Canterbury University is an unaccredited, for profit, private, degree-granting institution incorporated in the Republic of Seychelles. Though its name is very similar, Canterbury University is affiliated with neither the University of Canterbury in New Zealand nor Canterbury Christ Church University in England.
According to their website, Canterbury University claims to have been "established in 1974 in Hyde-Cheshire, Manchester, United Kingdom" and is an "independent university that delivers various specialized scientific courses."[1]
Canterbury University is not accredited by any recognised accreditation body. As such, its degrees may not be acceptable to employers or other institutions, and use of degree titles may be restricted or illegal in some jurisdictions.
According to the British Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, Canterbury University is neither a recognised body for UK degree awards,[2] nor is it a listed body.[3] It appears on the list of unaccredited degree suppliers maintained by the US state of Oregon's Office of Degree Authorization "for the protection of the citizens of Oregon and their post-secondary schools by identifying those degree suppliers that do not meet the requirements of ORS 348.609(1)".[4][5]
Canterbury University has been discussed in the article "Fighting Credential Fraud" in World Education News & Reviews, published by the non-profit World Education Services, as being towards what the article writer calls the "no acceptability" end of a continuum of acceptability and the "illegal" end of the continuum of legitimacy, though it should be emphasized that the institution's operations themselves are not illegal per se within the jurisdiction in which Canterbury University is chartered.[6]
There have been other articles that refer to Canterbury University in uncomplimentary terms. In the Jackson County Floridan a PhD degree and a Master's degree was referred to in the following way, "it appears that the degrees listed on his job application allegedly came from a “diploma mill” rather than a legitimate school of higher learning."[7]