emphasizedalways [indiscernible] education and education. [applause] >> it describes itself as one of the leading distance universities in the world with more than 100,000 students since it was founded. mike is an investigative journalist specializing in internet research. we worked with him to take a closer look at the university. >> it might be called the american university of london. if you scroll down, you can see incorporated on an island in the caribbean, the kind of area where a lot of these institutions are based. that is a few thousand miles away from where it suggests it

is based in london. here is the location of the po box. there is nothing there. they do not seem to have a physical location in london at all. >> what about the people running the university? >> there is a video of them both. there is a video of the professor and founder and the registrar. from public records, we know they are living in the u.k. on the university's website, the phone number the university lists has this area code. the bank you pay tuition fees to for the university is the local island bank --local bank. it might be incorporated in the caribbean, but it appears the company is operated in the u.k. >> on the website, the university says it does not award british qualifications. it has claims to be recognized

by three different american institutions, but all of these are unofficial and unrecognized. it used to say it was accredited in norway, but the people there say it never happened. it is listed as bogus by the agency that values degrees by the italian government. it has been blacklisted in five u.s. states, including texas, where it is illegal to use any of its qualifications to get a job. looking online, the university does boast an impressive faculty list with some well-qualified supervisors. when we contacted five academics on the list, all said they had never worked there and never agreed for the names to be used. the american academic has spent much of his career researching the murky world of unaccredited education. >> if you look closely at this american university of london, it does not hold up or have legal authority to award degrees there.

they are pieces of paper. they are charging a lot for a product that does not stand up to scrutiny. i'm guessing they are not able to sell many degrees into countries where english is the first thing which. >> the university says most of its graduates study at independent colleges in countries overseas. those affiliates are apparently independent with their own staff, subject to their own local laws. the american university of london helps set the curriculum and issue graduation certificates in its own name. even the web of colleges involved, it is hard to know how much work the students have done or what the quality of teaching is like. we wanted to see how easy it might be to get a degree direct from the university itself. what we are looking at is the holy grail of microeconomics. we found one crack student and got to work training him up. you will notice in chapter

seven, there's a whole section about japanese interest rates from 1990 to 2007. meet pete. resume onp a one-page him with 15 years of work experience and an undergraduate degree from the u.k. university, a standard background for the masters in business he was applying for. in just four days, the decision came back. >> he will be registered as a graduate in a maximum of two weeks after we receive the fee. >> just two weeks. he would not be expected to submit war work? -- more work? >> no, they will award him a full degree immediately based on his qualifications and professional experience. he does not have to do any

courses. >> we applied for a masters degree based only on life skills and work experience. it was awarded straightaway. we were told no studying or extra work was needed whatsoever so long as we paid the 4500 pounds fee. >> i would not want you to think i'm cynical but this c.v is weak. just having a first glance at this, warning bells are going off in my ear. >> we showed our written application to the university that runs properly accredited courses. >> this concerns me. >> based on what you have seen, would this be enough for a legitimate university to award an mba? >> it is nonsense.

i find it incredible any organization is awarding an mba on what amounts to an application. the evidence is one piece of paper. >> none of this would matter if the american university of london had no students. but on professional social networking site, there are hundreds of senior executives, all graduates of the university. we found the chief executive of the multinational drug company and an expert in terrorist rehabilitation who served in iraq. others with senior qualifications include a psychologist who gives expert testimony in court cases. he was awarded his phd just five months after first submitting work. he told us he had spent 18 months on his own background research. he was already a registered forensic psychologist based on the previous degree. he said he believes the american university of london was properly accredited it has now

-- but has now taken the qualification off of his c.v. they all told us they submitted work to get there to greet. the point is because it is not checked or accredited any recognized body, we cannot know what the standard was like or how much work they did. what we do know is as in our case, the bar is low, just sending off one fictitious c.v. and getting a degree a few weeks later. >> why do they not have the same checks and balances as universities? it is a huge concern. it goes to the essence of the to offer a process diploma without any of the processes required by universities. already, there is pressure on our university system. this week, the government said

prices will have to rise to meet demand. online is meant -- online learning is meant to fill some of that gap. with few standards and little regulation, we might have some way to go before we can trust education on the world wide web. >> france's far right national front party announced this week it is to take legal action in a row with france's prominent politician. it began when a suspected national front candidate said on television she would prefer to see the justice minister in a tree swinging from branches rather than in government. in light of that, you may be wondering why the national front is seeking an alliance with britain in next year's election. >> what happened to give the national front so decisive a victory? whatever it was, is it also now stirring across france? polite society has always

regarded the party as extremist, racist even, appealing only to the margins. but a majority of voters in this town back them. why? are they racist? the former mayor thinks not. [speaking french] >> the winning candidate is a local hero here now. he believes marie has transformed the national front's fortunes. >> [speaking french] >> the town is tipping into evening. we spent most of the day here. we have spoken to quite a few

people who told us they voted for the party and why. privately. not one could be persuaded to go on camera, which suggests there is still public stigma attached to it. wayreasons for voting that could be distilled into a powerful combination of disaffection's about immigration, people living on benefits, the fear of crime, a national political elite that seems unresponsive to the public mood, and about power in the european union that seems unaccountable. this is about people in a democracy who feel they have been disempowered. so she believes her time has come. she now claims to lead a party not of the extreme right but a patriotism that transcends left- right politics. she says she has partners growing in strength in the netherlands, belgium, finland, sweden, as the tide of anti-e.u. sentiment rises everywhere.

[speaking another language] >> you expect to be the biggest party in france at next year's european elections? what about the united kingdom and dependence party?

do you see them as potential allies? >> [speaking french] >> while her father once railed against communism, she now attacks global capitalism and the european union. hopes ong the left she social justice and the right on the question of national sovereignty. she believes the e.u. and what

she sees as the vast unelected bureaucracy is doomed to collapse. this is how she described britain's catherine ashton, the head of the e.u. foreign affair service. >> [speaking french ] >> do you think her presence and her job helps your cause because it makes everyone more eurocentric? >> [speaking french]

>> let me ask you about immigration. that is a very powerful issue for you. too many people who oppose you, it sounds like old-fashioned european anti-muslim xenophobia. >> [speaking french] isthe europe that you want the europe of natural fortresses, borders and barriers. limiting trade and economic activity.

you want to retreat to national silos. >> [speaking french] >> what is your strategy? french]king >> if they succeed in building

this pan-european alliance, it could have an immediate impact on the edifice of european government. one thing parliament always strongly pro-federalist in the past will have for the first time in its history, a strong and coherent group dedicated to dismantling much of the postwar european project. second and more decisive will be the impact that group has on government backed homes. underream parties will be greater populace pressure than ever before to demonstrate they can stand up for national interests against those of the european union. inas cu leaders gathered brussels this week, the plight of migrants risking their lives to cross the mediterranean is high on the agenda erie it the civil war in syria is swelling the numbers of those undertaking the hazardous voyage from africa to malta and lambert is a lambert is a.

the leader says the e.u. border management agency has failed completely to resolve the problem and instead has transformed the mediterranean into a large cemetery. two weeks ago, a boat crowded with refugees capsized after being riddled with bullets off the libyan coast. we spoke to a family thrown into the sea. this is their story voiced by an actor and illustrated by animation. palestinian. we lived in damascus. sons, 20 years old and just 10. i was born there. i lived all my life there. then the war came, a big war. biplanes, they attacked us.

my home was hit. i had a shop. that was damaged. now there are no people there. no people. my family set off for lebanon, and egypt, and finally libya. i was given a telephone number. $1300 to take every one of my family on the boat. so expensive. they told us to come to a house. .nside were 125 people we stayed there for 10 days with one bathroom. the conditions were very bad, but we are escaping more, -- war, so what other choice is there? they told us it was a good boat. it was not a good boat. it was very old.

they wanted us to be scared of them and not complain. they swore at us and said that inks -- bad things. they pushed us on. 300 adults and 100 children. after one hour, a boat pulled up. they said they were libyan police. maybe they were just militia. they told us to follow them. at first, they fired into the sky. then into the water. then they aimed at the captain. the children cried. the women cried. i pushed my wife and sons under me to shield them. we called on allah. they fired at the hull of the boat and left. water began leaking into the boat. the captain told us it would be ok.

i knew it was not true. but i did not want my wife to worry. i told her everything would be ok. you have a life jacket, you will be safe. and thes were so big boat rocked from side to side. then came a big wave. i saw people falling into the water. my family went into the water. i could not see them. some could not swim. one man came to me and tried to take my life jacket. he pushed me down in the water. he was killing me. my oldest son appeared and pushed him away. he hit him. i can hear young mohammed crying papa, i am here. i kissed him and took his hand. where is mama?

i told him to go and bring her to us. he swam away through the dead bodies, many dead bodies. they were swimming and crying, swimming and crying. i saw bodies floating. no movement. so many bodies. , there is my wife, alive. she told me she never expected to survive. she thought this would be the finish of her. the boat arrived to rescue us. i am lucky to have my family. everyone else lost someone. i have nothing. i have no money, no clothing, nothing. no one helps us. no one.

i am trying not to cry. that is all for this week. from all of us, goodbye. >> ♪ >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. isding of this presentation made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years. and union bank. bank, ourn

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coming up, bob faw on catholic colleges and universities seeking to maintain their catholic identity in the midst of changing social influences. and judy valente looks at the spiritual journey of christian wiman, a poet, teacher, husband and father who lives with incurable cancer. major funding for "religion and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, an indianapolis based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in

religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. welcome, i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you with us. new ethical questions this week about civilians killed in u.s. drone strikes against terrorists. amnesty international investigated nine drone strikes in pakistan over the past year and found that more than 30 civilians had been killed. in a separate study, human rights watch looked at six airstrikes in yemen since 2009. it claims at least 57 of the 82 people killed were civilians, including children. the obama administration said the u.s. follows international law and tries to choose the actions "least likely to result in the loss of innocent life."

the reports came as pakistani prime minister nawaz sharif met with president obama at the white house and renewed his calls for an end to the drone strikes. the two also discussed recent attacks on christians within pakistan. in egypt, coptic christians mourned the victims of a deadly drive-by shooting this week at a cairo church. masked gunmen killed four people, including two young girls. the u.s. and international human rights groups condemned that shooting as well as a recent string of other attacks against egypt's coptic christian minority, estimated at about 10% of the population. despite hopes for an immediate change, the vatican's chief official for doctrine this week reaffirmed the catholic church's traditional teaching banning communion for divorced catholics who remarry. in an article for the vatican

newspaper, archbishop gerhard mueller said those catholics may receive communion only if their previous marriage is annulled. pope francis had recently called for more compassion toward divorced catholics. he suggested that an upcoming meeting of bishops may discuss the communion issue. a central theme of francis' papacy has been his insistence on simplicity, not exactly the lestyle displayed by the bishop of limburg in germany. he is franz-peter tebarz-van elst, often described as the luxury bishop or bishop bling-bling. he commissioned a $40 million renovation of his residence and other buildings, including a $20,000 bathtub,

$480,000 walk-in closets and a million dollar garden. this week, the pope placed the bishop on an indefinite leave of absence. the u.s. has a new ambassador to the vatican. former catholic relief services president ken hackett presented his diplomatic credentials to francis on monday. the post had been vacant for about a year. this week at the capitol, a catholic campaign to highlight the importance of children's education. the fighting for our children's future national bus tour is traveling the country to raise awareness about the need for quality k through 12 education and the role that catholic schools play. it's sponsored by the university of notre dame's alliance for catholic education. meanwhile in higher education, the country's nearly 270 catholic colleges and universities struggle to keep their catholic identity in the midst of social changes the church opposes -- same-sex relations,