What Is Your Masters Worth?

Achieving a Masters requires excessive toil and energy. The requirements are strict. It suggests that you are someone of above average ability, likely to do well in life. Or does it? Over the past ten years academia has changed. It has changed in many excellent ways, opening its doors to students of all backgrounds and ethnicities. But there have been, during that period, less attractive elements that have emerged. Higher education has been taken out of the hands of the top universities in Britain and elsewhere, snatched away from responsible government, and placed in the hands of less reputable educational establishments and of businessmen. Education is now a commodity that is being incrementally devalued. How has this occurred What has gone wrong Perhaps the roots of the problem in Britain lie in the Thatcher government of the 1980s, whereby it was determined that education should make money not shape character (surely an odd concept ) or innovate new ideas. To some extent, it has been downhill since then. Education became not a market place of ideas but of money making, often in its most basic fashion. To pursue this notion I will look at four elements that have recently emerged. New Universities, Professional Qualifications, International Colleges, Educational Agencies

New Universities:

The above establishments were polytechnics which acquired university status. Doing so they could attach themselves to the gravy train more effectively of government handouts and thousands of students, here and abroad, anxious to acquire degrees. There was little kudos to acquiring a degree from a polytechnic. It is now possible to obtain degrees in a vast number of subjects, many of dubious validity. Such universities function more on an industrial level, with the end object the awarding of a certificate (on receipt of purchasing price) not the assimilation and understanding of the subject or accompanying ideas. In this way, standards have been driven down. In order to accommodate such a wide diversity of students, from here and abroad, standards had to become diluted. '

Professional Qualifications: As a lecturer I have been often upon to teach Edexcel Btec and ABE, ABP courses. I have also been called upon to mark them. The advanced courses are identified as level 7, that is postgraduate, but any lecturer who has taught on these courses knows they really approximate to A Level standard. A student obtaining such a qualification can go on to do a Masters. Now, let's be clear. They would not be able to do a Masters at the older universities. Not yet. They would more likely find a place at one of the many newer ones, those established since the 1990s. I have, in several years of teaching, met only a handful of students who take these courses capable of entering and succeeding at one of the older universities or who have produced decent work of a high level. Not, I must add, of a sustained high level but of any standard at all. Such professional courses do not lend themselves to the consideration of ideas, comparing and contrasting views and evidence, but are located in the here and now. Great depth of thought or perception and research is not required to succeed well. Many colleges that run these courses do not even demand correct English but stress that writing well is not essential. There is also rarely grading, but gaining a pass is sufficient. Edexcel Btec external invigilators need only read four out of a hundred assignments, supposedly chosen at random, which if deemed adequate allow them to pass all the remainder without checking. This amounts to gaining higher education through the back door. Edexcel Btec also lends itself to plagiarism. Marking such papers, even with a number of sophisticated methods of preventing and locating plagiarism, I find 50% demonstrate overt examples of copying, cut and paste, or of papers brought off the internet from one of the many sites that specialise in such activities. A university considering students of such courses cannot be certain of their actual standard, nor that the work is necessarily their own.

International Colleges: I have written about these extensively elsewhere, and have included some of my experiences at the end of this piece. Having worked in a large number I would classify them justly as: corrupt, crooked, with no intent or potential to provide education. Most of the owners are unscrupulous and uneducated businessmen who have jumped onto an opportunity as the result of lack of government regulations. Professional courses are conveyed through such colleges. Of more concern is the involvement of the newer, minor universities and educational agencies.

Educational Agencies: There are a number at present. Usually they are middlemen, working with accreditation bodies and the minor universities. They are not necessarily concerned with upholding standards, but with the usual overriding concerns of small businesses. That is, making money anyway they can. They rarely have government recognition. An agency only requires association with an accreditation body. These are unlikely to be the older ones such as OCR or City and Guilds, but newer ones. Many directors of the International Colleges are involved with these agencies. A training college, consisting of one room run by a former accountant, has been validated by one of these agencies and as a consequence now runs BA and Masters Courses. The papers are marked by whoever is around.

MASTERS: So, given the above, of what worth is your Masters? The individual working or teaching alongside you may appear equally qualified. But, they seem to know nothing. Also, they cannot write, speak or read English properly. How is this? I know of an inspector for one of the agencies who fits this pattern. Unless a Masters has been gained from an older, reputable establishment I suggest it should be viewed sceptically. Whatever else, it will properly better represent a much lower attainment level, such as 'A' level or first degree. It will not necessarily be evidence of ability or knowledge.

I will here consider personal experiences within education before summing up.

There is in British education an insidious virus. It started off at the turn of the century and has since grown exponentially. It affects British Universities and public colleges. Principally, it has been brought in from outside the country, and, perhaps, will eventually be responsible for destroying this country's reputation for high educational standards. If it continues, British higher education will become a byword for shoddy standards and fraudulent practices. Is this an exaggeration? Unfortunately, it is not.

I have worked in some six or seven International colleges over a period of five years as both Principal and lecturer. In that time, I have seen all variety of criminal practices, a frightening reduction of standards, and the appalling fact that in most instances the culprits have not only succeeded in getting away with their activities but have profited from them. Although both government and police have been consistently informed, none, to my knowledge have been imprisoned or expelled from the country. In all cases, they have retained their criminally acquired gains and prospered Similarly, I will expose the collusion of new universities in the matter and of official bodies.

I have witnessed money laundering, pilfering of student's funds accompanied by threats, colleges used repeatedly as conduits for bogus qualifications, colleges run by career criminals and uneducated business people uninterested in education or Britain, colleges involved in running prostitution rings, colleges used predominantly for foreign nationals to illegally enter the British job market. Few owners are British nationals. Below, is a narrative of my time as College Principal and lecturer.

I was originally employed by LP, a college in Borough, SE1, as an English teacher, a job I was surprised to obtain as I had no background in teaching English. As I enjoyed teaching I took up the challenge. The money was poor but I stuck it out. I came in, took my classes and went home, avoiding too much involvement with the other staff. I was initially surprised to discover that none of the staff came from Britain. Most were from the Indian subcontinent, one was North African, and others were from Nigeria and Ghana. The management were all from Pakistan, many of whom struggled with spoken English.

My students were from Russia, Ukraine and central Europe. They were by and large an able bunch but not remotely interested in study. The mass of students were from Pakistan. Although there were a number of management classes, few attended them.

My students were quite rebellious and cynical. At first, I did not understand their attitude. In the lessons, they largely spoke with each other ignoring me. It was difficult. At times they were very hostile. My fellow English teacher told me that it was probably due to what occurred when the recent Principal had left. I later discovered he had told the students that the college was bogus and the management criminals. It was not a real college. I was immediately concerned, worried as to what kind I place I'd become involved in.

Two weeks later the owner, a little man from Lahore, approached me to become Principal. I was infinitely surprised. I had not taught after all for ten years, although my qualifications were from the best universities. Curious, I accepted the position.

Upon accepting, I received information on the previous incumbent from members of staff and the owner.According to the owner, he had been fired when it was discovered that his qualifications were bogus. Intrigued, I asked for his files. Once I'd received it, I researched it thoroughly. I was astonished by my discoveries as all that I learnt was new to me.

Except for a CELTA, an English as a Second Language teaching qualification, his certificates were bogus. He claimed to have a Doc. Lit, an extremely high qualification and at odds with the position of Principal at a tiny college. His 'university' was offshore, situated in the ether or someone's bedroom, and his other qualifications were bits of paper. Given all that, he nevertheless came over as an intelligent erudite man. I perceived him as someone who had missed the boat in life, no doubt through no fault of his own, and had taken an easy route to make up for it. He was a Walter Mitty type, but harmless. But, I was shocked. I had never come across anyone with bogus degrees before, who had then acquired a job on the back of them. The preposterousness of his claiming a Doc. Lit alarmed me. Asserting that the owners were crooks looked like hypocrisy. I later discovered he had approached the police about college activities and practices. The students had loved him. So, he had been good at his job. He was probably better at teaching English than me.

I was to come across many similar CVs in the following years. Ah well, I guess everyone has to work somewhere at something! So now I was the Principal of a college. I was soon to learn my duties and responsibilities. They were very few. The position was a paper one. I was the front man. But, for what? I quickly realised that they needed a British person as a cover, a face, for their activities and to acquire accreditation. I did not yet understand the degree of their criminality. I was I realised only in charge of the English department. I decided to play the game for a while to see what happened.

In 2007 there were more government regulations than when many of these colleges started, at the turn of the century until 2003. Since that point regulation had not so much increased, but arrived, that is the government began to properly recognise the existence of International Colleges. Two organisations accredited the colleges, BAC and ASIC. The government provides official accreditation, Tier 4 or sponsorship status, but were concerned only with the paperwork. All three groups were easily fooled. The colleges worked hard to make sure all the paperwork was done, knowing that they could hide all other activities. The demands made on these colleges were slight.

Although some classes had up to ten students, most were poorly attended. According to my enquiries the college had 500 students. There was evidence for only 50 at the most. Where were they the missing students?

There was a room on the top floor that was always locked. I had no access to it. I tried the door many times. From what I was told, it held the college records. One day I found it unlocked and went inside. There were masses of files of students from Pakistan. Later, a staff member told me that at least 7000 students had enrolled at the college. I suggest that is a conservative estimate.

There were also essays completed for MBAs, apparently run by the college. The essays were written in the poorest English, displaying no academic qualities whatsoever. Many were given the highest marks. As an academic I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. None of the accreditors, UKBA, ASIC, BAC, seemed interested in viewing students' academic results. They were interested in paperwork. From what I could ascertain, the academic level was unimaginably low. The English was appalling, with no evidence that students could write essays or reports.

Let me start with the reception. This was manned by a young woman from Pakistan and a slightly older Indian man/boy. They were both very rude to the students, who appeared justifiably afraid of them. A few months later, both were sacked for stealing. They had been taking money off the students, often for minor clerical work, and pocketing it or taking money out of fees. The girl made 50,000. The man/boy acquired enough to buy his own college. Another culprit was the Marketing Officer. Although a nice type, he had his hand in the till constantly. He too eventually saved enough to purchase a college. Without education, he is now both an owner and Principal. In fact, a Principal without principles. It was difficult to find any member of staff with qualifications.

The putative owner was from Lahore. He could barely speak English when I first met him. A man of great charm, but without morals. It is likely that he was not the real owner, only a figurehead like me. The owners were probably in Pakistan. This seems to be the prevailing business model. Those within the colleges, who interface with students and the authorities, are not those who own the institution. Although, a ravenous unconscionable crook, he was not the worst I came across by any means.

In some of the colleges, agents dominated. This was the case in LP. The most prominent of the agents was a Ukrainian, an illegal immigrant. He had been in the college for a number of years, and, during that time had made a great deal of money. He would do anything for the students, as long as they paid him handsomely. He authorised certificates. For two hundred pounds, he authorised the admin staff to provide a student with an Advanced Certificate in English, even if they could barely speak the language. He could arrange an MBA for five hundred or less. Of course, the student was obliged to provide admin with another fifty or hundred pounds. But, that wasn't all. He had a multitude of activities. Obsessed with money and sex, a man of very little brain, he often spent his day in the IT room of the college studying porn. I couldn't stop him. The students were deeply offended. This was even more disreputable, as many students were Moslem and not usually subject to such a parade of enthusiastically bared flesh. The owners did nothing because he brought in an immense amount of money, and that was the deciding factor. Most Eastern European students came through him. If he were to be ejected, thousands of pounds revenue would go with him.

A number of the people he brought into the college were unsettling. Middle-aged Eastern Europeans who resembled the Russian mafia, at least to my imagination. Yes, as I mentioned, he was an illegal alien. Not the only one working in or running International Colleges. He apparently, so rumour had it, arrived here on a fake Polish passport a decade before. I heard through the grapevine that another illegal immigrant from Eastern Europe had his own college in Pimlico. The police were told about this gentleman. At present, he runs a dentistry in West London purchased from his scams.

Common with other International Colleges throughout Britain, LP ran their own MBAs. These were in-house and not accredited by any official body. They were worthless. In fact none of the college's courses were genuine. The government stopped this 6 months after I became Principal, making it a condition of sponsorship that only accredited courses could be taught. These had proved a cash cow. LP, with a number of local International Colleges and International Colleges in the midlands set up a bogus university, based in SE1, but consisting only of a facade. Students were recruited for the bogus university's degrees, but not informed that they were worthless. They expected to obtain visas or extend visas with the certificates. All these colleges employed a short term business policy-money now, forget about tomorrow.

What about the faculty? Let me start by mentioning the lecturing technique they employed. If say it concerned management theory, they would photocopy during the lecture all the pages in the module for the students. They would then go through each section bit by bit. Amongst the local colleges, this was the accepted method. There was no explanation of the text. Of course, the absence of explanation was due to the lecturer's inability to process what they were teaching. I researched the lecturer's CVs. One had a BA and MA (or BSc and MSc) in psychology. One of my subjects. He had obtained both from an International College. At that time, no International College had the right to run a degree course. I researched further, discovering that the College's degrees were all in-house. This particular individual took himself very seriously, holding forth as if he were genuinely qualified. Nothing in his conversation suggested a man of anything other than average intelligence. Another incident exposed the seriousness of the matter. While waiting for the College to open one morning I got into conversation with one of the other lecturers in a nearby cafe. He told me, in deeply solemn tones, that he was at that time busy researching his thesis for an MA. Of course, it was at the same institution in South London. If this lecturer, the leading lecturer in the College, was bogus, what of the others? I began researching all of their CVs. Although many would hold that inadequate unqualified lecturers do not matter as these are only International Colleges, the students of which are here mostly for work. They are not proper colleges. They are not proper students. I hope in this short book to demonstrate that the effects of such criminality are stronger and wider than imagined.

By now most of you reading this would know that the degrees given by the college were worthless. They were mainly for the government's eyes, to convince its officials that the students were busy studying, which they weren't. Even the English courses were undermined by the agents who handed out certificates behind my back like confetti, simply for money whether they were earned or not. Of course, the written work was rubbish. But that persists to the present. The usual method of writing an assignment, still encouraged by many of the lecturers, was cut and paste. The student was directed to the internet and from such a source they constructed assignments. The rarely knew what they had written and academic norms, introduction, body, conclusion, were ignored, if known in the first place. The English was universally on a very low level, but with students normally receiving a B or A grade. The man or woman working next to you, who boasts continuously of having an MBA or PGD, might have one from an International College and be unable to write English or understand their own academic specialisation. The market has become already flooded with fake MBAs.

Although they conducted courses, education was not the Colleges principal occupation, but merely a front to convince the authorities that they were a legitimate institution. Students rarely turned up. Their principal pursuit was attaining money by illegal means. Times changed and the government actually began to take some interest in these colleges. It introduced the idea of sponsorship, whereby colleges became accredited by the government and allowed thereby to recruit foreign students. This is known as Tier 4. One of its aims is to halt the flood of students into the country who disappear or work illegally. LP's students usually didn't bother to come into the college at all. Colleges could no longer depend upon bogus qualifications for revenue but were required to provide genuine qualifications.

Now?

Degrees, particularly those related to Business and IT, have become diluted. At present degrees in these categories, partly as a consequence of the above institutions, are similar in difficulty to A levels. The encouragement of cheating by colleges, buying assignments, employing cut and paste, have resulted in large numbers acquiring BAs, BScs, and Masters qualifications. The possession of a Masters is now no guarantee of knowledge or assessed ability.

Unfotunately, the PHD, once considered the pinnacle of educational achievement, is following down the same route. The consequent debasement of qualifications and acquisition of knowledge will result in repeated economic downturns throughout Western cultures and cultural failure.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6286849

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