:00:17. > :00:27.Tonight we go undercover to expose Foreign students getting lessons in
:00:27. > :00:30.
:00:31. > :00:38.how to cheat and how to beat Beazer deadlines. -- visa. We catch the
:00:38. > :00:44.conmen dealing in dodgy Diploma. If people are committing scams,
:00:44. > :00:51.they should be worried. We are after them.
:00:51. > :01:01.This has year marks and your grades. It is just cheating.
:01:01. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:08.Can we ask you some questions about Every year, more than 200,000
:01:08. > :01:15.overseas students come to Britain. Around 15,000 of those are snapped
:01:15. > :01:20.up by Welsh universities. It is a multi-million pound business. There
:01:20. > :01:23.is another side to the trade. A black market in bogus
:01:23. > :01:31.qualifications of by some to qualify for an extended stay in the
:01:31. > :01:36.country. Some are not particularly interested in studying. They are
:01:36. > :01:45.interested in special two-year work these as that only available to
:01:46. > :01:51.students. -- work visas. We discovered that there would be
:01:51. > :01:56.little studying for some students. There are lessons in how to why and
:01:57. > :02:01.how to cheat. This is our undercover journalist.
:02:01. > :02:06.She is posing as an Indian student who wants to live and work in Wales.
:02:06. > :02:16.She is in the market for a graduate work be staff. They are being
:02:16. > :02:16.
:02:16. > :02:20.phased out in April and he is not a graduate. -- work visa.
:02:20. > :02:28.I have no background in business. I have never really studied and I
:02:28. > :02:35.have no clue. An MBA should take experienced executives of an idea
:02:35. > :02:42.of study. I am calling about the course. How much does it cost?
:02:42. > :02:46.She will not spent years studying. She is just spending. The rush is
:02:46. > :02:56.on for thousands of students to get these work these as before the
:02:56. > :02:59.
:02:59. > :03:03.rules are changed in April. -- work visas. People will spend the money
:03:03. > :03:09.that allows them to recoup the money by working on getting the day
:03:09. > :03:16.qualification. Some colleges are advertising these
:03:16. > :03:26.fast track MBA qualifications, with some of them even being accredited
:03:26. > :03:35.
:03:35. > :03:45.This man was happy to help students cheat their way to the University
:03:45. > :03:54.
:03:54. > :03:59.of Wales degree in time to apply A few days later, our undercover
:03:59. > :04:09.journalist phoned him. I explained I had to finish the MBA course in
:04:09. > :04:12.
:04:12. > :04:22.time to apply for the work the staff. -- visa. She has been told
:04:22. > :04:25.
:04:25. > :04:30.to ask for the director of A postgraduate Diploma in business
:04:31. > :04:40.is running at the college. It is worth up to two-thirds of an MBA.
:04:41. > :04:41.
:04:41. > :05:31.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 50 seconds
:05:31. > :05:35.It is a 15 month course but this If she buys the diploma and the
:05:35. > :05:39.University accept said, she will have got up to two-thirds of the
:05:39. > :05:49.work of an MBA. Shall will be on track to get a degree in time to
:05:49. > :05:53.
:05:53. > :06:03.apply for her graduate work these are. -- work visa. He says that for
:06:03. > :06:15.
:06:15. > :06:20.some more money she can apply for She pays a deposit and is told her
:06:20. > :06:24.application form will be backdated. It will look like she has been an
:06:24. > :06:34.online student for months with a company called professional
:06:34. > :06:35.
:06:35. > :06:39.He told me I would have to go to where revision class. I am not sure
:06:39. > :06:45.what I will be that the housing because I have never studied the
:06:45. > :06:49.subject before. -- what I will be revising.
:06:49. > :06:53.There were others in the class as well.
:06:53. > :06:58.It was clear from the outset that I was buying this qualification. This
:06:58. > :07:04.was cheating and the lecturer knew what was going on.
:07:04. > :07:08.This is the lighter. He gave them questions and answers to deplore my
:07:08. > :07:18.exams. He told them not to tell the UK Border Agency how quickly they
:07:18. > :07:18.
:07:18. > :08:02.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 50 seconds
:08:02. > :08:12.He told them what subjects they should pretend to have studied and
:08:12. > :08:45.
:08:45. > :08:52.given a lesson in how to do see the Lying to the UK Border Agency to
:08:52. > :08:55.get an extension is a climate -- criminal offence.
:08:55. > :09:01.There are prison sentences and you could be deported and your passport
:09:01. > :09:08.would be taken by the UK Border Agency. For the facilitators,
:09:08. > :09:14.helping students to cheat, what are the consequences? Jail. The risk of
:09:14. > :09:18.exposure. The UK could blacklist them. Prison, there is no bigger
:09:18. > :09:25.risk. Some were prepared to take that
:09:25. > :09:31.risk. This lecturer teaches at another college. It is in London
:09:31. > :09:41.but you can study University of Wales courses. He advised the class
:09:41. > :09:52.
:09:52. > :09:57.to use their dodgy diploma us to end role there. Our undercover
:09:57. > :10:07.reporter did not return to sit the exams. She was told the course was
:10:07. > :10:10.
:10:10. > :10:15.full. This college is in Hounslow. The
:10:15. > :10:18.courses are designed and tot here but the University of award --
:10:18. > :10:26.awards they degrees and has responsibility for the quality and
:10:26. > :10:30.standards of its awards. The academic director here is proud of
:10:30. > :10:34.their performance. Quality control is actually very
:10:34. > :10:39.important and very rigorous and is carried out by places like the
:10:39. > :10:47.University of Wales so I think, I know, that you can guarantee that
:10:47. > :10:53.if you had a University of Wales degree from a private sector
:10:53. > :10:57.college, that would be the same as from a public sector university in
:10:57. > :11:07.Wales. The admissions officer knew about
:11:07. > :11:18.
:11:18. > :11:25.A more senior manager -- member of the staff was behind the scam. This
:11:25. > :11:31.is that man. He is the college's registrar. His brief includes
:11:31. > :11:39.dealing with the UK Border Agency. He is also the core director of the
:11:39. > :11:44.exam board professional qualifications management. He said
:11:44. > :11:53.he could provide the dodgy Diploma and the paper work to cover it up.
:11:53. > :12:03.It is worth two-thirds of the University of Wales MBA. We have
:12:03. > :12:33.
:12:33. > :12:38.obtained a secret recording of He said he wanted �1,000 for a very
:12:38. > :12:48.Diploma. Once in rolled, he said he would help them cheat at the
:12:48. > :13:05.
:13:05. > :13:15.He said he would make sure that the paperwork was all in place in case
:13:15. > :13:19.
:13:19. > :13:24.The University of Wales inspected this college in July shortly before
:13:24. > :13:31.our investigation began. It gave it a glowing endorsement and validated
:13:31. > :13:37.its courses for a further five years. The University of Wales does
:13:37. > :13:43.not have a campus where students go to study. It created a global
:13:43. > :13:50.network of 130 colleges, with 70,000 students studying courses
:13:50. > :13:55.leading to read degrees. Last year, the exposed failings in its multi-
:13:55. > :13:58.million pound validation business. We exposed an illegal College in
:13:58. > :14:05.Thailand and another in Malays are, run by a pop star with bogus
:14:05. > :14:11.degrees. The university admitted its overseas validation procedures
:14:11. > :14:19.were not fit for purpose. Our evidence in this programme centres
:14:19. > :14:23.on colleges at home. A week after week presented the evidence, the
:14:23. > :14:28.University of Wales made it the shock announcement that it would no
:14:28. > :14:32.longer run its multi- million pounds global validation business.
:14:32. > :14:37.It left tens of thousands students around the world facing an
:14:37. > :14:45.uncertain future. We took our findings to the immigration
:14:45. > :14:50.minister. That is fraught. It is clearly trying to create and
:14:50. > :14:55.exploit a loophole in the immigration system. We are aware of
:14:55. > :15:01.the investigations that you have undertaken. We will investigate the
:15:01. > :15:06.individual colleges. We will, if necessary, suspend their licences
:15:06. > :15:16.and possibly invoke their licences if we find there is widespread and
:15:16. > :15:17.
:15:17. > :15:23.A leading academic says the fall- out could be costly for higher
:15:24. > :15:28.education in Wales and beyond. latest suggestion that this is a
:15:28. > :15:33.new kind of circumvention, a scam if you like, that is clearly
:15:33. > :15:37.something that must concern the University, but concerns everyone,
:15:37. > :15:43.because while we are trying to explain that extractions on entry
:15:43. > :15:47.by overseas students is potentially damaging, 4.5 billion per year
:15:47. > :15:51.spent by overseas students, anything challenging that must be
:15:51. > :15:58.of concern. No one from the Hounslow College wanted to be
:15:58. > :16:04.interviewed. But it has suspended its registrar, the area men is --
:16:04. > :16:07.the Admissions Officer and lecturer. The police have been informed and
:16:07. > :16:15.it once did his associate itself from any alleged wrongdoing. The
:16:15. > :16:19.body which accredits the university has suspended it whilst it
:16:20. > :16:24.investigates any malpractice. This man denies encouraging any students
:16:24. > :16:29.to cheat and says he is not responsible for anything done by
:16:29. > :16:35.the lecturer and he has no access to exam papers, saying you -- say
:16:35. > :16:40.no students were issued with Certificates. The admissions
:16:40. > :16:45.officer denies he was directly involved with helping students to
:16:45. > :16:49.cheat and the agent says he had -- says his offer to students was a
:16:49. > :16:59.marketing stunt and he was not responsible for what others may
:16:59. > :17:07.
:17:07. > :17:17.have done. How low. He is not here? I am from
:17:17. > :17:22.
:17:22. > :17:27.the BBC. He has gone to end they are. India? -- India.
:17:27. > :17:32.Two days later, he told us he did not intend for anyone to cheat,
:17:32. > :17:38.saying he did not know what the exam questions would be, giving
:17:38. > :17:43.only suggested answers. The principal at this college did
:17:43. > :17:51.agree to talk to us. He said his college had only been hired as a
:17:51. > :17:57.venue by P Q M. Students were told how to fill in
:17:57. > :18:02.to avoid detection by the authorities. Obviously, that is
:18:02. > :18:07.appalling behaviour. We would definitely condemn that behaviour
:18:07. > :18:12.and ourselves as a college, but we were not involved in the activities
:18:12. > :18:17.that were happening. The problem is, the director of
:18:17. > :18:24.operations in his college knew what was going on and works here. And he
:18:24. > :18:29.has been reprimanded. We have taken action against him. He has now
:18:29. > :18:38.resigned as director of operations. As principal, I suppose the buck
:18:38. > :18:45.stops with you. Cheating went on. At best, that is naive and, at
:18:45. > :18:49.worse, negligent. It was bad. I cannot take responsibility for
:18:49. > :18:56.actions done by area director who was my superior and who has not
:18:56. > :19:00.communicated with me. The director did not want to be interviewed. He
:19:00. > :19:09.denied any involvement in helping students to cheat.
:19:09. > :19:16.What do you fear is the worst-case outcome? Basically, that the UK
:19:16. > :19:21.borders agency would revoke our licence and we lose jobs. We heard
:19:21. > :19:31.about another scam leading to a University of Wales in B A E and an
:19:31. > :19:32.
:19:32. > :19:38.even shorter short cut. -- MBA. In the shadow of Wayne Daley Stadium,
:19:38. > :19:43.our reporter of meet someone else. -- Wembley Stadium.
:19:43. > :19:48.The guy I spoke to said he could help, but did not want to get into
:19:48. > :19:58.details over the telephone. This is the man she spoke to, he says he
:19:58. > :20:19.
:20:19. > :20:23.can get her a diploma without He is offering to sell her a
:20:23. > :20:33.diploma from two main exam boards. These award qualifications to
:20:33. > :20:37.thousands of students every year. His colleague takes the cash. He
:20:37. > :20:47.says the deplore marble get her into a number of colleges running
:20:47. > :20:47.
:20:47. > :21:39.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 50 seconds
:21:39. > :21:44.MBA colleges validated by, amongst What do you have? This is a
:21:44. > :21:51.postgraduate diploma in business. Right, I know you have not studied
:21:51. > :21:58.for that, it takes about 12 months. No studying, no exams, nothing.
:21:58. > :22:03.questions? The no, I just needed to pay their cash. A few weeks later,
:22:03. > :22:07.she was sent a document saying she had been a full-time business
:22:07. > :22:11.student at the North London Management School in Edgware. And
:22:11. > :22:17.this document is from another college. I have not even heard of
:22:17. > :22:23.this college. It says she attended, completed studies and a just
:22:23. > :22:27.awaiting your certificate. Amazing! Yet smack. A few weeks later, she
:22:27. > :22:31.was told to go to the North London management school to collect her
:22:32. > :22:41.diploma. It is the first time she has been there, but that is not
:22:41. > :22:47.what official documents will say. I was told to fill in application
:22:47. > :22:57.foreign Roman, which was surprising, because I was picking up a letter.
:22:57. > :23:07.
:23:07. > :23:15.What do you have? Have you been able to cheat the system? Yes, I
:23:15. > :23:20.have, I have a certificate. It even has a hologram. This is real.
:23:20. > :23:28.It has all your modules, all you a Marks and grades and due past them
:23:28. > :23:32.all. Well done. This is just a cheating. It has your grades and
:23:32. > :23:38.due past them all. We told degrading body what we had bought
:23:38. > :23:45.an be confirmed the diploma was genuine. We immediately suspended
:23:45. > :23:50.the company concerned and instigated an investigation. I am
:23:50. > :23:58.absolutely appalled when I heard about instances of people
:23:58. > :24:03.potentially conducting fraud or ultimately malpractice. The company
:24:03. > :24:07.suspended at has also launched its own investigation and has suspended
:24:07. > :24:12.links with both ought sprig College and the North London Management
:24:12. > :24:18.School. -- Oxbridge college. Oxbridge says they knew nothing
:24:18. > :24:24.about the illegal activities and has suspended them both and advised
:24:24. > :24:28.staff to call police it either returns to work. North London
:24:28. > :24:35.management school says it is shocked by our evidence and has
:24:35. > :24:41.launched an investigation. The undercover reporter was told to
:24:41. > :24:45.take the aplomb and a role at a college in Birmingham. -- take the
:24:45. > :24:50.diploma. She filled in the application form and went along
:24:50. > :24:55.with the diploma to enrol. The it was accepted with no problems. I
:24:55. > :25:01.told them I needed to finish their MBA course to apply for a study
:25:01. > :25:05.work visa. I was told, if I worked hard, it would be possible and it
:25:05. > :25:11.would be awarded by the University of Wales. Because I had a diploma,
:25:11. > :25:19.I was told I was exempt from studying 50% of the course. Were
:25:19. > :25:25.she to complete the top-up course, she would be eligible for a. Lying
:25:25. > :25:32.on an application is criminal. -- eligible for a student back. She
:25:32. > :25:36.did not want to break the law, but could have. We told be graduate
:25:36. > :25:41.school we bought the student's diploma. We were thanked for
:25:41. > :25:50.informing them and all measures were taken to check qualifications
:25:50. > :25:59.used to gain admission to its courses. The men who sold us the
:25:59. > :26:05.diploma up and I wanted to speak to them.
:26:05. > :26:13.I have visited their addresses, off had suddenly disappeared from their
:26:13. > :26:18.homes. We track e-mail and call them and it seems they do not want
:26:18. > :26:24.to answer. The UK Border Agency says it is carrying out a full
:26:24. > :26:31.investigation into our findings. After 2008, all students coming
:26:31. > :26:35.into the UK have been fingerprinted and data is on systems. Even if
:26:35. > :26:39.they go underground, up once police picked them up, their fingerprints
:26:39. > :26:43.will match and to details will come out whether they are wanted, what
:26:43. > :26:51.do they have all the estate, so there is no way you can change your
:26:51. > :26:55.name, details, but you cannot change your fingerprints. We were
:26:56. > :27:00.declined an interview and I caught up with the new Vice-Chancellor
:27:00. > :27:07.after he had announced a revised academic strategy and an end to
:27:07. > :27:12.validation. It is a response to changes in Welsh higher education.
:27:12. > :27:17.Can we ask you some questions about the latest scandal? I am happy to
:27:17. > :27:23.answer any I can. As how the university done its business
:27:23. > :27:29.created a system in which people can cheat their way to UK
:27:29. > :27:33.university degrees and visas? wasn't -- I was made aware earlier
:27:33. > :27:38.about serious allegations and I have referred them to the police
:27:38. > :27:42.and it would be inappropriate for me to say anything until the police
:27:42. > :27:47.have finished their investigations. Can I then ask you about the
:27:47. > :27:55.college and Hounslow? Alligators Reeve validated it for another five
:27:55. > :28:01.years. -- You're validate us. issues raised are very serious. It
:28:01. > :28:05.has to be considered with care, and in the context of my work on my
:28:05. > :28:10.first day as Vice-Chancellor, I have noted the issues to the police
:28:10. > :28:14.and have no more to say until the police have finished their report.
:28:14. > :28:19.For those we have exposed offering to help students to cheat the