Private B.C. college shut down for non-compliance

Photos

Private B.C. college shut down for non-compliance

see larger image

uploaded by Barry ORegan

Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
Yesterday's News about Bogus Student Visa and Diploma Mill Colleges and Universities in British Columbia acting as a front for illegal immigration is certainly getting a lot of attention.   The other side of the coin are legitimate foreign students trying to get an education in the mistaken belief that these diploma mills are legitimate post secondary institutions soon find out  when they enter the working world their degrees or diplomas are worthless.   

One wonders how the British Columbia government allows this to continue, one wonders if  trade missions to these countries and backroom political deals are going on with the Provincial government and these bogus colleges?  What other conclusion can it be, especially in a province which is so strictly regulated in every other business or industry from ICBC air care, Private Medical Clinics to residential garbage bag weight limits?     In short the best way to stop this is to ban private institutes from calling themselves Colleges or Universities.  Just like businesses cannot call themselves Olympic this or Olympic that!

One wonders how Street Corner Boiler room style Colleges and Universities viewed by many are set up exclusively for cash in exchange for bogus degrees and diplomas are allowed to operate, especially by faceless people living overseas in another country with no checks or balances?  Someone has some explaining to do, yet no answers from politicians seem to be forthcoming in the media.

One Diploma Mill (Because that's what they are, when cash is traded for diplomas for useless degrees and unrecognised licences) president, Hong Chae Choi, allegedly recruits applicants with promises of becoming licensed practitioners of traditional Asian medicine while studying English at the school's downtown Vancouver campus. Choi, who lives in South Korea, could not be reached to comment. No big Surprise there eh?

Makes one wonder what our Education Minister has to say about all this, since this has been going on for years in this province?

In Ending
If anyone can open up a Post Secondary Institution.
Legitimate Post Secondary Institutions will lose credibility as who is to know what is legitimate and what is bogus, when graduates only find out when apply for work, are told their bogus degree is useless?  It seems our Government allows these post secondary institutes to operate with impunity under the guise of a ESL Licence.

My Final Thought
It seems that it is up to everyone in this province, including visitors to this country  to practice their own due diligence, because government bureaucrats who are paid to look out for us, seem to just grab our taxdollars and leave us holding the bag.  If a Graduate of a bogus degree is hired and makes a mistake in the business world the Graduate or business who hired them would be liable in a court of law if their incompetance intened or otherwise caused financial, health and safety or other risks to others.  

[q url="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ba9d0af1-b6f6-492f-a47a-5db5a5acab69&k=38996"]Another B.C. private college has been shut down for failing to comply with provincial regulations.

Registration for South Bay College in downtown Vancouver was suspended in June by the Private Career Training Institutions Agency, the province's regulatory agency for private colleges, then cancelled on July 5.

The move follows the recent high-profile closures of Kingston College and its affiliated school, Lansbridge University.
And over a month ago, the province said it's also investigating Rutherford College in Richmond on suspicion of offering degrees as Rutherford University in violation of provincial law. The college's registration has been suspended. A spokesman for the college denied the allegation in June.

South Bay's president, Hong Chae Choi, allegedly recruited applicants with promises of becoming licensed practitioners of traditional Asian medicine while studying English at the school's downtown Vancouver campus. Choi, who lives in South Korea, could not be reached to comment.

South Bay College had an agreement with American Liberty University to provide accreditation for university-level courses in traditional medicine, said Amy Frost, an ESL teacher at South Bay for six months.

But that agreement ended long before the college's registration was cancelled on July 5, said ALU president Kevin Soltani.

"The ministry in B.C called me about our relationship, but I told them we didn't have one. We stopped working with them because they didn't comply with our regulations," said Soltani.

Frost says the school's ESL courses were allowed to continue after its traditional medicine registration was cancelled because ESL programs aren't required to register with the regulatory agency.

They were scheduled to end Aug. 10, but she only continued to teach for two weeks before those programs were shut down. She lost her job when the school closed.

"The students are really messed up because they don't know the Canadian system. They're trying to find schools from Korea and they end up wasting two years," Frost said.

Sung Young Cho, 19, attended the school for 18 months. He paid $24,000 in tuition. Cho says he can't get credit for any of the courses he took at South Bay.

He's trying to find another university transfer program to enrol in before his student visa expires.

"I don't think I wasted my two years, I learned English and I believe the staff at South Bay did their best. I don't want to run away from my problem and go back to Korea, I want to stay and fix it."
[
/q]