Adam Smith University - Criticism

Criticism

Steve Levicoff referred to Adam Smith University as a degree mill, and he noted that it operated in Louisiana due to the absence of laws regulating the granting of degrees. Adam Smith University and Columbia State University have the same address, which is "likely a mail forwarding address".

Other critics have described Adam Smith University as a "diploma mill". Alan Contreras from the Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization (ODA), an agency of that state's government, called Adam Smith "a diploma mill with a long and unattractive history" in an article written in a personal capacity. However, in 2005, he updated Adam Smith's listing on the ODA website to remove the term "diploma mill." This change followed the settlement of a lawsuit filed against ODA by the unaccredited Kennedy-Western University. Oregon has made it illegal to use in any professional context a degree from an institution not having what it judges to be the equivalent of regional accreditation in the USA. Adam Smith has refused to seek such accreditation, and consequently when its degrees are used in that state, it must be explicitly stated that the degree is unaccredited.(See reference for the legally required wording for the disclaimer.)

It was reported by The Hindu that Vice-Chancellor of University of Mysore J. Sashidhara Prasad said of ASU, "Beware friends. It only had a tie-up with an institution in a tiny African country."