Ren Ci probe: Venerable Ming Yi’s doctorate
Singapore November 19th, 2007
After Venerable Ming Yi’s qualifications had been publicised over last week, people have started checking up on Venerable Ming Yi’s qualifications and realised that his qualifications are not recognised in Singapore.
A check with the local offices also turned up a blank. Venerable Ming Yi apparently obtained his doctorate from a Mannin University in Ireland = however, when people started checking up on it, they realised that they could not find anything about it.
This caused people to question the credibility of his degree, to which, he replied that he was introduced the distance learning course when he was doing his masters and it never occurred to him to check the credibility of the university.
The thing about publicity is that it’s a 2-edged sword. It can help you and it can make you fall. I hope he’d be in the clear soon and whether the probe turns out anything is another story.
THE Buddhist monk mired in controversy over irregularities in the books of the Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre is now facing another set of questions - over his doctorate.
Venerable Ming Yi’s resume says he holds a PhD in philosophy from a ‘Mannin University’ in Ireland, but checks by The Straits Times with the British Council, the Irish Embassy here and the Irish education authorities showed that neither the university nor its qualifications were recognised there.
Through a spokesman, Venerable Ming Yi said at the weekend that he did his doctorate through distance learning, but never checked if the university awarding the degree was recognised.
Readers have been writing in to ask about his PhD after The Sunday Times ran a profile on the Ren Ci chief on Nov 11.
Netizens have also started questioning the credibility of his degree.
Like other readers, education consultant Larry Lim said he had never heard of Mannin University.
He said he had tried checking, but could not even find a website for it.
‘It is highly questionable when a university does not even have a website. Does the university even exist?’ he asked.
When The Straits Times asked the Irish Embassy here whether the university in question was real, the embassy said that the Irish Department of Education and Science did not recognise Mannin University or its qualifications.
Ireland’s Higher Education Authority, the statutory body for higher education and research there, said there were seven official universities in Ireland, and Mannin was not one of them.
Press officers for both the department and the University College Dublin, one of the seven recognised Irish universities, said they had never heard of Mannin University.
Recognised institutions aside, the Irish Department of Education and Science said that ‘it cannot give advice on other organisations purporting to offer higher education programmes or comment on the quality of courses offered by such institutions’.
While Venerable Ming Yi’s PhD qualifications are highlighted on several websites such as Wikipedia and Buddhist resource site Singapore Dharma Net, online searches for the university itself drew a blank.
But The Straits Times found on the Web two individuals who claimed to have graduated from Mannin University. One is the head of a group promoting human rights in the Maldives, and the other a man who runs a chain of gyms in Thailand.
Neither could be reached for comment.
Venerable Ming Yi broke an earlier silence on the subject on Saturday after repeated queries by The Straits Times.
Through a Ren Ci spokesman, he said that someone introduced him to the PhD programme at Mannin University while he was doing his master’s in health-care management at the University of Wales, an accredited institution.
The spokesman said Venerable Ming Yi, a former student of Raffles Institution, did a distance learning course with Mannin University, but had never visited its campus.
He would not give any more details on how the monk obtained the PhD.
‘Venerable Ming Yi did the PhD as he wanted to learn more, but he did not check if the university or its degrees are recognised,’ he said.
theresat@sph.com.sg
Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 19th November 2007
About
Unless this has other consequences (like fraud towards the management, or him being the head honcho becuz of his PHD), I guess I won’t be bothered where he got his PhD from. After all, its his personal business.
As a Buddhist, I do respect Venerable Shi Ming Yi. If there are problem in Ren Ci’s account, let the investigation to carry on. However, in Singapore, we do promote religious harmony. I think the above article on his doctorate credibility is not necessary, as Venerable Shi is a Head of Singapore Buddhist Federation. This article may cause offensive to Buddhist community. Unnecessary defamation of a leader monk, may indirectly attacking the Buddhist community. It seems that the article is trying to discredit him and indirectly discredit Buddhism.
Whether the degree is recognised or not is not important, as he don’t need it to look for a job. Please be more sensitive to Buddhist community here.
@ignorantsoup: actually i do agree that it doesn’t matter where he gets his PhD from - afterall it’s the learning that matters and I really think he just wanted to learn, not to get the paper
@Alvin Wong: i’m surprised that straitstimes published this because it left me thinking (i) about the point of the article and (ii) if they are insinuating anything because i am not sure if it’s potentially defamatory. but frankly, i don’t know why anyone would want to discredit Buddhism - there’s nothing to discredit about it. it’s there.
Some people are just simply Blindfaith, what ever the leader says or do is right. You can see who are these people when they comment and try to protect.
A church father using the fund to buy property has end up to jail.
A monk who use the fund to run business surely will end up to jail too.
Who care if a monk whether have a phD, but this Shi Ming Yi is a celebrity monk! He has great impact to many people so he must know that every goods he does and every bad he has done mean alot to every one.
religious people are blind!
i think we get the things wrong here. nothing wrong with Buddhism or discredit it. The issue here is why this monk is not practice of what he is doing.
why using public fund to run business!
Early this year, that shock the whole christian world is,the head of Amercian Protestant church Paster ted haggard speaks loud and clear against homosexual and he himself have a long term sexual relationship with a gay prostitute when that gay prostitute testify him.
Not the religion issue, whether he is a monk or he is a pastor.
The bottom line is hypocrite!
[…] Ren Ci - All and Sundry Singapore: Ren Ci Ming Yi’s Mannin University PhD - Simply Jean: Ren Ci probe: Venerable Ming Yi’s doctorate […]
Damn it!
what a con artist!
Why he want to show off his PhD?
Want to discredit himself?
Venerable Ming Yi’s are blind!
A Monk Like No Other
In the first place, a religious leader should NEVER “lend” “(lent)” his name to any establlishment(s) be they business or non-profit organisations (charitable or non-charitable) or even be involved with them. These works should be left to his followers or believers.
Secondly, he should be guiding believers away from indulging AND NOT to participate in his believers’ indulgence(s) even if he is offered.
Thirdly, simplicity should be their way of life.
Forthly, the thoughts of a religious leader should be way above the thoughts of his followers and believers, and he should not be providing the same reasons and/or excuses which the ordinary man will provide under the same circumstances…(e.g. what can I do if he (the believer) insisted in giving me (the religious leader) a dinner treat at a popular restaurant? or if he (the follower) insist on giving me a first class air ticket to travel, how can I (the religious leader) resist him? ) [And the list goes on……].
can someone help me know how an interested person may enrol for the PhD in philosophy from mannin university?
wah. that venereal ming yi really 看破红尘 already hor. $200,000-300,000 unaccounted for still can take it so easy. he sounds like pm goh’s bimbotic wife lor.
snoopy and charlie brown.
Isn’t it going to make people—especially those earning less than $20,000 a year—angrier?
And, telling people that he didn’t know his PhD came from an unaccredited university is going to make more people angrier.
Is he taking Singaporeans for fools? There are so many earning less than $20,000/yr who donated their hard-earned money to Renci.
All these episodes show just how ignorant he is. He’s naive to claim that he didn’t know his PhD was from an unaccredited university, and more naive to think that the public would believe this.
I think even a fool would do some research into the recognition of a university before studying for it. Mingyi is not being honest in saying he didn’t know if the university is accredited. Worse, as a leader of a few organisations, he should be duly responsible for mention of his qualifications in his cv published in the websites of these organisations.
Isn’t choosing a Ph.D. programme something that people would consider very seriously? How can someone in such a senior position suka suka choose an unrecognized Ph.D. programme?
Beside the cash (salary), an executive’s compensation (income) includes other types of benefits:
1) Accomodation
2) Travel
3) Car
4) Allowance for food, entertainment, etc
5) Bonus
Unfortunately, we don’t know just whether he had been offered accommodation (eg in a condo), private car (subjective whether it’s strictly for business use), travel (subjective whether it’s strictly for business), allowances (subjective whether it’s strictly for business) and bonuses.
Double trouble for Ren Ci Hospital.
It is interesting to wonder why he chose the unknown Mannin University over other Singapore-recognised foreign universities for his Doctorate degree in Philosophy.
I always believe any rational graduate student who wishes to pursue a post-graduate course would check whether the PhD course is accredited or not by first taking a look at its official website for information on its achievements and then obtain verification from Ministry of Education or any external agencies that the doct
And Ren Ci has had an Auditor department since it started……
can someone help me know how an interested person may enrol for the PhD in philosophy from mannin university???
请问Venerable Ming Yi’s 就读的Mannin University, 是否是野鸡大学?
190元可以买到博士文凭, 典型的野鸡大学, Venerable Ming Yi’s 怎么向崇拜你的愚蠢的听众负责?
至于编造谎言和学历非常盛行. 现在这股风终于刮到了.
Venerable Ming Yi’s 多次拿它招摇撞骗! 希望你不要继续行骗下去.也希望崇拜你的愚蠢的听众清醒一下!
Stop sensationalism. Ming Yi’s personal upgrading by taking private courses for personal satisfaction is private and personal. He never had to use his PHD to apply for all the jobs that were awarded to him. His appointment to top positions to so many organisations and paid only allowances speak for his worth, love and compasssion to society at large. By running a person down with unnecessary sensation will only cause sufferings to others.I do not know Ming Yi or have any dealings with him but find it neccesary speak out for this person who had done so much for the good of society.
wat u say now, buffer? hope $ in his pocket is smaller than foot in your mouth