BBC article on UK schools out online

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4410020.stm



Some medical degrees 'worthless'

By Matthew Chapman
BBC Radio Five Live


A BBC investigation has revealed that the General Medical Council has
been recognising some British-based medical colleges that are offering
worthless degrees.

The validity of the degrees of hundreds of doctors from another
college, one of whom works as a surgeon in the NHS, has been seriously
called into question.

The GMC has announced that it has suspended its recognition of the
degrees of one Luton-based college and is investigating the status of
four others.



The GMC has launched an inquiry following the BBC investigations


The UK has seen a boom in private medical colleges which use NHS
facilities for training, but which eventually award degrees from
foreign institutions.

These "squatter schools" have to be recognised by the GMC to allow
their graduates to take its PLAB test, which then allows them to
practise in the NHS.

There are now doubts about the validity of degrees awarded by St
Christopher's College of Medicine in Luton, which currently has 400
medical students.

The GMC has given recognition to the college where students can pay up
to £150,000.

Senegal

Despite its UK location, the college's degree awarding powers come
from Senegal in West Africa and St Christopher's claims to have
received this accreditation in 2000.

In an interview with the BBC, the director of the government's
department of higher education, Momar Marieme Dieng, was asked if he
was aware of any government accreditation for St Christopher's from
2000.

"No, not to my knowledge" he replied, although he said the government
did award accreditation to a college called St Christopher - Iba Mar
Diop medical college, which did not open in Senegal until 2003.

We are accredited, we are supported by the government of Senegal so
I really don't know what to say over and above that

Allan Bain
St Christopher's

St Christopher's British campus, however, awarded dozens of medical
degrees during this interim period, one to a surgeon who works in a
west London NHS hospital.


"They may have started its activities even before getting their
agreement," Mr Dieng said.

While the college claims to have received accreditation in February
2000, a Senegalese government letter obtained by the BBC, and dated
seven months later, stressed that St Christopher's was starting on a
process which might lead towards accreditation in the future, but that
accreditation was not yet effective.

The Luton college says it is mystified by the statement from the
senior government official.

The head of their UK operations, Allan Bain, said "We are accredited,
we are supported by the government of Senegal so I really don't know
what to say over and above that".

Government letter

On Friday afternoon the college founder, Paul Leone, showed the BBC a
photocopy of what was said to be a letter from the Senegalese
government accrediting St Christopher's as a medical college.

The BBC has so far been unable to verify the letter.

Mr Bain, who recently had £500,000 in damages awarded against him by a
US court for libelling a rival medical college and poaching its
students, also told the BBC that St Christopher's had regular visits
from the Senegalese government to check on the quality of its
teaching.

Mr Dieng, of the west African government's education ministry, said to
his knowledge there are had been no checks on the college.

European College of Medicine

The graduates of a second British-based college called the European
College of Medicine were also recognised by the GMC to take the PLAB
test to become doctors in the UK.

The London college claimed its degrees were awarded from a medical
school in Liberia.

However, the Liberian government told the BBC that no such medical
school had ever existed there.

The college then told the GMC that its accreditation had switched to
three respected Russian medical schools.

The GMC accepted this move and told would-be students that it once
again accepted the medical degrees of the London-based college.

However, when the BBC contacted the Russian medical schools two of
them denied any agreement had yet been reached, while one said it had
never heard of the European College of Medicine.

No-one from the college replied to repeated requests for a comment.

Suspension

As a result of these revelations the General Medical Council announced
that it had suspended its recognition of degrees awarded by St
Christopher's while it investigates the college's accreditation in
Senegal.

"We have immediately begun our own investigation, which centres on the
possibility that private, UK-based, medical colleges have been
inappropriately claiming that their courses would lead to the awarding
of a medical qualification from a university," a spokeswoman said.

"We have suspended our acceptance of the relevant medical degrees.

"We have also asked the NHS Counter Fraud Service to assist us, and
have amended the information on our website."

The Five Live Report: Quack Qualifications? is broadcast on BBC Radio
Five Live at 11 am on Sunday November 6th.

 

Thanks, Dean... but don't forget about our policy here of not posting entire articles... or any portion of one that could be considered a "substantial" part thereof. It's a copyright issue.

In the future, either write a little summary and then provide a link; or just copy/past maybe the lead or intro, then maybe the part you most want us to read, then place a link to the entire article. Posting no more than that probably keeps us safe pursuant to the "fair use doctrine" of copyright law...

...that, and the fact that most news web site don't much care about these kinds of minor copyright violations. But we can't take a chance.

 

sorry

i forgot and will remember. thanks...Dean

 

I would just like to point out that Mr. Dieng is not the director of higher education nor does he hold any position of power or inside knowledge of the ministry.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gouv.sn%2F&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Click on administration and it says:

So apparently Professor Papa GUEYE is in charge of higher education in Senegal. Plus, I do not see Mr. Dieng anywhere.
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listen to the archive of the show

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/noscript.shtml?/radio/aod/fivelive_aod.shtml?fivelive/flreport_quacks

 

http://www.education.gouv.sn/administration/directions.htmlhttp://www.education.gouv.sn/administration/directions.html

Ok, well at least he is listed somewhere. Although, that only says he coordinates policies, etc.. he is not responsible for accreditation. Plus, he only manages universities that are specifically attached to him by the ministry. The only people who would know details about accreditation would be the ministry itself.

 

ummmm

Without sufficient knowledge here are my 1 Kilogram of Solid Gold Comments:


While not exactly his Department you cannot and we should not disregard his comments to a world renowned reporting service. (His = Mr. Dieng).

If Mr. Dieng's comments were made in haste, without prior knowledge of the subject at hand, he should have (or would have) deferred the opportunity to answer the question(s) and would have pointed the BBC investigator(s) in the right direction(s) towards the correct Department within the Ministry of Education of Senegal. Mr. Dieng did not hestitate the opportunity to answer, thus his comments carry weight until proven otherwise.

Example:

In the 30 minute radio cast by the BBC investigative team, if I am not mistaken, Dr. "X" L. produced relevent paperwork to refute the statement offered by Mr. Dieng (Education Offical Ministry of Senegal), but instead of insisiting that the BBC reporters carry a copy of the paperwork with them, Dr. "X" L. (if I recall correctly) refused to provide a copy of the paper that could have laid to rest the main issue on the table.

The Main issue (to me) is:

Was this medical University accredited in the year 2000?

If they were not accredited in the year 2000, and it was not until the year 2003 that they did obtain it, then you can see where the problem emerges.

Problems (in my view) such as:

Graduates with non-accredited degree(s).

Graduates with non-accredited credits.

While the "kid's" (as Mr. Hughson has so eloquently called them) are not at fault, it does create a potentially messy legal situation for all potential parties involved (the school, the ministry of education and the gradute with the non-accredited degree). These are the primary effects (some with say the patients are at risk).

Secondary effects (in my view) include:

Other schools might be castigated by the alleged improper act's nd some allegedly dubious actions, that allegedly might have taken place at some point in time.

REMEDY (in my view):

According to free floating comments the school in question has expanded its operations over the past five years; it claims or someone on its behalf claims a student body of (400) souls, which means that using simple math and the powers of guesstimation the school might be grossing around $14 Million U.S. Dollars per year.

Potentially, that kind of buying power and the possibility of an international scandal, just may be enough for some type of "retroactive" permit , paper or statement to emerge from the bowels of the Ministry of Higher Education in Senegal saying soemthing to the effect of:

Due to some paperwork shuffle the temporary operating license of "X" University was misplaced, but yes University "X" was temporary accredited or a candidate for accreditation since the year 2000.

 

I agree with a lot of what you say. I just want to correct one minor thing. The 400 student estimate was only in Luton, there are another 400 students in clinicals... so around 800 total current students.

 

Thank you

St Chris Student:

Thank you for the correction.

JUST IN GENERAL TERMS:

Nothing specific, not University Specific, not country specific, etc....

I. I don't have a problem with a school "squatting" in another country. I have always said that the "market" takes care of the situtation. I shall explain myself in greater detail further into this post.

II. I don't doubt (yet I hold no proof) that St. Chris is running a tight academic program. I feel the P.L.A.B. flunkies will be weeded out and the Medical Staff of the Hospitals where these potential graduates work. will know if they are facing qualified prospects or not.

III. I admire the vision of the folks that establish these operations, they are business savvy and do not let academic get in the way. *****BIG GRIN******

None the less (in medicine) a degree that is not accredited is worthless (unless you want to frame it on your wall, which is valid).

More to come:

 

additional article on UK investigation

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,1636346,00.html