I have no time for bottom feeders in education and the latest bunch were highlighted in a Sunday Star Times article at the weekend. API Institute of Education (also using the name Edinburgh Institute of Education) had their registration cancelled by NZQA in February after there were concerns about the quality of results being reported (presumably for the NZ Diploma of Business). It seems that students were encouraged to enrol but not to attend, and there are also allegations that students were given copies of successful assessments to copy. I’m usually concerned when some student fees are missing (some are, but most are fine), but before feeling sorry for these students, I’d need to be sure they were hardworking students who were duped and not dodgy ones who were in on the rort. Anyway, it is good to see this instance being exposed and shut down, but the problem will go on.

You see, the practices covered in the Sunday Star-Times have been operating for many years. They have nothing to do with education other than the fact that educational qualifications are given weight in immigration decisions. The students don’t want an NZDipBus as proof of their learning, but for its points value in getting residence in NZ. A few might also want something to show the parents back home to prove that they aren’t just gambling at the casino. This makes it hard to catch because NZQA doesn’t have a roving band of investigators and the students, who normally complain about poor service, are part of the scam. In the case of API Institute of Education, it looks like the principal dobbed in the organisation after discovering the scam, but not all staff are so principled or have concrete proof to act upon.

Qualifications earned in NZ should be part of immigration decisions because people with those qualifications are more likely to be able to succeed in the NZ environment – employers understand their quals and the graduates know Kiwi culture – but we need to constantly look out for the problem spots. So, what’s the solution? Well, there is no easy solution because as long as there are immigration rules, there will be bottom-feeders around to help people get around them.  People in the industry often suggest anti-poaching rules (and Immigration New Zealand is slowly edging towards this, although recent changes probably won’t do much) and extra check-ups on providers. I think the latter course is probably the way to go. I know that NZQA doesn’t want to take an inspectorial approach, pay for private investigators or hire mystery shoppers, but they need to recognise that the normal rules don’t apply here. If they keep on the current course, NZQA will find a few places each year that go too far (see my February post), but students will still know where to go to get an easy ride to residence.

I think it’s worthwhile noting who is involved in API. API seems to have been run through API Institute of Education Ltd. The two directors of API Institute of Education Ltd are Todd Tao Xu and Alex Yun Zhang, and they are shareholders too. The ownership structure is a little complicated, with four more shareholders, with the largest shareholding leading back to Gilligan Sheppard Nominees Ltd, which has two equal shareholders, one of whom is Bruce Sheppard of Shareholders’ Assn fame (presumably he is acting as a nominee for a client, as suggested by the company title).

As an aside, there need to be some better processes for clearing off databases and websites in these cases (I’ve bulleted the next part to make it a bit less confusing).

• While NZQA has taken API off their list of providers (it would actually be handy to have a deregistered PTE list!), they are still on Education NZ’s New Zealand Educated site and that needs to be sorted.
• API comes up in Google for KiwiCareers, but the original listings have been removed – that’s fine.
• API is also off the MOE’s Code signatory list, but I did find an Edinburgh Institute of Education Ltd (Institution Number 7853) - Edinburgh Institute of Education is a trading name used by API on its website, but a similarly named company Edinburgh Institute Ltd (NB “of Education” is missing) is owned by someone else entirely. But then I found that NZQA doesn’t list an Edinburgh Institute of Education as a registered PTE, but under institution number 7853 it has New Zealand Career College (2010) Ltd, which was called Edinburgh Institute of Education Ltd until 18 February 2010. Go to the NZCC website (which is also related to New Zealand Career College Ltd’s activities – another PTE and Code signatory) and you find under the news section that they bought Edinburgh Institute of Education in February and took over the Auckland city campus (Companies Office records show that Todd Tao Xu was the sole director and shares were held by two companies that also owned most of API). So everything makes sense in the end, if you followed all that, other than that the MOE has the wrong legal name on its website, which will confuse people.
• To make matters a bit more confusing, the API site is still up and running, minus any references to NZQA approval, but with references to Edinburgh Institute of Education – NZCC should really sort that out.

(By the way, Auckland Edinburgh College in Manukau is a completely different entity and has no connection to the issues in this post, other than an obvious fondness for the Scottish city.)