Archives May 2010

UNIVERSITIES have wrongfully claimed tens of millions of pounds from the taxpayer for students who have dropped out of their courses, according to documents the government tried to keep secret.

In the papers, officials accuse universities of “artfully misconstruing” data in a “co-ordinated approach” to ensure they could claim as much as possible from the taxpayer. They found half the universities they checked were taking the extra money. The documents also list seven universities and colleges at “higher risk” because of various financial problems.

Those on the list include London Metropolitan, which has been ordered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) to pay back £36.5m it wrongly claimed from the taxpayer. The papers show both Hefce and David Lammy, the Labour universities minister, considered closing down London Met before discovering that a legal loophole meant they did not have the powers.

Figures released this weekend show audits carried out on other institutions in the wake of the London Met scandal led to a further clawback of £50m. The total of more than £86m would be enough to fund an entire university for a year.

More at Sunday Times-May 9th 2010

• It lacks accreditation by a nationally recognized accrediting agency, especially if it is accredited by an accreditation mill.
• Words denoting a legal status such as “licensed”, “state authorized” or “state-approved” are misused to suggest an equivalence to accreditation.
• The address is a postal box or mail forwarding service.
• Promotional literature contains grammatical and spelling errors, words in Latin, extravagant or pretentious language, and sample diplomas.
• Degrees can be obtained within a few weeks or months from the time of enrollment, back-dating is possible.
• Faculty members hold advanced degrees from the institution itself or similar organizations.
• Academic credit is offered for life experience, and this features heavily in the selling points of the institution.
• Tuition and fees are paid on a degree basis rather than on a per-semester, per-quarter or per-course basis.
• Prospective students are encouraged to “enroll now” before tuition or fees are increased, or they qualify for a “fellowship”, “scholarship” or “grant”.
• It has no library.
• Doctoral theses and dissertations are not lodged with the Library of Congress or other national repository.
• The college’s website looks amateurish or unprofessionally made.

To day the Elections

I find the post below by Charles Kelly for “Immigration Matters” would be very beneficial for the readers/observers and interested parties in immigration policy -Analyzer
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So what can we expect from David Cameron on immigration?

The Conservatives has pledged to ‘reduce net immigration to the levels of the 1990s’ primarily through imposing an annual cap on non-EU immigration.

They have also promised to ‘crackdown on illegal immigration by introducing a dedicated Border Police Force and tighten up the student visa system, which they say is the ‘biggest hole in our border controls’.

The party website devotes a section – ‘Where we Stand’ – to immigration and outlines the following policies pledges:

Britain can benefit from immigration, but not uncontrolled immigration. Look at any aspect of life today and you will see the contribution that migrants have brought, and not just to the economy. We want to continue to attract the brightest and the best people to the UK, but with control on the overall numbers coming here.

A Conservative government will reduce net immigration to the levels of the 1990s – tens of thousands a year, instead of the hundreds of thousands a year under Labour.

Our immigration policy is based on four strands:

We will introduce an annual limit on the numbers of non-EU economic migrants allowed to work here, taking into consideration the effects a rising population has on our public services and local communities. The limit would change each year to take into account the wider effects of immigration on society;

We will work to prevent illegal migration with a dedicated Border Police Force to crack down on illegal immigration and people trafficking;

We will introduce important new rules to tighten up the student visa system, which at the moment is the biggest hole in our border controls; and

We will promote integration into British society. There will be an English language test for anyone coming here from outside the EU to get married.

A Conservative government would also apply transitional controls as a matter of course for all future EU entrants.

Source: Conservative Part website.

David Cameron should not forget the economic benefits and energy which migrant workers and students bring to the UK.

Students alone are worth £8 billion to the UK economy, according to Home Office figures, and working migrants are only taking jobs which employers cannot fill locally or which British workers do not want.

The University and College Union (UCU) said it opposed “massive” cuts which would lead to job losses.
Union members at 11 London colleges are taking part in the action.

Staff at Redcar and Cleveland College, Middlesbrough College, South Tyneside College and Bishop Auckland College held lunchtime protests.

There are fears hundreds of jobs could be lost across colleges in the North East should proposed cuts go ahead.

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May 3 (Bloomberg) — India’s government took a step toward opening its doors to leading foreign universities with a bill that will allow them to open campuses and award degrees, part of an overhaul of the South Asian nation’s higher education.

The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill aims to regulate the entry of reputed foreign educational providers to improve choice and lift the quality of teaching. While the bill was approved by the cabinet in March, it may be some months before it becomes law.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal introduced the legislation in the lower house of Parliament today amid opposition by Communist parties which say the move will commercialize education. India hopes to attract world renowned universities such as Harvard, Yale and the U.K.’s Cambridge.

Only 12 children out of every 100 make it to college in India and those who do get a university education are hampered by poor teaching and crumbling infrastructure. The government wants to raise this level to 30 percent by 2020. In China about 23 percent of children go on to higher education, according to UNESCO’s Global Education Digest 2009.

There are about 480 universities and 22,000 colleges in India. It needs 600 more universities and 35,000 extra colleges over the next 12 years to reach its enrollment goal, Sibal has said. To achieve that level of expansion the government says it needs to attract private investment and foreign institutions.

‘Stringent Conditions’

According to the bill, education establishments wanting to set up in India will need to maintain a fund of not less than 500 million rupees ($11 million). Profits cannot be invested in any business other than growth and development of the colleges, it says.

“The stringent conditions in the proposal are going to deter credible institutions coming in. At the same time it may provide opportunities for the entry of lesser-known players,” said Omprakash Mishra, pro-vice chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi.

Still as a “matter of principle the barriers to entry into India should be done away with,” Mishra said.

The legislation may help India keep at home money now invested in buying an education overseas.
According to UNESCO, in 2007 over 2.8 million students were enrolled in educational institutions outside their country of origin. India sends 153,300 students abroad, the highest next to China’s 421,100.

Business Week

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