and could be regional, provincial or State and at the national level  which is dependent on  the legislation of the country concern.

Consequently, accreditation policies vary from the  regional, state and national level dependent on the laws of the country regarding the educational sector in different parts of the world.  The accreditation undergo  timely  review  which may take place in every two  to three or more years with the payment of the appropriate  fees required to be paid by the institution during the evaluation process. . Indeed a significant timely   amount should  be   paid to the government  in order to maintain the status of the accreditation. 

More Significantly, accreditation   approval is subject to   withdrawal if the institution cannot afford to pay the  required  timely fees  and to uphold unto the approved standard. . Consequently, several institutions avoid government accreditation  and rather  operate independently if the law of the country permits.

                                     

                         The  Royal Chartered

Some gained royal chartered accreditation   based on the constitution of the country. The  Royal Chartered is the sub-national government of a country headed by the King or Queen and granted Autonomy which also include  the educational sector of the kingdom with softer terms and  conditions as contained in the Royal Chartered Agreement signed  between the  king or the  Queen and the institution.

                                Professional Accreditation

Most universities become registered members of various professional associations that are involved in their field of expertise. Based on the fact that government all over the world  recognized such professional bodies who also make use of their expertise  including government accredited universities  regarding evaluation and assessment  of educational programme  and  other technical know-how. In that case, the  government does not need to know of the accreditation of the professionals  proving the consultancy services provided they are registered members of well  recognized professional bodies which automatically accredit  the professional organization or university.

Consequently, most universities becomes members of various professional bodies as an alternative to government accreditation

                                           Degree Validation 

Most private unaccredited universities can enter into validation agreement with a government accredited university. The later  automatically accredits  the degree issued by the former  and shall be recognized all over the world. The validation agreement will be reached based on curriculum compatibility  and in conformity with other factors.

Such validation agreement is acceptable in the U.K and as well as the Royal Chartered  accreditation   as it is applicable in other parts of the world.  

Evidently the Western Orthodox University and the European University gained Royal Chartered and well as entry into validation agreement with several Government accredited  universities in  Central American countries and as well as gained accreditation by various professional organizations across the globe.  

     

National and Foreign Universities Dichotomy

The dichotomy between national and foreign universities is quite similar to the locally made product   producers and the importers of foreign products as the demand of foreign made products become a very big threat to the local producers.

Consequently, the producers of the locally made products suffer lost of patronage in the local market as the foreign made product take the upper hand.

The  local producers may suffer great lost if the importation of those foreign made products are not put under control.

To the advantage of the government, the Importers of those foreign made products  pay Customs dues and bear other associate cost in the course  of importing those  products based on the government tariff. On the other hand the local producers  might have obtained loans from banks and other private sources in order to put the factory in progress  and including the  farm land produce  but losing patronage to the Importers, Wholesalers and Retailers of the foreign made or agricultural imported  products.

As the trend continues, these local producers would cry out to the notice of the government through their trade associations and Chamber of Commerce of the unfavorable development.

As this happens, the government will swing into  action and provide list of prohibited items that are very essential and gaining much peonage in the market which the local producers can equally produce in considerable  commercial quantity without scarcity and increase the tariff of other products considered more  essential so that their prices will be too high to the importers and the later would increase the price of the items in the local market through her trade channels of distribution and the consumers  will find it too high to buy.  The demand of the foreign products begin to drop as not every buyer can afford at high price.   

This how the government all over the world regulate the dichotomy issue involving foreign made product and the locally produced ones.

Based on this development, the local universities operatives face the same problem regarding the influx of foreign satellite campuses and affiliations. The only difference is that the government cannot imposed stringed    rules on the foreign universities satellite campuses based on UNESCO rules provided the foreign institution had been registered by the government in the country of origin.

However, the dichotomy issue would arise between the foreign universities  operatives and the local universities operative; whereby the former  poised a very big threat to the later in terms of patronage.

 

Among the local universities, the privates sector suffer more than the government institution. The later backed up by subsided school fees stand the change to  compete favorably with the foreign institutions’ Affiliate and Satellite Campuses unlike those of the private sector whose school fees are higher than those of the government  institutions based on the fact that they pay dues to the government,  takes responsibility of  Lecturer’s wages including the none academic staff and other administrative cost quite unlike the government institutions who enjoy the budgetary allocation from the government source in order to cover administrative cost in addition to the subsidized school fees. So the private institutions is not their match.  

While the private sector struggle to survive in the midst of the government sponsored institutions, the foreign institution being patronized by prospective students double their plight of less patronage while paying their dues to the government. Consequently, the private operatives would frown at the foreign operatives recognize as their stronger rival whose school fees may be less than those of the private institutions or may be equal based on the prevailing market rare.  As this trend continues, the later would raise alarm regarding the influx of the foreign universities operatives through their respective   associations in order to reduce their number.

Based on this development, the educational authority in the country would go into thorough scrutiny of those foreign operatives in order to  reduce their number.  During the exercise,  they would carry out their investigation as to determine which of them is approved or legalized in the country of origin based on UNESCO rules; will take into consideration of the  legitimacy of the Degree Awarding institutions through the satellite campuses whether directly from the university  or fake.

Most of those investigations would be carried out through the respective embassies of the foreign institutions.  At the end, the government would shortlist names of those foreign institutions and their operatives that are not allowed to award degrees.

This will go a long way to reduce the number of those foreign operative  and increase the patronage of the private institutions.  

         

   

The Advanced Methodology In Distance Learning Programme

In the near feature,  due to the advancement of computer technology, the campus based traditional university method will soon phase out . Based on the current trend, more university are  going online and  subsequently, prospective students can enroll online and stay at home to obtain their degrees. Consequently, the rush to the traditional campus based university will be  reduced drastically.

The new generation of universities no longer make use of the traditional campus based university system rather operating completely online.  The only infrastructure they would require is the administrative office  where the basic routine work could be carried out offline involving the use of computers and maintenance. 

 The new generation of online universities do take advantage of the  online system based on the fact that it  drastically reduce operational cost  compare to the traditional campus based system which stems from the following factors: 

The basic infrastructure has to be put  in place which  include procurement of large piece of land to develop in order to  accommodate all faculties, staff and  students quarters, payment of lecturers and none academic staff based on government  salary scale level and in conformity with national labour laws and several  other factors. 

But with the introduction of the online system, there is no need to procure any of those facilities and the associated requirement. No need to follow government salary payment scale and national labour law.  Lecturers are employed in different parts of the world as adhock staff or as freelancers providing lectures to students online in different disciples in the comfort of their homes, while those at the administrative block monitors the activity of the entire operations in different parts of  the world

Computer Inefficiency Setback

Due to the advanced technology applicable in online distance learning prgramme,  the government  in most countries restrict traditional campus based university from going online but only approve very few universities  that can provide the require advanced technology based on the fact that is not a matter of sending and receiving emails in the distribution of lecture materials but entails a whole lot of highly skilled computer endearment n order to function effectively.

 Several online dissemination  of lecture materials are applicable through the use of computer software and their effective applications by the students. Production and procurement of both the hardware and software of high quality and maintenance  cost   will become a very big challenge  to both students and institution itself.

Consequently, the government put all of these factors  into consideration before approving a university to go online. However, the advanced methodology to be applied is solely dependent on the course involved while on some courses sending and receiving emails to download lecture material is all that is required. Consequently, most institutions are very selective on the type of courses they could handle online.

Distance Factor

Students take advantage of both online and offline method of learning in the distance learning programme based on the fact that as the phrase “Distance Learning” applies, has already bridged the gap between the university and the students receiving lectures in any part of the world of which distance is no longer a barrier. On this development, the traditional university campus based system is already substituted though the university’s affiliate centers using local institutions that already had the basic facilities on ground most primarily the qualified lecturers, conducive lecture rooms and high quality lecture material provided based on thorough research work in accordance with the course outline. 

On the other hand, students stay comfortably in their homes and receiving lectures through the computer with fast internet connections. So  no more making comfortable but risky journey  flying on board plane  to abroad to attend university programme in order to earn a degree and no  more expenditure involving transport cost  to attend lectures at the campus based traditional university, staying away from friends and relations, lodging in the university premises, resigning from currently job if management refuses approval to grant study leave  and other inconveniences and related costs are curtailed  in the distance learning programme.      

The High Demand for Educational Exports

Since   there   is no economic barrier in educational exports, it has  become  one of the most profitable venture in the world . Similarly, most manufactured products suffer   trade   barrier between   nations.  China and the United States trade warfare  is one of  the  examples .  Against   this  background, the World Trade Organization was set up as a multilateral institution in order to minimize  trade barriers among member nations . However, the trade   barrier does not have so much negative impact  regarding the  export of   professional services  including educational exports. 

The preamble stage of educational export  began with the influx of students from other countries flying  to overseas in order to gain admission into  those most popular universities  in the world of which  the developed  countries universities  played  a significant role in the admission of students from all over the world. Evidently, several Affiliate Centers were established in most countries overseas pioneered by the University  of London  which was emulated by other universities across the globe.

Prior to the advent of the internet, only few famous universities and countries in the world were on the checklist to  foreign students seeking   to gain  admission. Most universities were not noticeable   until   the advent of the internet.

Very few universities from the developed nations had satellite campuses  overseas and others  could not due to economic reasons . The internet had made it very possible for primary,  secondary  and tertiary institutions  to go online which has now become the most popular method of learning attracting students from all over the world and making it become one of the most profitable venture in the world as several campus based traditional  university cost are curtailed  making it easily affordable and accessible.

                                             Online Accreditations

Since the online university business is seen as one of the most profitable venture in the world which can be established at a very low cost, most government institutions are equally going online in the educational sector and also encouraging  their citizens    to carry  high quality online educational programme that had little or no natural resources in order to boost their  foreign exchange earnings like the export of manufactured products  in the   low tax Export Processing Zones available in most parts of the world.

Such universities are encouraged by their government to be equipped in order to go online for the export of educational services as well like   locally manufactured and agricultural products.

Consequently, it has become possible for most universities operating online to gain accreditation from their respective government  in as much as they had the facilities and the technology required to go online in order to boost their foreign exchange earnings unlike other countries that had other national rescores they can depend on.    

   

Degree Equivalent and Comparability

                  

As unemployment continue  to rise in most countries  due to high rate of inflation, most graduates no longer make use of their university degree certificates in their country of origin but as the same time, there are lot of job opportunities in most countries enjoying buoyant economy. 

Foreign job advertisements are bombarding the media both online and offline demanding for foreign job applicants; but there is a problem; most degree certificates are not academically valuable in those countries with buoyant  economy where foreign job opportunities  abound according to foreign credential  evaluation experts and consequently, cannot meet up the  required standard suitable for employment at that particular job they are interested in.

Most graduates get frustrated abroad as one with a Doctorate Degree become devalued to Bachelor or Associate Degree equivalent. Consequently, most graduates get employed and earning poor salary working as a Cleaner, Gardener, Messenger, etc; the kind of job they had never thought about;  but   have no choice in a foreign land. Therefore they have to read all over again by enrolling with any of those institutions in those countries in order to upgrade their educational standard in conformity with the national standard of those countries while working overseas.  

National Economic Standard Evaluation

The educational standard of any country is dependent on her economic standard  from Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions and including the Military such as the Police, the Armies and other security agents  based on the fact that their institutions, teachers and students are maintained based on their own economic standard and based on the fact that the poorer the economy, the poorer the educational standard; consequently, their teachers earn poor salaries and cannot provide basic educational facilities and related  infrastructures and conducive environment for studies.

The rich among them would   send their children abroad to earn their college or university degrees. There will be too much dependent on foreign developmental aids from multilateral and bilateral sources such the Word Bank group, EEC, United Nations agencies  (such as UNICIEF, and UNESCO) and several others but will not be enough as population continue to increase in those countries so their demand will increase specially in war torn regions.

Based on this development, countries are classified into Three major categories by member nations of the Organization For  Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) based on individual national Gross Domestic Products (GDP) according to international press reports published in the '80's and '90's.   So we have   Developed, Developing and Least Developed Countries in the world putting into consideration the associate risk involved in terms of developmental aid packages.  Consequently, development assistance from Bilateral and Multilateral source is much dependent on the category the country belong . Take for an example, a  World Bank loan given to a country within the first category will have shorter term to pay off while that of the second category, will have longer term to pay and the third in the least category will have the longest term to pay and other terms and condition in the loan packages vary greatly from one category to another. Consequently, countries are not treated equally in terms of developmental aid deal specially from the Multilateral sources and likewise the donor quota varies against individual member country of the organization.      

Therefore foreign credential evaluation experts put into consideration these  factors based on the fact that the economic standard of the country also reflect on her educational standard dependent on her economic category. Therefore, the economic value and standard of the degree certificate is dependent on the awarding institution and the category of the county of orgin

Most graduates  enrolling in distance learning programme consider  the country of origin of the institution taking into consideration her economic and educational standard equivalent  among the developed and some developing  countries where foreign job opportunities abound either for employment or for further studies.

Foreign job opportunities are created based on economic factors; the more inflation increases in those countries, the more the demand for the importation of products and services specially from those developed countries increases .  In order to create foreign job opportunities in most factories and other multinational   businesses, most citizens enjoying buoyant economy, are upgraded to higher paid jobs positions creating vacuum for foreigners with the required qualification to occupy those vacant positions. Although the salary range earn by these foreigners is  considered low but have a very high foreign exchange rate- some upto two to three times the salary earned by graduates in their country of origin.  So earning the ‘HARD CURRENCY’ is the point of attraction to the foreign job seekers.       

                         Low Tax Offshore Regions

Most universities are established with  the Western educational  influence like the Western Orthodox University and European-American University as both names apply. The Western Orthodox University, which is the parent body of the European-American university  was registered in the Commonwealth of Dominican being one of those Low Tax  Offshore regions. The later had gained a Royal Chartered from the sub-national government of Uganda and Ghana making   it have a strong presence in West Africa region whose background is both  Italy and the United States being one of those developed countries in the world.

 Evidently, the Western Orthodox University is one of those ancient religious   institutions in the world accredited by Pontifical Terbarina Rome Italy during the reign of Pope Leo XII in 1829   and accredited by the Association  of Anglican Colleges and School in the United States in 1945

Her incorporation  in one of those Low Tax Offshore region (like other multinational companies operating in those regions) is to enable her offer her distance learning programme at affordable cost  to prospective students across the globe compare to other  distance learning institutions  from other countries. 

Against this background, foreign credential evaluation experts recognized both universities as those from the developed Western nations. Evidently, European-American University educational standard was comparable to that of the United States Standard according to evaluation experts of the California University.    

    

Matured Adults Yearning for Degree Award

                 

               

Some  had missed their earlier educational opportunity  and could not read upto university level  due  to financial setback or born  by parent who ignored the importance of early education ;  some ended up with  GCE ‘O/L’  qualification  while others  dropped –out  either  in Primary or  Secondary School.  

Many joined the army and other security agencies   earning poor salary; other employed as Messengers, Cleaners, Security Guards etc.  in the public service.  When they look at their age mates who made it upto university level earning good salary with valuable assets  they became too jealous of them.  With  the  mouth  one would  confess    “Since  I could  not make it upto university level, my children must surely pass through it. I will do all I can to ensure that they also become one of those big names in the society.  This is their dream -  dreaming  for the  bright future of their children while they consider themselves being  too late to go to school because they had  missed   the  opportunity  in their early days.

But  these days, with the introduction of Adult Education back-up by distance learning programme, they consider it never too late to go back to school as learning has no age limit  and a continuous  process until death . Consequently, many of them are now joining the wagon of the university distance learning progrqamme with all zeal and eagerness even in their advanced age.

Many of these  adults do not need the Degree to look for job but to make a name  in order  to be recognized  as Graduates  like their counterparts  who had graduated from the universities making big wave in the society while they stand afar and watching at them as they  become  the mouth piece of  the people both in  the government circles as politicians and in their communities,
   They also  eager to enroll for  the university degree program like their counterparts  to be  conferred  and  included in their personal profile.

Many of them  are Community Chiefs and some had retired  from the public service. Their children are all graduated  from the universities and there is no more burden on them as regards  school fees and earning their  monthly pensions allowance  and have  income producing properties  like estates  and running successful businesses and likewise  their grand children. So money is not their problem but getting a university degree to  be added up unto their personal profile is their greatest desire  based on the fact that they are also  yearning  to be called  ‘”Graduates” like their age mates who had  earlier graduated from the universities. So they want to be equal in all respect among their equals both in their community and the society in at large.

                   Stringed Admission Procedures

The campus based traditional universities placed stringed admission rules which create barrier  for most matured adults to gain university admission.  

     The  distance learning  programme is devoid of such stringed rules which encourage matured adults   to enrolled  depending on individual earlier educational background, age bracket,  profession and business experience   and other factors as part of the criterion  used before admitting them and the suitable program  they should take off   towards the conferment of the degree.

Although, these days, most traditional campus  based universities are considering admitting  matured adult  based on the above criteria  but   enjoy more flexibility in the distance learning programme which largely dependent on the above criteria used. 

Most adults with respectable status in the society receive lectures  in the privacy  of their homes  without attending the  Study Centers although the fee varies  and which is affordable depending on their financial status unlike those students attending the Study Center who are predominantly youths. 

Consequently, some matured adult by virtue of their  status considered it as an embarrassment to mix-up with such youths that are far below their status and the same   age group with  their children  that had graduated from the universities. Therefore  majority of them are receiving lectures in their  homes as VIP Students  by experienced Lectures  based on the fact that they are adults that had not read for too long time since they left school from the earlier youth days.    So  the methodology to use will not be same like those of the Study Centers. This  is  the challenge the home lecturers would face. 

 Many of them are naturally intelligent and pick up very fast while some are very slow to learn until they are able to pick up faster.

    So many of them are graduating from the universities specially from Western Orthodox University  and  European – American University offering one of the Word First Class Distance Learning Programme. 

We at Delcan Distance Learning Consult  as Direct Affiliate of the above universities offers special programme for the Matured Adults whom we recognized as our VIP STUDENTS. We provide   both online and offline  lectures and are fees are very moderate compare to other Centers based  on our location. 

For enrollment,  see our contact address at the right hand side of this web page and read our article  titled “How Affiliate Fees Vary”  posted on this blog/website. We look forward to receiving your inquires.