Università Popolare di Milano
The Università Popolare di Milano, also known as Università Popolare degli Studi di Milano, is a for-profit unaccredited institution headquartered in Milan, Italy. On the basis of life experiences, the institution issues unaccredited Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees and even PhDs in civil engineering, sociology, communication studies, and political science. Sometimes, unaccredited honorary degrees in other fields may also be conferred.
The longer name "Università Popolare degli Studi di Milano" should not be confused with the well-known, and accredited, Università degli Studi di Milano, which has nothing to do with the Università Popolare di Milano.
Since 2012, the institution has received several cease-and-desist orders from the Italian Ministry of Education, and has been convicted by a final judgment, but most of its websites still advertise the services and the degrees, which are chiefly sold online.
The president of the institution, Marco Grappeggia, is also founder and president of the Yorker International University, which is supposed to be based in South Dakota, New York, Florida and Argentina, but actually operates in Milan, Italy, using the same address as the Università Popolare di Milano. The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization and the New York State Education Department made it known that Yorker International University was never accredited. However, Yorker International University used to issue degrees in Italy through Paulo Freire University, a private university located in Nicaragua that was going to be accredited in 2002. Since the Nicaraguan university had no authorization to issue degrees in Italy, those degrees are not valid.
