Leaders of UK sector associations have called for the government to focus on existing fraud challenges rather than further burdens for compliant education institutions in light of the exam cheating scandal exposed in a TV documentary.
Education institutions were implicated by Home Secretary Theresa May’s comments as “needing to put their own house in order” but sector heads have levelled the blame at the testing body involved, while accreditation authorities associated with the schools named in the programme have acknowledged that they are opening investigations or considering redress.
“QAA is opening investigations into the standards and quality of higher education at Eden College International and Leyton College,” explained a spokesperson.
And at the British Council, which co-manages the Accreditation UK scheme (which one school had passed), a spokesperson told The PIE News, “In light of recent developments, we will be reviewing inspection dates and Accreditation UK status for any institution which gives us cause for concern. Accreditation UK regulations allow for unannounced checks, and such checks are regularly carried out.”
But they noted, “While Eden College International currently holds accreditation for English language teaching, the Accreditation UK scheme does not cover the security and administration of external examinations, such as the ETS TOEIC examination.”
Study UK‘s Chair, Sue Hindley, noted that the fraud, perpetuated by unscrupulous test centre staff, also attacked the education institutions relying on the score outcomes.
“Criminal fraud is being perpetrated against the UK immigration system and the education sector”
“This appears to be a clear example of criminal fraud being perpetrated against the UK immigration system and the education sector,” she said.
“The element of the Panorama programme of most concern was the apparent ease with which one particular Home Office-approved Secure English Language Test could be subverted by unscrupulous test centre staff.”
Tony Millns, Chief Executive of English UK, stated that the problem lay with test centre result monitoring, although ETS commented that it had thorough security protocols and that no testing body could claim 100% detection.
Hindley contended that the overall lesson from the exposed abuse of the testing system, “must surely be for the Home Office to focus its efforts and resources on the effective enforcement of existing laws and regulations, rather than the invention of new blanket rules and bureaucracy that would serve only to tie up responsible education providers in red tape and to discourage genuine students from applying”.
Meanwhile, Millns also lambasted Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who made comments about the insecurity of the Student Visitor Visa (SVV) route even though the abuse in question only involved in-country Tier 4 visa applicants.
He said the Home Office had recently reviewed the student visitor visa route and found no evidence of abuse.
“This incident has nothing to do with the student visitor visa, so Yvette Cooper’s comments are completely wrong,” he fumed.
