TROUBLED times ahead for UK’s higher education sector?
With University of Wales, the country’s second largest university (70,000 students studying its courses in 130 colleges around the world), mired in a “cash for certificates” scam, the spotlight is, once again, on academic integrity.
There is much outrage in UK’s academic fraternity over this incident. Vice-chancellors of five Welsh universities (Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Bangor, Glamorgan and Swansea) have called for the university to be wound up following a BBC Wales programme last week that showed a reporter posing as a student arranging to pay for bogus qualifications at a London college validated by the University of Wales. The reporter was seen paying £1,500 (US$2,300) in cash for a certificate. The programme followed an earlier probe into the university's links with dubious overseas colleges in Malaysia and Thailand.
The University of Wales has since announced a new academic strategy, which will see the institution only award degrees to students on courses designed and fully controlled by the University.
The transformed University will cease to be an accrediting body for other universities in Wales. It will instigate discussions with these universities to withdraw from awarding degrees to their students. The University will also bring to a close validated programmes offered at centres in the UK and overseas and introduce a new academic model.
Professor Medwin Hughes, Vice-Chancellor, University of Wales said, “In light of HE policy changes in Wales and the creation of a transformed University of Wales, we believe the time is right for us to adopt a new academic strategy and only award University of Wales degrees to students on courses designed and fully controlled by the University of Wales. We are therefore proposing to bring the current validation model to a close.”
"We have a duty of care to all students on existing programmes and will honour our current commitments to them. However, from next year, all Universities in Wales will either have to use their own degree awarding powers or make other arrangements for the courses they run both locally and on a transnational basis.
"And our own international collaboration will now be based solely on courses designed and fully controlled by the University of Wales, embedded in our Faculties and led by our own academic staff. We remain committed to a global role and believe it can serve Wales well.”
