First of all, I don't think I want to comment on the trustworthiness of agents. As chinkandoo rightly said, it's an issue with every human being and trust has to be earned. A generalisation won't help. I don't think anyone can conclusively or imply that someone is untrustworthy just because his academic credentials are doubtful. In 2002, Oxford University's Pembroke College had a scandal when its staff, a very qualified Rev Dr John Platt actually promised admission to the son of a wealthy banker in exchange for an indecent donation. Read this at
http://www.btinternet.com/~akme/Broke1.html. Trustworthiness has to do with character and little with academic qualifications. Anyway, I don't know who this Dr Tan Tee Khoon personally and I reserve my comments.
However, I do wish to say something about Templeton University because before I employed 2 very fine managers who have qualifications from that university, I did reasonable due diligence which went beyond just google search and checking the online database of CHEA. I actually corresponded with CHEA in writing and asked 2 very direct questions:
1. Is Templeton University in Middletown NY the same as Templeton University in Nevada? Or are they linked? I knew the one in Middletown NY is unaccredited but I had wanted to verify if it is associated in any manner to the latter as the one in Nevada has been explicity stated to be dubious and a degree mill, especially in Oregon.
2. Is an unaccredited university always a degree mill, and thus anyone that has gone to an unaccredited university has obtained a useless paper?
To the first question, CHEA could not tell me if there were linked but only that they were unaccredited. To the second question, CHEA could not comment except to say that accreditation is voluntary self-regulation towards quality in education and in America, all accreditors are private bodies recognised by the govt but the accreditation is not done by the govt. Also, to access state or federal grants, an university has to be accredited and employers may only sponsor employees going to accredited universities. You can read all this in CHEA's website. In a nutshell,
not even CHEA can commit affirmatively that unaccredited institutions equal degree mills.
I have checked out that Templeton University in Middletown, NY is a private independent setup and its address is not a mailbox. It has a small physical campus there and it is in fact 37 minutes from SUNY New Paltz campus. Check it out yourself. The university was setup in 1947 and used to have a website but has ceased since 2005 (if I recall correctly) because of rising numbers of online mills. The Registrar is a Ms Grace Wald.
Now, I don't have any vested interest in the university nor any personal gratification to see this university vindicated. I only think I should share what I know. If i am mistaken about my managers' qualifications, it doesn't affect me because they have been with me for the past 5 years and they are excellent, trustworthy performers.