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Regency College, Brighton

 
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GriffinParka



Joined: 16 Dec 2010
Posts: 41
Location: West London

PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:45 pm    Post subject: Regency College, Brighton Reply with quote

On Friday evening, just yesterday, the management team at this college closed its doors and did a runner. Their parting message was to post a brief apology on their facebook page (since scrubbed), but no reason was given for the abrupt closure.

Dozens of staff are owed wages (including a personal friend of mine), and many hundreds of students have been abandoned, some of them having paid fees well in advance. The school has made no efforts to contact them or explain the situation at all

It's common knowledge that this college recently had its status reviewed by UKBA, and was also under investigation for allowing students to breach their visa terms. One of the directors even had a racket going with his other company, which offered apparently legitimate 'work experience' internships to foreign students.

Given the schools lack of transparency in this matter, is there anybody else out there who throw a little light on this bunch of crooks and their goings-on?
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Dedicated



Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 972
Location: UK

PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is very unfortunate for all concerned. Regency College was removed from Tier 4 register of sponsors back in December, 2009, but they had the suspension lifted on 27th July, 2010.

However, there was a blog in September :
http://tefltradesman.blogspot.com/2011/09regency-college-brighton.html

and somebody had threatened to inform UKBA. Maybe this has had some bearing on events....?
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GriffinParka



Joined: 16 Dec 2010
Posts: 41
Location: West London

PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:18 pm    Post subject: Regency College, Hove / Brighton Reply with quote

Brighton's local paper, The Argus, has picked up on this story:-

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/9350186.Hove_language_school_closes_suddenly/

The reporting's a bit lame, but the comments are worth reading!

It must be very comforting for those teachers and students who have lost money at the hands of this college's bent directors to read their statement that �The English language teaching market has become progressively difficult to trade in, due to the restrictions on student visas by the UKBA."

So that makes it alright then, to close your doors suddenly and throw people on to the street, does it?

Pathetic and arrogant. I hope they get what they deserve, and some.
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crewmeal1



Joined: 08 Jul 2010
Posts: 75

PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sadly these 'scam' colleges have sprung up all over the UK. Many cater for the Asian market where apparently Asians are desperate to 'settle' in the UK. As a fully qualified English teacher I was recruited by an agency to work at an international college which catered for various business courses. When asked about teaching English I was told this would be crucial for the students as some of them lacked some basic English.

500 students were recruited from the Asian subcontinent paying an average of �7000 each. Most had paid upfront via an agent and duly started in February. By July half of the students had disappeared and another 100 were deemed to have failed their appropriate course due to lack of English. These students were transferred to an IELTS course so they could get something for their money as a college certificate would prove worthless.

The college also had issues with awarding bodies due to violations and several courses were switched to different bodies midstream.

All this is in violation of student visa regulations, along with hiring a student to teach English full time whose visa has just been renewed. Her only certificate was a degree in zoology! The college decided to get rid of various personal including myself and is now running on a shoestring in order to get highly trusted UKBA status. There are so many disgruntled students and other personal that it's a matter of time as to who calls UKBA first with supporting evidence of fraud and theft.

As to the future? My guess it will close down by January as they are finding it difficult to recruit new students due to the new visa rules.
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