The provider, which had campuses in Auckland and Christchurch and delivered English and business studies, was cited for plagiarism, overcrowding and bad marking.

Linguis was criticised by NZQA in November 2016 in a report that found the provider had classes of up to 64 students, a shortage of furniture and “inadequate washroom facilities”.

“The priority is ensuring students are supported at this time and reducing disruption to their studies”

“The non-compliance took place over an extended period of time,” NZQA deputy chief executive of quality assurance Grant Klinkum told The PIE News.

“NZQA followed all standard procedures in its actions regarding Linguis, including ensuring Linguis had opportunity to address the concerns identified by NZQA and, most recently, to respond to the proposed deregistration,” he said.

Klinkum said now that Linguis has been deregistered, the focus is on ensuring its students found another suitable provider.

“The priority is ensuring students are supported at this time and reducing disruption to their studies. We appreciate this may be an uncertain time for students and we have made every effort to keep students fully informed,” he said.

According to NZQA’s initial report, Linguis’s rapid growth from 158 students in 2012 to over 1,000 in 2015 was poorly managed, leading to systemic plagiarism, and inadequate services. The report concluded NZQA was “not yet confident” in the provider’s capability to self-assess.

At the time of its closure, Linguis had only 81 students.

Linguis is the second private provider to be deregistered this year, and the third in the last 12 months, after Aotearoa Tertiary Institute closed in January, and the International Academy of New Zealand was liquidated in August last year and bought up by EDENZ Colleges while under investigation by NZQA.