European-American University™

CER has identified specific goals in advocacy that are the outcome of its mission to support and strengthen the self-regulating private sector.

CER Calls for an End to Moves to Standardize Education Globally
In the United States, through UNESCO and through the European Union, there are proposals under consideration and in action that will destroy the historic and cultural roots of individual countries' education systems in favor of a homogenized universal system of curriculums and awards. CER calls for the recognition that diversity and innovation is at the heart of education, and that historic practices in postsecondary education should not merely be cast aside in favor of inferior alternatives. It calls for greater individualization of programs and greater independence for institutions to devise and carry out the programs that meet the needs of their learners.
 
CER Calls for a Return to University Independence and an End to Government Control of Universities
CER calls for governments to end centralized control of universities and to allow universities once more to regain the autonomy that they formerly enjoyed. It calls for a lessening of the massive bureaucracy that has been imposed on the university sector as a consequence of measures that do little or nothing to assure the quality and accountability that they claim. It calls for an end to public funds being used to artificially prop up universities that would fail and close if subjected to the free market. It advocates the funding of postsecondary education by the market rather than through state patronage which is wasteful and offers poor value for money. It advocates the end of bias towards authoritarianism, political correctness and the related false ideologies that have become a feature of most of today's universities and have been promoted vigorously by the accrediting agencies.

CER Calls for an End to U.S. Government Recognition of Postsecondary Accrediting Agencies
CER calls for the U.S. federal government to end Department of Education recognition of accrediting agencies and to disband the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). It calls for a return to accreditation as a completely voluntary process independent of the involvement of government and subject to the free market. It calls for the end of the relationship between accreditation and Federal student funds, replacing this with a voucher system of access and placing the burden of assessing universities upon employers and the public. CER calls for a Federal investigation into the anti-market tactics used by regional accrediting agencies to stifle self-regulating sector competition, ensure a monopoly for their members and indulge in openly anti-competitive practices designed to restrict consumer opportunity and prevent the consumer from exercising free choice in education.

CER Calls for Employers to End Credentialism
CER calls upon employers to end the credentialism that fuels the growth in poor-quality schools. Too often, employers demand that a job applicant holds a degree when in reality the degree has little to do with the specific competencies of the job itself. CER calls for employers to demand only competencies that they themselves, or professional agencies such as licensing authorities where appropriate, are capable of directly assessing, and to end "blind trust" in degrees for their own sake. Where experience can legitimately substitute for a degree, CER calls upon employers to accept such experience in lieu, and then take advantage of the many part-time distance education programs that are aimed at working adults in order to credential their staff.

CER Calls for Consumers to Exercise their Right to Freedom of Choice in Education
CER recognizes that the free market offers consumers the opportunity to exercise choice and to choose programs that fit with their beliefs, needs and future plans. Where possible, it calls upon consumers to look behind biased and inaccurate stories in the media concerning legitimate self-regulating educational institutions, and to give that sector their support and encouragement in improving its standards and meeting the market's demands more accurately. It calls upon consumers to challenge judgements on credentials made by employers and others that cannot be shown to rest on an independent determination of educational quality and that are instead made in the support of a state-sponsored cartel. It calls for consumers to be proud of legitimate self-regulating sector degrees that rest on a foundation of serious academic work and assessment of learning, and to advocate their positive educational experiences without the fear of intimidation or discrimination.