How Britain supports bogus colleges

You may have seen the Newsnight story about the student from Kolkota who raised £5000 to get a qualification at a college in London, offered by the Irish International University. If you missed it, here’s the link:

If you have only enough time for a few seconds of the report, try the 30 odd seconds between 1 minute and 1’30” into the report. The student said he checked to see if the college was on a British government website, and it was. He then went to the British Council to check.

“They also said just check the DFES site, and if the college’s name is there it means it’s fine, go for that”.

He might just as well have asked a parrot for all the expertise there was in that reply.

The BBC reporter evidently obtained a “secret” list of bogus universities from the "Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills” and sure enough the Irish International University is there. The list is dated 2005. You would have thought that perhaps the organisation that we pay to advise students overseas ("we connect people with learning opportunities etc...") had a copy of this by now, even if this has to be secret (Why?) and then had pieced things together so that the advisory expertise they claim to provide would be something a little more solid than that given to this student.

I am thinking of getting a doctorate from the Oxford Association of Management – the cap and gown are particularly impressive. The President ("sic transit" Gloria) has a degree from the world famous St Clements University, and my doctorate will provide solid evidence that I insist on the "highest levels of ethical practice". And it’s from Oxford, "the best in the world". At £600 it looks to me like a bargain - perhaps I could get grant? Certainly it's a lot cheaper than flying a bunch of bureaucrats out to India to tell students to look at a website.

Comments

[neil robertson]

I think the very least British Council could do is refund the
£5,000 the poor Indian student
borrowed on the basis of their
duff advice ... dreadful story.

[David]

Indeed. It's not just about deceiving students though. I found this company chairman (Dr Ho) with a Doctorate from the Irish International Uni and more besides, including another one from Knightsbridge University - somewhere near Harrods? http://www.ascalade.com/about/bios.aspx

[Prof H sandhu]

The reporter Angelia Saini make up the whole strory, there is no “secret”list kept by the UK Government. Its a scam to win an European Award for herself, but justice has been served, as she is no longer with the BBC.