Kigezi Med students left high and dry in Cambridge UK

story about an unaccredited UK school that was chartered in Uganda

http://w3.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge/story.asp?StoryID=64099

'Left High and Dry'
Published on 30 October 2004
MEDICAL students in Cambridge have been forced to sleep on the floor of their school after being left high and dry.

Some of the students at Kigezi Medical School in Regents Terrace have been evicted from their houses and one has even slept on a park bench because the school has gone bust and has not been paying them living expenses.

Many of the American students at the Ugandan school have borrowed thousands of dollars to join up and are now considering bringing a joint lawsuit to recover the cash. The students took loans of up to $50,000 each and paid the school up front earlier this year.

Half of the money was to cover tuition fees and the other half was to be given back to students as living expenses. It has also been reported that staff at the college were not being paid.

The school's management are reportedly still in Cambridge and the students' lawyers are hoping to meet two Americans, executive director John Stone and chief administrator Heather Seagraves, to discuss how the students will recover their money.

One student told the News that despite working for two years at the school towards qualifications, she will now have to start from scratch at a new medical school because she cannot transfer her course.

She is owed $74,000 by the school.

The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "All the students were sent a letter saying the programme had been suspended due to a lack of funds - it is the most unbelievable story.

"Some students were evicted because they couldn't pay their rent. We have had some students staying in the school library and there was even one sleeping on Parker's Piece."

The students' solicitor, Glynne Stanfield, from Cambridge law firm Eversheds, told the News: "The owners are Ugandan but there is some American management in Britain and they have not left Britain.

"I understand that the school has got itself into certain cashflow difficulties and the effect of that is damaging to students. There are 75 students there and they have been left high and dry.

"One of the options may be to bring a claim against the school's management but it is quite early days. We are trying to arrange to meet up with the people who own the school. One of the things we are looking at is whether there has been any criminal activity and if that is the case then we will talk to the police."

 

http://www.kigezi.edu/mdmhsa.html
This is their link to a USA school in Maine.

 

Ugandan medical college in UK shut over cash crisis (uganda newspaper)

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/397286

Ugandan medical college in UK shut over cash crisis

By Charles Wendo

STUDENTS at the British campus of a Ugandan-founded medical college are stranded following a financial crisis.
The Kigezi International School of Medicine, which trains medical doctors, admits students from USA, Britain and Uganda. It has a campus in Cambridge where students get lectures before doing clinical practice in Uganda, USA and Britain.

In Uganda, the students do their clinical practice in Kabale Hospital.
Cambridge News, an online publication, reported on Sunday that some of the American students at the college had been evicted from their houses and one had slept on a park bench because the school had run short of funds and had not been paying them living expenses.
“Many of the American students at the Ugandan school have borrowed thousands of dollars to join up and are now considering bringing a joint lawsuit to recover the cash. The students took loans of up to $50,000 each and paid the school upfront earlier this year,” the Cambridge News reported.

Half of the money was to cover tuition fees and the other half was to be given back to students as living expenses.

One student, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cambridge News: “All the students were sent a letter saying the programme had been suspended due to lack of funds - it is the most unbelievable story!”

Staff have not been paid for months and the Dean of Clinical Sciences, Dr. James Appleyard, has resigned over “an intolerable situation” after the college failed to renew Medical Malpractice Insurance for the students.

The school’s directors are Ugandans and Americans. The Managing Director, Melyvn Mpambara, operates from an office at the Kampala International Conference Centre, but most of the operations are in Britain. The President is Heather Seagraves from USA.

Mpambara yesterday said the crisis was regrettable.
“The programmes in UK have been suspended while we seek solutions which include an orderly transfer of students to other medical colleges,” he said.

He said he took the top job five months ago when the school was already in deficits.

The deficit, he said, resulted from relying on students’ fees as the sole source of income.
“Where the number of students fluctuates, it affects cashflow. The solution is to seek institutional funding and that is what I have been trying to do. Negotiations are still going on and look promising,” Mpambara said.

Mpambara said the Cambridge programme was expensive and their long-term plan would be to shift the operations to Kabale in south-western Uganda.

According to Cambridge News, the school’s management were reportedly still in Cambridge and the students’ lawyers were hoping to meet two Americans who run the Cambridge campus, to discuss how the students would recover their money.

One student said after studying for two years at the school, she would now have to start from scratch at a new medical school because she could not transfer her course.

She is owed $74,000 by the school. “Some students were evicted because they couldn’t pay their rent. We have had some students staying in the school library and there was even one sleeping on Parker’s Piece,” she said.

The students’ solicitor, Glynne Stanfield, from Cambridge law firm Eversheds, told the News: “I understand that the school has got itself into certain cashflow difficulties and the effect of that is damaging to students. There are 75 students there and they have been left high and dry.
“One of the options may be to bring a claim against the school’s management but it is quite early days. We are trying to arrange to meet with the people who own the school. One of the things we are looking at is whether there has been any criminal activity and if that is the case then we will talk to the police.”

Published on: Tuesday, 2nd November, 2004

 

What a sad thing. The website (www.kigezi.edu) is still accepting applications for the fall 2004 term . . . but the US phone has been disconnected.