Student Loans Fraud Exposed by BBC Panorama

Greenwich School of Management in London - also known as GSM London has come under scrutiny amid reports from BBC panorama programme today, The BBC says whistle blowers tipped it off about a "dodgy freelance agent" and malpractices in recruiting students for its degree programme with Plymouth University .

BBC Panorama's investigation comes at a time of massive change in Higher education landscape in England, The Higher Education and Research Act, passed earlier this year, would create a powerful new regulator for higher education in England called the Office for Students. The government is also looking at whether new businesses could offer degrees from day one on a probationary basis, which could attract interest from companies operating elsewhere in the world.

About £400m-a-year is received by 112 private colleges through the student loan system. The government is keen to expand the sector as part of reforms designed to make degree and diploma courses more accessible to people who might otherwise find it difficult to enter higher education.

This year total student loan debt, from universities and private colleges, amounted to £100bn.

In todays BBC's  Panaorama programme Plymouth University and GSM London college have been heavily implicated in student loan fraud, both institutions have declined direct involvement in the matter. You can see more on this story on Panorama, Student Loan Scandal on BBC One at 7.30pm on Monday 13th November and afterwards on iPlayer.

College fraud claim: Payments to a Cardiff campus and its students were suspended

A recruiter for West London Vocational Training College in Cardiff said they could cheat their way to receiving thousands of pounds, Recruiter, Kazi Shajahan offered to sell coursework needed for qualifications.

It prompted Education Minister Huw Lewis to suspend payments to West London Vocational Training College and to its Cardiff students.

The college, based on the city's Greyfriars Road, has nearly 100 IT and business students. Those on Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) can receive up to £17,000 a year in loans and grants, which will only be repaid when they earn more than £21,000 annually.

One of the journalists faked a GCSE certificate and applied for funding which was approved. Another potential student, who does not want to be identified, says Mr Shajahan offered him the chance to take part. "He was offering £10,000 student finance plus the grant," he claimed.

Also College principal Dr Manoj Kumar is revealed to have faked his Cambridge University PhD and teaching certificates

Courtesy: BBC Wales presenter Tim Rogers and the Week In Week Out team uncovered the allegations Week In Week Out is on BBC One Wales at 22:40 GMT on Tuesday, 1 December

Uwic course cutbacks confirmed amid shake-up

BBC Reports that Courses, staff and students are to be reduced at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, (Uwic) as higher education funding cuts and changes take effect, according to BBC wales Education Minister Leighton Andrews, has repeatedly called for mergers between universities and in December the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales published proposals to reduce the number of universities in Wales from 10 to six, with just two universities in south east Wales.

Funding Cuts, Developing Story
Currently, universities and directly funded FE colleges receive HEFCE cash to pay for teacher training courses. Full-time students have access to bursaries, which cover the cost of fees and some living expenses, while part-time students’ employers have access to grants to cover their fees. according to Denise Robinson, director of the Consortium for Post-Compulsory Education and Training, said part-time students receiving “in-service” training - the route favoured by around 90 per cent of FE teachers - might have to pay as much as £8,000 for a two-year course when the changes come into effect in 2012/13 - more than five times the current fee of £1,500

Courtesy: BBC Wales, Times Higher Education/TES, More about Post Compulsory Education & Training Network

Plan to shut leading philosophy course condemned by academics

Professors claimed that a decision to phase out teaching of the subject at Middlesex University would seriously undermine future research into the humanities.

The move has already led to a 12,000-strong petition and a “sit in” protest by students at the university’s north London campus.

The decision comes amid widespread cuts announced at higher education institutions across the UK after it was revealed university budgets would be slashed by almost £500 million next year.

The University and College Union estimate that more than 15,000 jobs – the majority academic posts – could disappear in the next few years.

Cutbacks are being made at institutions including King’s College London, Westminster, Leeds, Hull, Cumbria, Wolverhampton and the University of the West of England.

Middlesex has decided to close its philosophy teaching programme, insisting that the number of BA students has hit “unsustainably low” numbers, at 12 a year.

But some of the world’s leading philosophers have said that the move is of “national and international concern”.

In a letter to Times Higher Education magazine, it was claimed that the decision would threaten subjects such as critical theory, aesthetics, Marxism and psychoanalysis.

The letter – signed by more than 20 academics – said: “Middlesex is widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world.”

Telegraph