One of the UK’s biggest private higher education providers, GSM London, has announced it has gone into administration, citing an inability to “recruit and retain sufficient numbers of students” as the reason for its closure.
The college, which has 3,571 students, was implicated in a BBC Panorama investigation into student loan fraud at private colleges in 2017 and previously had its licence to sponsor non-EU international students revoked by UK Visas and Immigration because it exceeded its visa refusal threshold.
“Our students will be supported as far as possible”
According to a statement published on the GSM London website, the college is working with administrators to enable all tuition, classes and exams to continue as planned for this semester, but that teaching services will cease at both the Greenwich and Greenford campuses at the end of September 2019.
“Our students will be supported as far as possible while efforts are made to provide them with informed options for where they may be able to continue their studies beyond the end of the current teaching semester,” the statement explained.
“Discussions are already underway with other higher education providers to identify options, and information, advice and guidance will be provided to students as soon as the details have been finalised.”
The statement also explained that all roles within GSM are at risk of redundancy, potentially affecting 274 jobs.
“GSM has had capital injections totalling some £22m since the end of 2016 but, despite that, due to highly challenging market conditions, the college has not been able to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of students to generate enough revenue to be sustainable,” the statement read.
It explained that in spring 2019, the GSM Board took the decision to seek a new owner to ensure the college’s longer-term future through an intensive sales process.
“Unfortunately, a sale of GSM was not possible to achieve and, given the Board’s concerns over the future viability of the college, it became necessary to seek the protection afforded by a formal insolvency procedure,” the statement continued.
“We appreciate this will be a distressing time for students. All students should continue to attend classes, sit exams and submit assessments as normal to ensure they complete as much of their studies as possible within the current semester.”
