Bogus PhDs No More?

I took the opportunity to ask the Minister of Higher Education as to the steps being taken to prevent academics with dubious qualifications from being hired by our local universities during the Budget debate 2 days ago. The following was the relevant exchange:

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Yang Berhormat Menteri, penjelasan. Minta maaf, topik tadi berkenaan mengenai PhD yang diambil oleh universiti-universiti tempatan. Saya ingin tahu, kita memang perlu meningkatkan jumlah pemegang PhD dalam universiti kita, tetapi saya mendapati bahawa memang ada juga yang pemegang PhD itu tidak mempunyai PhD dari universiti yang dikatakan sebagai recognized iaitu ada pemegang PhD di dalam universiti kita dan saya ada nama di mana mereka mendapat PhD mereka melalui correspondence course.

Pihak yang mengambil PhD memang tidak ada PhD yang credible boleh didapat di
correspondence course. So, apakah langkah yang diambil oleh kementerian supaya pemegang PhD seperti ini tidak dilantik dalam universiti kita.

Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khaled bin Nordin: Pertamanya kementerian sedang dalam peringkat untuk memperketatkan lagi peruntukan yang ada dalam undang-undang khususnya
undang-undang Akta Institut Pengajian Tinggi Swasta (Akta 555) untuk tentukan kita berkuasa untuk mengambil tindakan terhadap kes-kes yang sedemikian. Keduanya seperti kata Yang Berhormat ada tenaga akademik yang mungkin mempunyai PhD yang sedemikian tetapi kehadiran mereka dalam IPT atau pun universiti mereka masing-masing mungkin berasaskan Ijazah yang lain sama ada masters dan sebagainya.

Oleh kerana sesuatu PhD itu tidak diiktiraf, ia tidak di ambil kira. Saya percaya kalau pun ada nama dan saya juga mengalu-alukan kalau nama itu dapat diberi, kita boleh menyiasat dengan lebih teliti mengenai kedudukan pensyarah yang sebegini. Akan tetapi daripada laporan yang saya dimaklumkan, kalau pun ada pensyarah yang memiliki ijazah dan juga sarjana dan sebagainya, mereka juga membuat dan mendapat PhD mungkin melalui correspondence sebahagian daripada khususnya universiti awam, kalau PhD itu tidak diiktiraf, memang ia tidak diiktiraf dan mereka tidak mendapat apa-apa tambahan atau kebaikan daripada kedudukan mereka sebagai anggota tenaga akademik.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Akan tetapi dalam resume mereka, dalam laman web, semua letak Doktor. So ini agak mengelirukan dan tidak baik untuk penuntut kita di universiti juga. Terima kasih.

Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khaled bin Nordin: Saya akan memberi nasihat dan makluman kepada semua dalam kes yang mana boleh guna profesor, boleh mengguna nama Doktor dan
sebagainya. Jika Yang Berhormat boleh bekerjasama dengan kementerian memberikan saya
nama-nama itu, kita akan follow up dengan pihak universiti dan kerana kita tidak kompromi dalam soal-soal yang boleh menyentuh kesan penjanaan tenaga akademik dalam universiti kita.

New Perlis MB with bogus PhD

Now that the elections are over, I can hopefully go back to blogging regularly here on education issues. Thanks for to marquisdulazares for highlighting this post from Susan Loone, a former Malaysiakini journalist who is currently based in Bangkok. Apparently, the new MB in Perlis has a PhD from New Port university, something which Tony has blogged about in the past!

I think this Malaysian version of the New Port university is just an offshoot of the equally dubious New Port university that is based in California. My wife informed me that the address of the California based New Port university is near an airport and only occupies one suite of a commercial building!

Check out former MPs Aziz Shamsuddin and M Kayveas here. Both of them received degrees from this university. And if I'm not mistaken, Kayveas also received a degree from the infamous Irish International University! Thankfully, both of them lost in the recent elections so hopefully, it's the last we'll see of them!

Irish International University Confirmed Bogus

I've written often before on Bogus Universities, in particular, one "Irish International University" with dozens of Malaysian "graduates", which for one reason or another remains in "business" without being subject to persecution by the authorities. And of course, its CEO, Prof Dr H. Sandhu is a holder of a "Grand PhD".

Well, in an article possibly harsher and better researched than those I've written, The Times confirmed IIU's status as a bogus university.

But the institution, which hires rooms at Oxford for its degree events, is neither Irish nor a university. It encourages foreigners to spend thousands of pounds coming to Britain to study for worthless qualifications.

Most important, note the following proof of its bogus status:

The Irish International University’s website boasts of a campus in Dublin but the address is only a mailbox. Universities in Ireland must be endorsed by the education ministry. However, a loophole in Irish law allows businesses to register names with “university” in their titles.

The university’s web pages claim that its degrees are backed by the “Quality Assurance Commission”. The body was traced to an office in North London where a woman was answering phones on behalf of various companies; there were no signs that a commission existed.

The university’s honorary chancellor and head of its council, known as “His Excellency Baron Knowth”, was tracked by BBC London to Monte Carlo, where he is a tax exile. He also has a £1.2 million townhouse in Kensington, West London.

And the university officials have admitted as much that as long as there are suckers for bogus qualifications, they will continue to give them "value for money".

Talking to an undercover reporter, the honorary chancellor, in fact a chartered accountant called Jeffrey Wooller, admitted: “Of course it’s dodgy. So long as they’re happy, what difference does it make? It’s not accredited so it’s not recognised anywhere.

“They [students] get their degree, they go to the convocation and employers accept the degrees. They’re happy, they tell their friends and the university multiplies. The university is giving value for money.”

It really can't get any funnier and dodgier than that! Thanks Steve K for the heads up! ;-)

OXCEL Revisited

One of the proprietors of OXCEL has written to me requesting that "[I] take down the fake certificate and other postings or we shall have to take the neccessary actions both in Malaysia and England."

He further added that "[the] blog should focus on reporting the truth instead of 'khabar angin'. A true reporter is able to support their claims with Facts. Your facts/ source is seriously faulty, which then brings down your creditability. I would have expected a University of Oxford graduate to be thorough and analytical in their research, thoughts and opinions."

I am taking the initiative to give him the benefit of the doubt with regards to the certificate, and will be removing the image of the alleged certificate from my earlier post here. However, for the moment, I'll be leaving the earlier posts as is on the site.

I have also offered twice since I first blogged on this issue for him to provide a formal reply to the site for the readers. This offer has not been taken up. However in his email to me, he did insist that "OXCEL is a legal entity in the UK unlike the other 'dubious institutions' that you have reported on. OXCEL also does not award degrees."

Readers are given every opportunity to evaluate the story and make their own conclusions. And if I'm proven wrong, I'll be more than happy to apologise.

OXCEL Certificate

I wrote about the educational awards offered by the "Oxford Centre for Leadership" (OXCEL) a few weeks back here and here. For those with a keen eye, you will see that the text within the sites have been modified accordingly to be less misleading, for example, in its (non) association with Oxford University. OXCEL runs its programmes in Malaysia here.

But I'm curious. OXCEL has recently conducted a convocation ceremony at the Oxford University itself on the 3rd of September 2007, specifically at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. (Oxford colleges and institutes rent out their premises for use by private organisations to raise funds.) And I've been made aware that the following is the alleged copy of certificates issued to the "graduates" from OXCEL.

[UPDATED 21/9/2007: I have removed the alleged certificate for the owners of OXCEL has written to state that the copy in my possession is a forged document. I have however, requested for a original copy to be posted online, but this request has been rejected for apparent fear that further forgeries will be made.]

Scam Oxford MBA?

Well, Mr "David Smith" has continued to feed me with information with regards to the MBA scams perpetuated by a "Oxford Centre for Leadership (OXCEL), United Kingdom" which clearly abuses its non-existent association to Oxford University to gain credibility.

First of all, the OXCEL doesn't exist beyond a mail forwarding service provided at the contact address. You can check out the address yourself at the Regus website, an international service office provider.

The OXCEL company was only purportedly set up in the United Kingdom in April this year. However, as early as last May, Oxcel has been granting degrees in Malaysia.

Yusry & co receives their degress & awards

In May last year, KRU main singer, Yusry Abdul Halim was selected to receive an special award (Young Creativity Award) from Oxcel at Oxford Graduation Ceremony in Subang Jaya. Other celebrities who apparently received their diploma, degrees are Nizal Mohamad, Ashraf Sinclair and Chef Ismail (Master in Business Hospitality).

Not only did these celebrities clearly publicised the "school", it was Deputy Minister of Human Resources, Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar who "launched" OXCEL in Malaysia last year at Carcosa Seri Negara. The modus operandi appears very similar to other dodgy degree-granting institutions such as the non-Irish Irish International University, where Deputy Minister, M Kayveas was also invited to present degrees at convocation ceremonies, which lends credibility to the institution.

(By the way, IIU continues to exist in Malaysia despite the tonnes of information available which discredits their standing. They have been holding convocation ceremonies on a year basis since 2002)

It is understood that the next convocation ceremony for Oxcel will be held at a college of Oxford university on 12 September 2007 for their 5-day MBA programme (or some equivalent award). All the graduates are allegedly Malaysians.

I really wonder sometimes why is it that in a country such as Malaysia, there remains plenty of such bogus institutions, guillible Ministers who are easily persuadable to lend credibility to dubious organisations as well as certification-hungry students who are willing to pay good money for poor qualifications.... sigh.

Scam MBA?

I received an email in my mailbox this evening. I certainly hope that this "David Smith" was being sarcastic. He asked me how much it cost my to obtain my Oxford degree. He got his "Oxford" MBA right here in Malaysia for only RM15,000 and pointed me to the programme - Millionaire's MBA, which he "took" part in. Yes, it's called the "Buiness School for Millionaires Mentored by Millionaires".

This MBA certification is granted by the "Oxford Centre for Leadership (OXCEL)" and it's complemented with the so-called "Oxford Business Club". And guess, what? You can obtain your "prestigious" MBA all within an "intensive" period of 5-days(!).

The website even attempts to pass off its "Oxford" credentials by highlighting "Oxford as an University City" within the site.

And oh dear, it's office is located within a stone's throw away from my current office!

OXCEL Asia
84-A, Jalan SS 21/35, Damansara Utama (Uptown), 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor,
MALAYSIA
Tel: +603 77291070
Fax: +603 7725 5071
Email: enquiry@MillionairesMBA.com

The apparent founders, Saiful and Ernest even got themselves featured in magazines, Usahawan and Dewan Ekonomi.

Well, let me assure you that the Oxford University is certainly not associated with the above programmes, and would certainly not offer a 5-day MBA programme. Oxford University has a Business School of its own, Said Business School and you can find out more about its 1-year MBA programme here. My former Economics tutor when I was at Keble, Dr Tim Jenkinson, is currently the Professor of Economics at the School.

However, you can be assured that an MBA there will set you back at least GBP30,000, excluding living expenses, 14 times more than the alleged RM15,000 "MBA" advertised above. This Millionaires MBA thing certainly doesn't sound too much different from the other infamous bogus university, Irish International University (hint: there's nothing Irish about it), which I've blogged about umpteen times.

So, guys, be warned.