List of recognised providers in the UK

The DfES in conjunction with the Home Office has published a list of recognised providers

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/providersregister/

The idea of this list was to deal with visa fraud by removing from recognition those colleges with no premises, or who did not ensure students attended classes.

Being on this list does NOT mean that the colleges are necessarily accredited. The limitations of recognition are given in the documents accessible from the site. I have severe reservations about the bona fides of some of the bodies and their adveriising material and will be raising this with the DfES.

 

Letter I wrote to British Press

TO: Editors
FROM: Dean Hughson, 16534 E. Arroyo Vista Dr Unit 1 Fountain Hills Az
85268 tel 480-836-2314
date; 2-5-05

For many of us who have taken a History of Medicine course, we realize
that 'recognized medicine' came out of the UK and even indeed the
first idea of 'registering' doctors came from your country.

Recently a rash of offshore medical schools have popped up in England.
For instance currently you can attend St. Christophers in Luton
(www.stchris.edu) which is actually a Senegal chartered medical
school, Grace University (http://www.grace-usom.org/contact.htm) which
used to be chartered in Belize and St. Kitts in the past but had its
charter removed, London College of Medicine
(http://www.londonmedicalschool.org/) which claims to be affiliated
with IUHS-St. Kitts, European College of Medicine
http://www.euromedicine.org/, which claims to be related to St Luke
School of Medicine, an unchartered medical school which claims to be
in Liberia and Ghana but the govts, say it isn't. The list goes on: I
found a painter in Oxford who has put up a website claiming to offer
offshore medical degrees http://www.londonmedicalschool.com
Even an island with an active volcano, Montserrat, with its' residents
being sent off island, has a school, University of Arts and Sciences
http://www.mcl-edu.co.uk/index2.html in London and yet it has no
charter from the country it supposedly is coming from.

Which govt. agency in the UK is supervising these schools? How do your
consumers like the idea of being seen in NHS hospitals by students
apparently supervised by medical schools thousands of miles away? In
a white coat all people look like doctors. How do the students get
visas to study in the UK? How does the DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION &
SKILLS - REGISTER OF PROVIDERS register these schools so that the kids
can receive visas when it says that the schools must be approved and
recognized to register?

There are several hundred medical students in white coats running
around London playing doctor and no one seems in charge. It is a shame
for the seat of medical knowledge and degrades the medical profession
and can cause British MD degrees to be lessened in the eyes of the
world.

Dean Hughson

 

I have forwarded this to the DfES who , in gneral terms, are responsible for policy. Enforcement is a problem because

1] It is at local authority level, with different priorities in different areas.

2] The legislation is such that provided the body declares its degrees to be non-UK then the main restriction (on offering UKdegrees) does not apply

3] Where the college and the ISP for the web-site are outside the EU, enforcement is almost impossible especially if they are (as sometimes the case) based in one of the more 'laisse faire' US states.