Financial Times

Students, parents should check the credentials of institutes-police
Scams in the education business
By Dinushika Dissanayake
Subasinghe (not his real name), a CTB bus driver of 20 years, was forced to retire due to failing eye-sight. The only pride left in his life was his son who had excelled in his advanced level examination but had marginally missed entering the local uiversities. The son had great ambitions and appealed to his father to send him abroad for higher studies.

An advertisement in the newspapers directed Subasinghe to an institute in Wellawatte which offered to send his son to the United States to obtain a degree in Business Administration for a total sum of Rs. 450,000. Though Subasinghe could hardly afford this money, he managed to obtain a loan to pay the fees. Subasinghe had already paid up Rs.200,000 when the bogus institute and its chairman vanished with his money and all his hopes. The miscreant is yet to be apprehended, having defrauded a total of 15 students in the same manner within a time period of six months.

Subasinghe is just one of the many victims of the ‘business of education’ which has rapidly expanded over the last few years into lucrative scams luring students with the hope of obtaining foreign degrees, across the island. With the Police Fraud Bureau confirming last week that more than 50 complaints are received annually regarding higher education, the prospects of quality higher education in Sri Lanka seem bleak. OIC T. Sunilshantha of the Fraud Bureau, who said that most of the cases that take place are as yet unreported, implied that a far worse situation exists than that as yet depicted by the statistics.

Just to give you an example, one Sunday newspaper alone carried a total number of 82 advertisements on a given day pertaining to higher education, most of which were offering to send students abroad for higher studies.

Of the courses offered the majority was for business administration and information technology degrees with medicine a close third. What was more alarming was the fact that most institutes were offering courses as substitutes for the advanced level, thereby ensuring a far greater market for foreign higher education within the next few years. The degrees offered originated in many countries from the conventional UK and USA to Cyprus with MBBS (medical) degrees also from Ukraine. Most of the institutes also offered ‘free’ consultation with local agents and ‘spot’ admissions.

According to statistics released by the Media Unit of the Education Ministry, the demand for foreign degrees has almost doubled in 2003 from 2001. The total demand for international studies which was 4,803 students in 2001 jumped to 7,271 in 2003.

The cost of international higher education in 2003 spent by Sri Lankan students was estimated at a total of Rs. 3 billion, indicating that students are increasingly looking at foreign higher studies for their basic degrees and diplomas. The increasing demand for higher education in Sri Lanka has been exploited by foreign universities and more and more rupees foreign exchange is being used on education. The minimum cost for an undergraduate degree offered in Sri Lanka has been estimated by the Ministry to be approximately Rs. 150,000 to Rs. 450,000.

According to Ministry statistics the UK and Australia attract the highest number of students from Sri Lanka judging by the number of student visas issued, with USA, India and Malaysia in close pursuit. The market for undergraduate studies in Sri Lanka had the greatest potential with 45 percent of the demand being for basic degrees and 34 percent being for post graduate studies. The seats available at local universities being limited, and few alternative and equivalent degrees being available locally, students are increasingly attracted to overseas education, especially when organisations promise to deliver a world class degree in half the normal time.

With so many courses and degrees on offer, each of which claims to be internationally recognized, the question arises as to whether a mechanism exists to screen the institutes and colleges that offer such courses, for quality standards. According to an official at the World Bank who declined to be named, it would be virtually impossible to monitor all institutes that seem to have sprung up overnight. “The qualifications must tell the market where to go and where not to go,” he said.

Meanwhile some of the cases so far filed at the Fraud Bureau indicate that the bogus institutes that have defrauded students of millions of rupees have all claimed to be internationally recognised. They had advertised themselves as being affiliated to various foreign universities and registered with various authoritative bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Registrar of Companies.

Maddumage Ananda, Statistics Officer at the Registrar of Companies said that most companies register under different categories which do not prevent them from providing education services. He said that due to this reason it was difficult to estimate the number of institutes that are actually registered with the Registrar as pursuing educational services.

The Ministry of Education had identified 28 existing fee levying legitimate higher education institutes in Sri Lanka, not funded by the government in a compilation recently published in newspapers. This compilation of institutes is however only a basic identification and not a formal accreditation for quality, according to Professor Colin N. Peiris, Quality Assurance Specialist of the World Bank funded IRQUE Project who is also working closely with the UGC and the Ministry of Education.

The next issue which arises is the question as to whether the private sector accepts simply any degree from any foreign university from a potential employee. In response to the question as to whether the private sector exercises any form of discretion when accepting degree or other qualifications from potential employees, an official from the Chamber of Commerce said that they did not.

The official, who declined to be named, said that the abilities of the candidate were their primary concern. “We are not particular about the paper qualifications. We look more at the capabilities,” he said. He further said that the Chamber of Commerce employs a cross section of people, both with local and international qualifications.

While this attitude may relieve the minds of anxious parents to some extent, the actual skills developed by students through sub standard courses are questionable. For example a popular educational institute in Colombo offers a general degree within six months. Classroom attendance is not compulsory and it is an online degree programme. It is however aimed at mature students who have at least two years work experience but lack a degree, which may ensure its quality. The cost would be approximately Rs. 350,000. The same institute offers an honours degree of one year priced at Rs. 450,000 while most local and international university degree programmes extend to three to four years. These factors highlight the subjectivity that exists in deciding whether a given course is acceptable in terms of quality.

Professor Peiris said that the UGC had identified the problem and since January 2005 has been taking steps to rectify this problem. He said a Standing Committee for Quality Assurance and Accreditation had been established in January 2005. This committee was established to assist the UGC and the Board of Investment (BOI) in assuring quality when registering private tertiary education institutions that offer higher education in Sri Lanka.

He also said that public universities absorb only 14 percent of those eligible to enter universities due to lack of capacity. According to Prof. Peiris, of the 105,000 students who were eligible to enter university last year, only 14,000 had been absorbed. This, according to him results in many inquiries from students to the UGC regarding the quality of other available private higher education programmes.

As a step to fill this gap in information, the UGC has undertaken a series of steps to list and give quality accreditation to institutes in Sri Lanka.
The first step in this process has been a compilation of relevant statistics and institutes operating in Sri Lanka, which was made available to the public through the media. Prof. Peiris said that a mechanism for accrediting private institutions, which offer higher education, is in the offing.

The students themselves meanwhile can take certain measures to ensure that the institutes that they are relying on are legitimate and offer internationally recognized degrees and diplomas as advertised. The Internet offers many indexes such as the Financial Times ranking, which ranks worldwide universities and colleges offering higher education. An Internet based search engine would also yield results in the same vein. Directly contacting the relevant university or foreign college is also an option, while the embassies of each country would be able to assist students in deciding the quality standards and legitimacy of foreign universities.

Mr Sunilshantha at the Police Fraud Bureau meanwhile warned students that most administration staff, the chairman and owner, would all be in the scam together.

This means that on face value the institute may well seem legitimate. He encouraged parents and students to be vigilant and to check the credentials of institutes before signing up for courses and degree programmes, locally or abroad.

Stringent rules soon for education institutes
The UGC is looking at introducing a stringent mechanism with which higher education programmes in Sri Lanka will be accredited for quality and relevance, according to Professor Colin N. Peiris of the IRQUE Project.

A representative of the World Bank project on Improving the Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education in Sri Lanka (IRQUE), Professor Peiris said that the UGC had taken decisive steps to bring about a quality accreditation programme of higher education institutions in Sri Lanka.

“We are establishing a Board of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in higher education which has been sent for cabinet approval,” he said. The approval from cabinet is expected within the next two months, enabling the UGC to take active measures in assessing and controlling quality in the education industry.

“Right now higher education institutions in the private sector are given authority by the UGC and the BOI while some are registered under vocational training institutions,” Prof Peiris said. He added that in the future the permission for higher education programmes to operate in Sri Lanka will be given by the UGC based on the recommendation given by the Board of Quality Assurance and Accreditation.

The accreditation programme is expected to be done by benchmarking local institutes with recognized foreign universities who already have such a programme in place. According to Prof. Peiris this will ensure that the accreditation will be internationally recognized. The programme is expected to begin soon after cabinet approval is obtained.

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