As a provider of writing services, I have once in a while received enquiries from students studying in Singapore on the price I would charge to write their academic assignments for them, which of course I flatly turned down. The fact that I studied so hard to obtain a degree makes me feel totally turned off by people attempting to take short cuts or cheat in order to obtain any kind of certification or qualification.
It saddens me to think such practices are becoming common these days in a small nation state such as ours. This is probably the reason why many graduates who have obtained their degrees through distance education are still finding it hard to get a job. Many potential employers today still doubt the credibility and worth of qualifications obtained through off-campus education, and this is despite the sacrifices put in by individuals studying part-time while working full-time.
Just recently, there was the news about fake degrees and diplomas offered to students studying in a private school here. This piece of news certainly does not help with the already bad situation faced by graduates of distance study and the doubts by potential employers.
The following is an extract of the news showing the two sides of the story from the view points of a local and a foreign newspaper.
Fake-degree school closes
By Jermyn Chow (StraitsTimes - Singapore)
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_403332.html (Accessed July 27, 2009)
BROOKES Business School, which peddled fake degrees and diplomas to hundreds of students, has been ordered to shut down.
The private school handed out bogus qualifications from brand-name institutions in Australia and Britain, including the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), in a practice which was exposed last month by The Straits Times. The Education Ministry (MOE) said on Tuesday it had revoked the school's registration for contravening the Education Act.
The 400 students enrolled at the school - half of them foreigners - had little warning of the impending action. Many turned up at Brookes' premises in Beach Road on Tuesday morning to find the door closed and an MOE closure notice stuck to it.
Some had been telephoned earlier by a staff member of the school and told that classes would be cancelled for the week, resuming in about a fortnight.
One of them, who gave his name as Thomas, 21, said the caller neither identified herself nor gave a reason for the cancellation. 'It was so strange, so I thought: better to come down and get answers,' said the Chinese national, who is studying for a diploma in tourism and hospitality.
He failed to find any answers though, since staff and lecturers were nowhere to be seen. Neither was the man at the centre of the fiasco, the school's registered owner, Mr Benny Yap Chee Mun, 39.
Students said the last time they saw him was just after news broke of the scam in mid-June, when he called a meeting and assured them that the school's degrees were bona fide, and that it would not close down. He had told The Straits Times that he had been duped by a Vietnamese man, who sold him a 'franchise' to offer RMIT degrees in 2007.
On Tuesday, however, an MOE spokesman said there was 'sufficient evidence' to prove Mr Yap 'is not a fit and proper person to continue to operate the school'. Calls to the school and Mr Yap went unanswered.
Students have been told by MOE to approach the Association of Private Schools and Colleges (APSC), which represents some 40 private schools here, to help with transfers to other schools.
Dr Andrew Chua, its president, said that four receiving schools had been identified. He advised students to seek help at its secretariat at 9, Ah Hood Road, which will be open from 9am to 5pm from Wednesday till Friday. Students seeking fee refunds, which ranged from $9,000 to $12,000 for a one-year specialist diploma, should approach the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) for advice, said the ministry.
RMIT snared in degree scam
By Farrah Tomazin (The Age - Australia)
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/rmit-snared-in--degree-scam-20090617-chvv.html (Accessed July 27, 2009)
RMIT University has been embroiled in a scam in which an Asian business school was selling fake degrees purporting to come from the Melbourne institution.
Dozens of students have been duped after signing up for a one-year course they thought would lead to an RMIT Bachelor of Business offered through the Brookes Business School, in Singapore.
Students paid up to $16,000 to graduate with what they thought was a legitimate qualification from an Australian institution.
However, RMIT insists it never had links to Brookes, and is now considering legal action.
"RMIT is extremely concerned about any misrepresentation and is currently considering all its legal options in relation to this matter," said Dr Madeleine Reeve, the university's pro-vice-chancellor, international and development.
University documents seen by The Age show Singapore's Ministry of Education was told about the problem as early as April 2007, when the university became aware that Brookes' website was making false representations about links to RMIT.
At the time, the university obtained a written undertaking from Brookes to remove all references to RMIT on its website and any other documentation, and inform students that there were no links between the two providers.
But from late last year, a number of Brookes students began contacting RMIT again: some to check the authenticity of their certificates, others to check if they were properly registered with the university.
However, in a bizarre twist, Brookes claims it only began offering the program because it was conned to do so by a man purporting to be an employee of RMIT's Vietnam campus.
The head of Brookes Business School, Ben Yap, told The Age that a man approached him two years ago and sold him a franchise to run RMIT degree programs.
He said Brookes — which also offers education programs from established universities in the US and Britain — believed it was providing a bona fide degree from RMIT.
He said the school has since worked to "contain the problem" by giving students refunds for their invalid degree, and had also offered to enrol them into other legitimate courses provided by Brookes.
"We didn't realise the degrees were not valid," Mr Yap said. "We were given all the proper documentation so there was no reason to doubt it. There was no intention to con anybody."
Brookes has asked Singapore police to investigate the matter. However, Dr Reeve categorically rejected the school's claim that it was duped by a university employee.
"RMIT has been provided with the name of the staff member allegedly involved, but there are no records of a man with that name being employed at RMIT Vietnam," she said.
The Singapore Education Ministry did not respond to questions from The Age about Brookes' registration, or what action, if any, was taken.
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