Bogus university scam uncovered

An international education scam that targets foreign students who come to study in the capital has been exposed by a BBC London investigation. The bogus Irish International University (IIU), which offers sub-standard and worthless degrees, has been allowed to flourish in the UK. Although the organisation is unaccredited, hundreds of students have been given educational visas to enter Britain and take its exams at private colleges in London. The IIU, which has 5,000 students worldwide and thousands of graduates, maintains the illusion of a valid education through its elaborate but highly misleading website. This illusion is enhanced by the university's continued use of Oxford and Cambridge facilities to stage its award ceremonies.

After each event photographs appear on the IIU website showing happy students receiving awards at the UK's best seats of learning. Our investigation took us from London to Dublin, Oxford and finally Monte Carlo in search of those behind the IIU. A BBC journalist and an actor posing as fake academic were invited to the IIU's award ceremony which, surprisingly, was held at the Divinity School, next to the Bodleian Library, in the very heart of Oxford University.

In Oxford, our journalist and actor and secretly filmed the award ceremony and recorded meetings with university boss and Executive President Professor Hardeep Singh Sandhu, a Malaysian businessman and faculty member Dr Edwin Varo. Dr Varo, told us that the IIU was not bogus and was registered in Ireland and that it had applied to the government and had been given approval to use the word university.

In Dublin, Sean O'Foghlu, Chief Executive of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland told BBC London: "To use the word university in a title it needs approval from our Department of Education and Science - no such approval has been given by our department." The university website clearly stated that the university had a campus in Dublin. We visited the address given by the IIU on their website - there was no campus just a mailbox.

The website also claimed that the IIU's educational programmes were accredited and quality controlled by the impressive sounding QAC-UK Ltd - the Quality Assurance Commission, based in North London. During secretly filmed meetings Professor Sandhu told our undercover team that the QAC was an "independent body" that maintained the quality of the education in the UK and elsewhere. Our reporter visited the QAC and instead of finding a commissioner general we found four telephonists fielding calls for countless companies at yet another virtual office. A further check at Companies House revealed that far from the being "independent" the QAC is in fact owned by university boss Professor Dr Sandhu. University boss Professor Sandhu, who sits on the governing council is a Doctor of Letters, a doctorate awarded by another unaccredited university based in the Caribbean.

Following BBC London's investigation the IIU will now no longer be allowed to use Oxford and Cambridge's facilities to stage their award ceremonies. The IIU website survives but since our investigation it has undergone a radical overhaul. The reference to a Dublin campus has been removed, the QAC is "no longer involved with the Irish International University" and its logo no longer appears on the website.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7175730.stm