Accreditation – No U.S. government agency has ever or will ever give accreditation to any religious institution. While we all will agree that a school such as Harvard is an accredited University, the School of Theological Studies is not. Because the U.S. Government in following the guidelines of separation of state and government they will not allow the Department of Education to accredit any religious school, even though it may be a part of the larger university, therefore to allow accreditation to religious schools they allow independent accrediting agencies to do the work of accrediting religious institutions.
With that in mind we go to the next issue – being who is accredited by these U.S. institutions.
The various institutions within the U.S. to this date only give accreditation to religious schools within the U.S. with a few exceptions for some located in Canada.
In other countries they have their own accrediting agencies and are not required to by their country or any U.S. laws to become accredited by one of the U.S. agencies, and why should they?
Think about it for a moment, is Oxford accredited by any U.S. agency? No! Yet it is considered one of the prestigious schools in the world and their degree is accepted anywhere in the world.
As for ICAATS, it is a valid accrediting agency, recognized by the government of India for accrediting religious institutions. Hopefully, you are not going to state that India does not have the right to do their own independent accrediting without the blessing of the U.S.
Just take the time to go to
http://www.icaats.org.in/ and read the information there.
ICAATS - The International Council For Accrediting Alternate And Theological Studies has been involved as an NGO in informal encouragement of theological studies in India since 1954.
In 2003 the Government of India approved it to function as an Accrediting Agency for Theological Studies.
History: The International Council For Alternate And Theological Studies had an informal beginning in 1947 and since then it has been involved as an NGO in informal encouragement of theological studies within India.
Documents were submitted for Government Approval in 2003, and after the due course of examination such an approval was granted on 15th December according to the laws of the State and Central Government of India.
Through this approval, ICAATS has been permitted by the Government of India to play a deciding role in the development and accreditation of theological courses which do not come under the preview of University Grants Commission.
This approval by the Government of India is in accordance with the Constitution of India, which in the 29th and 30th Articles grants special rights to the Minority Groups in India. This includes the right of Christians to establish, run, and accredit courses devoted to Christian Theology.
ICAATS is also authorized to accredit theological studies outside India in keeping with the international character of the Christian community.
Accreditation In India: Accreditation of educational institutions in India takes an eclectic approach. A framework for this approach was provided in the Constitution of India that was adopted on 26th January 1950, a decade before the American accreditation system arose.
The establishment and accreditation of educational institutions in India go along two tracks: institutions in the general category, and institutions in the minority-community category. Of these, the accreditation of institutions in the general category is regulated by the Education Department and other related Government departments. On the other hand, the accreditation of minority-community institutions is regulated by special accrediting agencies. Special agencies can seek Government approval, and are granted such approval directly by the State and Central Government after the mandatory legal and official examination. This is done under the Cultural and Educational rights provided for in the Constitution of India.
The relevant clauses in the Constitution are:
The Constitution Of India
Cultural and Educational Rights
29. Protection of interests of minorities.—(1) Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.
(2) No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.
30. Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. — (1) All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
(1A) In making any law providing for the compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational institution established and administered by a minority, referred to in clause (1), the State shall ensure that the amount fixed by or determined under such law for the acquisition of such property is such as would not restrict or abrogate the right guaranteed under that clause.
(2) The State shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.
The provisions made in the Constitution of India for the minorities-led-institutions was reinforces on 21 December 2005 when a special Bill related to the educational institutions of minority-communities (including Christians) was passed. In effect this Bill once again affirms that inter alia Bible schools, Theological Seminaries, etc in India shall not be regulated or accredited by the Department of Education, but rather by the State and Central Government. It also implies that accreditation councils for such institutions will be approved by the State and Central Government, and not by the Department of Education.
ICAATS is an Accrediting Agency established under this clause with the approval of the State and Central Government.
Keep in mind - only "1 in 20" religious schools within the U.S. are accredited, and in addition their is no requirement for any schools outside the U.S. to seek approval for accreditation from one of the U.S. institutions.
Just as a side thought, I work for an international corporation and they did accept the degree and its accreditation, because they also have over 60,000 workers from various countries and they would have to reject all of their diplomas, if they could only accept those schools that are accredited by the Department of Education and those agencies that are allowed to accredit religious schools.
